Ngaro AlfredHon ALFRED NGARO (National): The joy of a nation is when we stop to celebrate all things that are good and great about what makes us New Zealanders what makes us Kiwis—it could be sporting it could be cultural it could be commercial. All of those things the things that we say and uphold—that is the greatness and the goodness of a nation. But the issues that are the shame of a nation are the abuse and neglect. The member Peeni Henare talked about the realities—that is our reality. The realities are that we know the names of the families and of the whānau. We can see the faces of those young children and even children who've been in care and we know the cause and the issues behind them. It burdens us as a nation and it should burden us as a Parliament even here tonight in this place and in this Chamber. The purpose of this bill the Oranga Tamariki (Parent's and Guardian's Responsibility) Amendment Bill in its first reading is to address that very issue.The member who just spoke the Hon Peeni Henare talked about facing some of those realities. Here are some of our realities: there's 158900 notifications every single year on average to the Department of Child Youth and Family Services; there are 33000 further actions that are taken into place—in other words there is a duty of care and a care of concern in which there must be some action taken apart; there are 6100 family group conferences; and there are 5700 children that are currently in care at the moment. So if we're not taking it seriously—if that's not our reality as that member has said—then that's the reason why we're here tonight.This bill is not about playing tiddlywinks. This is not tiptoeing through the tulips or anything else that other members may turn around and say. This is a bill that's serious about addressing the issues of abuse and neglect. If we look into the core roles and responsibility—in fact the briefing to the incoming Minister for Oranga Tamariki declares this: the core role and one of them in section one talks about this is delivering family-led decision-making to address care and protection concerns". This bill is doing that very action. It's saying this: the responsibility and the burden should not just be on children and young people who are offenders. Actually it should be something that should be shared right across the board. This issue has been raised by police social workers counsellors and even the courts themselves. This has come out because what they are saying is this: that we need another tool to hold to account the issues of concern that are out there.At the moment if we look through some of those issues—and let's talk about this. When we think about the youth justice system there are 2400 FGCs—family group conferences—for young people alone 550 young people remanded in residence 300 young people sentenced to youth justice supervision and that number doesn't decrease but grows every single year. To the member who just spoke—and I want to honour him by the fact that I know Bill Wiki too was a great man. This bill does not take away the responsibility or the voluntary nature and the spirit of generosity that people like Bill Wiki play every single day. This is what that does—it says this: that the responsibility is not just with the Bill Wikis of our communities; it's also with the parents and the guardians who have a care responsibility.This is not some broad sweep. This is not to judge and to condemn all parents that are out there. No it's to those who do and have to be held to account—that's what this bill is doing. I hope that New Zealand First will listen to this because they too know the importance of holding a community to account—people who do have that responsibility. We're only talking about a small amount. We're only talking about those as I said—when there is abuse and neglect when you've gone to the point where there is the wonderful generosity of people like Bill Wiki who cared for those who are in need of care who've been abused and neglected. It's at that point where there is a small minority who need to be held to account. That's what this bill actually does.It does two things: it holds them to account. It says this: there are two areas—the liability serves two purposes. It's the relationship between the guardian or the parent and the child. It talks about the importance of that role. It also talks about recognising the consequences of their behaviour. That's about as plain English as you can get. Now if the members opposite can't get that the members opposite need to talk to the police to the youth justice social workers the coordinators that are out there in the community and ask them this question: who else needs to be held to account?I have to say this: if the speakers across the House in the Government are serious about holding people to account if they're serious about addressing the shame that exists in our community of abuse and neglect then they should send this bill to the first reading through to select committee—allow the community to speak allow them to have their voice to declare that this bill is a good bill that actually serves a purpose in our communities."