Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People’s Commission Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People’s Commission Bill.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

I move, That the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People’s Commission Bill now be read a second time.

I want to thank the Social Services and Community Committee for its careful consideration of the bill. There were over 400 submissions on the bill, which highlights the importance of this matter for the public. The Oranga Tamariki system is incredibly important, not only for our tamariki and rangatahi but for our future. It is important that it has strong oversight to ensure it is operating well for our tamariki and rangatahi.

The bill does three things. It establishes the independent monitor of the Oranga Tamariki system to monitor outcomes for children and young people receiving services through the Oranga Tamariki system. The bill strengthens independent complaints oversight and investigations related to the Oranga Tamariki system, led by the Office of the Ombudsman. And, finally, the bill strengthens system-level advocacy for all New Zealand children and young people by establishing the Children and Young People’s Commission to replace and enhance the existing Children Commissioner’s functions. The independence of the commission has not been changed and will remain an independent Crown entity.

We know that the Oranga Tamariki system has not operated as well as it should or as well as we all expect it to. This bill ensures that the system has strengthened oversight to help make sure that issues can be addressed as early as possible, to ensure that what we have seen before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care doesn’t happen again.

At select committee and in the media, there has been a lot of discussion about the Education Review Office and the monitor being a departmental agency of the Education Review Office. I want to be clear that the Education Review Office will not be undertaking monitoring of the Oranga Tamariki system. This structure allows for the sharing of back-office support and other administrative needs. The Education Review Office will have no role in the operations of the monitor.

There were a number of calls from submitters to pause the bill. Pausing the bill means the Oranga Tamariki system would continue to operate without effective oversight. It would mean that only a narrow part of the system is monitored. There would be no powers for the Ombudsman to quickly resolve complaints and the advocate’s power would continue to be limited. Calls to pause the bill have been for a number of reasons, including to undertake further consultation and to wait until the royal commission of inquiry makes its final recommendations. Consultation with care-experienced children and young people took place in 2018 during the development of the Beatie report. The Beatie report was also informed by the Modernising Child, Youth and Family Expert Panel report that included the voices of children and young people. There were also 22 hui held with Māori, including those with care experience.

We are at the point where we need to start to implement the changes that were called for in this consultation, and that is what this bill does. Our children and young people cannot wait any longer for effective oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system. The bill includes a review to be undertaken within five years. This allows enough time for the oversight system to bed in, and for the royal commission of inquiry to report back. Any final recommendations from the royal commission of inquiry can be incorporated as part of the review. The royal commission of inquiry’s interim report on redress recommended that oversight systems be independent of the organisation being monitored and other oversight bodies. The bill achieves this, and we are optimistic that the bill will align with the final recommendations. However, we are not complacent, and that’s why we have the review mechanism in place. It is imperative that the Oranga Tamariki system has effective oversight as soon as possible.

A lot has been said about the Office of the Ombudsman having the role of complaints and investigation. I want to be clear that while the Children’s Commissioner is an effective advocate, they are not currently responsible for resolving complaints. The Children’s Commissioner’s current practice is often to refer complaints to the relevant bodies who have the powers to resolve those particular complaints, including the Ombudsman. The Children’s Commissioner helps people to navigate the complaints processes by telling them where to go, how to proceed, and can advocate for children and young people in these complaints processes. They can still do this under the bill, but the Ombudsman has powers and processes to investigate and resolve the more concerning complaints. Complaints and investigations are the core focus for the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman has established capability and experience in complaints and investigations, oversight, and is well placed to deliver their enhanced function. What the bill does is provide clarity as to who is responsible and accountable for carrying out the complaints oversight and investigation role, which, as we know from listening to submitters, is currently very confusing.

The bill also enshrines in legislation a process for the oversight bodies to work together to ensure that there is no wrong door for complainants seeking help. The bill also provides additional powers to the Ombudsman to ensure that complaints can be resolved quickly, which we know is important for children and young people.

I want to talk about the key changes that the committee has recommended. There will now be a Chief Children’s Commissioner, who will also be the chair of the board. It was clear from submitters that this was something very important to them. It will now be specified in the legislation. This allows the board model to still be in place and to ensure there is representation of other experiences, including disability, Māori, and care experience. The bill now also strengthens the independence of the monitor by creating a specific duty for the monitor to act independently. This will help to build the trust with the public in order for the monitor to function and ensure Ministers can still request, though, information and reviews, but cannot influence how the monitor conducts its activity.

A function of the Children and Young People’s Commission to report to the Prime Minister on matters affecting children’s rights has also been added to the bill. This is something that was in the Children’s Commissioner Act but was not carried into the bill because it’s something that can take place regardless. However, the importance of this being explicit in legislation has been recognised. These are important changes that will help to strengthen the oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system in Aotearoa and improve the lives of children and young people across Aotearoa. I commend this bill to the House.

💬 Harete Hipango: Mr Speaker.

The question is that the motion be agreed to. The question I’ve got is whether the member would like to start her speech now and have it interrupted, or whether we can now move on to the maiden speech, which we’re just due to have in a few minutes. I’ll leave it to the member to decide whether she wants to have a one-part or two-part speech.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I appreciate the courtesy. I think it’s appropriate in the circumstances to acknowledge the member who is about to give his maiden speech, so I do so accordingly. Kia ora.

I just want to make it clear to the Chamber that at the conclusion of this speech, the House will stand suspended for the dinner break and will resume at 7 o’clock. I call on the gallant member Dan Rosewarne to make his maiden statement.

Debate interrupted.