Pugh Maureen; Rurawhe AdrianMAUREEN PUGH (National): As we draw this legislative process to its conclusion I take the opportunity today to pay tribute to its genesis back in 2017 when the then National-led Government passed the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Act; and to the recognition that day by the Hon Bill English and the Hon Anne Tolley that our statistics were showing us that the lives of some of our more vulnerable young people were not improving and that simply throwing more and more money at the problem was not actually improving the outcomes of some of our more vulnerable and deprived families. So the Oranga Tamariki Act was the transformational legislation and it progresses here today into this new Act that brings 17-year-olds into the youth justice system. We know—because we are getting better and better at recording the data—that children that live in those benefit-dependent homes have poorer educational outcomes. They have more chance of coming in those days under the influence of Child Youth and Family services or police; and that we needed to change direction because that was also becoming quite a significant burden on the hard-working taxpayers of New Zealand. That approach was called the social investment approach and Oranga Tamariki is the change that we as a country needed. So I acknowledge the Minister the Hon Tracey Martin for her support of that change because the change needs to transcend electoral cycles. It deserves longevity if it is going to make a change to the lives of our most vulnerable in New Zealand. It will take some time for it to be fully implemented; this is another step along that journey. Now the purpose of this bill is to bring 17-year-olds into the youth justice system. It is considered—and this was confirmed by the Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft—that 17-year-olds were considered too young to be dealt with in the adult court because the likely outcome for them was to then be involved in an adult prison. That is not a place for a 17-year-old; we are all agreed on that. So it is indeed a good move to see this legislation being put in place so that our under-18s are no longer being treated as adult criminals with the risk of heading off into adult prison. Because they will now come under the guardianship of Oranga Tamariki they will have all the opportunities and support provided to them by Oranga Tamariki and their support agencies. It's been part of the interrogation of the Social Services and Community Committee throughout the process to ensure that the systems are completely ready for 1 July when this legislation will be enacted because we need to make sure that the homes are fit for purpose that the legal system and the judiciary are prepared and that our staff are fully trained to deal with the extra workload. We have been given absolute assurance that that is the case but I will pay some attention especially to the facilities that are provided for in rural areas because it is very easy to look at economies of scale and often that happens in the big cities the metro areas. But it is completely inappropriate for a 17-year-old to be remanded in custody in a police cell and we do need to have those facilities available throughout the country. The opportunity that is given to 17-year-olds now through the youth justice system means that they do have an opportunity now to change their direction. We heard a statistic that about 80 percent of those who are supported at that age do not reoffend and so I think this is a very good investment into their lives but also into the New Zealand community as a whole. I was very impressed too when we spoke with Oranga Tamariki and the Minister that they have implemented their care plans and I was also very impressed to learn that they had maintained the input of care-experienced young people in the development of that plan. I think that bodes well for the future because it is appropriate for the age group. I did want to make one point of clarification about what members of the public may be thinking if they think that the National Party is getting soft on crime because that's not the case because 17-year-olds that are charged with Schedule 1A offences—the more serious end of the offending scale and they are cases where they can attract a prison sentence of 14 years or more—will still be dealt with in the adult court. So this is not providing an easy out because some of the concern was that we would see the likes of gangs recruiting 17-year-olds because they would get a lighter sentence. Well that's not the case. They will be dealt with in the adult court for those more serious offences. This has been a non-contentious bill. The Social Services and Community Committee has worked well together to come to this point because we all believe that the impacts of this bill and the rights and interests of our 17-year-olds are well-served by it. I commend the bill to the House.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): This is a split call five minutes.