Sabin Mike: Reports — Inquiry into the Identification Rehabilitation and Care and Protection of Child Offenders 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sabin Mike: Reports — Inquiry into the Identification Rehabilitation and Care and Protection of Child Offenders 
[Sitting date: 29 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4945. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MIKE SABIN (National—Northland) 
: 
 I too am very pleased to speak to this report on the inquiry into the identification rehabilitation and care and protection of child offenders 
 
 from the Social Services Committee 
. 
 I think right across this House we would all acknowledge the very important work that was done in this report and the difficulties that are confronted by all of the professionals as well as indeed the young people at the centre of this inquiry. It is a very very challenging area and I just want to commend the Social Services Committee for commissioning this report and the Hon Chester Borrows for his involvement in that. I think it is work that is worthwhile doing and is very much a moving environment in terms of addressing the challenges. 
One of the most challenging features—certainly as a former policeman I can speak to this with some degree of understanding—is the multitude of risk factors and protective factors that are faced by these young people. I would just like to turn to the report and read some specific information related to that on page 13 under the heading “Risk and protective factors”. It states: “We understand that a number of widely recognised factors put children at risk of offending. They include antisocial behaviour or conduct disorders mental health problems suicidal behaviour drug and alcohol use poor academic performance and truancy poor health poor attachment to family and low self-esteem.” The report goes on to outline a number of environmental factors that are also at play here such as a dysfunctional family situation abuse and family violence parents with a history of mental health problems or drug and alcohol abuse and poor parenting. 
The report also goes on to outline what the committee has learnt about protective factors that reduce the likelihood of children offending. Some of these key factors were “supervision and monitoring by parents with reasonable and consistent rules and consequences”. A common thread within youth offending is that a lack of engagement and a lack of parental oversight often see children aged 10 to 13 wandering the streets in trouble and this is something that I have endeavoured to address by way of a member’s bill that looks at the importance of the relationship between a child offender and their parents. This member’s bill which is currently in the ballot would actually provide Youth Court judges with the ability to put a parent or guardian who is entrusted with the custody of that young person under conditions such as a curfew such as a residence clause such as a requirement not to use drugs and alcohol and so on and so forth so that as the Youth Court is endeavouring to deal with these young people it can also be assured that it can get engagement with the parents where the circumstances are appropriate. 
The report goes to make recommendations of a similar nature right through to the Family Court where we are indeed dealing with the 10 to 13-year-old child offenders who will be in front of a judge in only about 10 percent of the cases. Indeed they will proceed through to the Youth Court only where they are involved in a murder manslaughter or an offence carrying a penalty of 14 years or more which is the very very significant sharp end of the offending. 
 Indeed the fact that this report identifies that the Family Court would be well placed to have additional tools to help keep parents engaged I think is a very important part that I have gleaned from the report and I can only hope that today I am lucky enough to have my bill pulled from the ballot. That would be gratifying because I think it would go to support exactly the sorts of recommendations made in this document. 
One of the other real threads of information that I pulled from this report was that so much of what we are dealing with actually falls outside of the court jurisdiction and is dealt with by family community police and agencies outside of the Youth Court and the Family Court. If there is one thing we can glean from this report it is the need for systemic efficiency the need for stakeholders to collaborate and the need for all partners and all parties involved to be mindful that preventing offending is indeed something that we must be focused on. I could go on. This is an excellent report and we should all take heed of these recommendations.