Borrows Chester: Third Readings — 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Borrows Chester: Third Readings — 
[Sitting date: 02 September 2008. Volume:649;Page:18587. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 I rise to make a short contribution. It is important to note that this legislation is important. That may seem to be a silly thing to say but in actual fact it will change the nature of Family Court jurisprudence in this country and the way in which it is administered. National believes that it will be a much fairer system for people to enter into at a time that is filled with acrimony and hostility.  
New ways of addressing old issues within the Family Court will make the movement through a procedure in that court much more enduring and lasting we hope. For instance there is the matter of having to balance open justice and the privacy of individuals but with openness and transparency may well come enduring resolutions. One of the main hallmarks of this legislation is the emphasis on counselling and mediation for those who are going through the process mediation before proceedings are formally commenced and the ability to cut a less hostile track through highly strung emotions at a time when matters start going through the Family Court processes.  
The other very sound practice that will be initiated under this legislation is the recommendation that children attend counselling when day-to-day care contact or guardianship is in dispute. Earlier my friend Dr Paul Hutchison raised the incident of the young child who did not want to see his father. The father sought the intervention of the court so that the young boy could see his father who I understand was in a bad way. That is just indicative of the sorts of resolutions we may get through this legislation and that is a good thing.  
It is so often the case that if only one party has access to a young child then it is that party’s view that is transferred on to the child and there is no understanding of the child of why he or she is feeling that way or of why the child is being encouraged or forced to feel that way. I know from speaking to young children who have been treated a bit like a piece of toffee pulled this way and that during Family Court proceedings that years down the track they wish they had seen things in a different way or had been able to stand back and take a more objective view. It is my contention that being exposed to counselling during this process will encourage even quite young people to have a more objective view of what is happening before them. The decisions and the views that are then conveyed to the court by counsel for the child will be those that will encourage a far more enduring resolution in the Family Court.  
We have also discussed in other stages of the debate the fact that we have such an adversarial system and we have questioned whether it is correctly applied to Family Court proceedings. I expressed the view as others did that in years to come we may get to a stage in this country where we look at a more conciliatory and constructive approach towards Family Court proceedings and move away from a strictly adversarial model. That just sets one view against another and things are hammered out and in the end I am sure the courts end up making a resolution that neither party is totally happy with. But they have to make a decision on winners and losers and that is very sad.  
National members hope that this bill will improve the situation of New Zealand families who are involved in the Family Court process and that the improvement to processes and procedures will lead to better outcomes for those families. It is in all of our interests that people who engage in the courts within our country believe that they have been given a fair hearing. Even if at the end of proceedings they are unhappy with the total outcome they can latch on to some parts of the resolutions that come from the court processes and see that they were reached in a fair and understanding way from their point of view.