Gallagher Martin: Care of Children Bill — Second Reading 
Gallagher Martin: Care of Children Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:621;Page:16466] 
MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) 
: 
 The last contribution was one that I respect; I compliment the previous speaker. I say to listeners that they were not listening to a radical left-wing member of Parliament; they were listening to a National list member from Otago. 
I think her speech adequately summed up what the bill is all about. Parliamentarians irrespective of their political persuasions and contributions are doing their best to get their heads round legislation that was designed to protect the welfare of the children of this country. The last contribution along with others adequately highlighted that there is no quick glib fix to a number of these matters and that beneath some of the sensational headlines is the reality of our trying to get an adequate balance to ensure that the welfare of our kids our nation’s children is adequately protected. 
Over the weekend along with other members of Parliament it was my huge privilege and pleasure to be part of Children’s Day—in my case in Hamilton. Church groups volunteers and the city council were involved in that particular festival. I want to highlight the wonderful people out there who are doing their bit in the wider sense to make kids’ lives in this country better. 
In this brief contribution I take the opportunity first of all to compliment the Justice and Electoral Committee on its great work on the bill. I think we will be better off for this bill. I am one of those people in this country who do not look on the good old days with any sense of nostalgia at all. I tell members bluntly that from the experience of my own extended family and even of my own parents in terms of some broader parenting issues I have no nostalgia for those times. My parents were wonderful parents to me—make no bones about that—but I have no truck with the idea that in some sense society was better 40 or 50 years ago. I am sure if we went into some of those closets and examined the old skeletons there we would see adults who failed their children big time. Other wonderful adults—aunties uncles grandparents mothers sisters brothers fathers and whatever—did a wonderful job for their kids but let us have no nostalgia for the good old days whatsoever. 
In the brief contribution I want to make I pay particular tribute to one group of New Zealanders—in particular those in my electorate—among the many involved in this issue and that is the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust. They are a fantastic group. If any group highlighted for me the limitations of the previous Act in recognising the role of the broader family in the care and protection of children it was that group. I hope this bill goes a distance towards recognising the role of the wider family in the care and protection of children. 
I was not on the Justice and Electoral Committee—which is my regret actually—and I thank the select committee for the good work it did. I believe that this bill takes us further along the road to providing a better environment for the care and protection of our children. 
Debate interrupted.