Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): 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 Legislation Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

This bill is going to strengthen the independent monitoring of the children’s system and make it crystal clear to children and young people who their advocate is. These changes are intended to build on public trust in monitoring and advocacy and improve the governance of the oversight of the children’s system. I don’t want anyone listening, for a moment, to think that there is anything wrong with the current oversight, but this is an opportunity for the House to take it even further and to make improvements to the oversight system. The bill fulfils our Government’s commitment to create a truly independent monitoring and oversight agency for Oranga Tamariki.

In 2022, the oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system was arranged through two Acts. These set up the monitor as a monitoring agency and it made enhancements to the Ombudsman’s functions to handle complaints and establish the commission with a role to advocate for children and young people who have interacted with the children’s system. As I said, there were some suggestions for improving the structures of the entities which were not implemented at the time and continued to be raised by stakeholders. These suggestions were: establishing independence for the entity that monitors the Government and having a clear, single advocate that children and young people can recognise and approach. Although I’m very pleased with the important work completed by the monitor and the Children’s Commissioner to date, I view their current governance structures were insufficient to fulfil these two requirements and wanted the opportunity to improve them.

This bill intends to amend the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Act 2022 and the Children and Young People’s Commission Act 2022 specifically to transition the monitor from a departmental agency to an independent Crown entity with a small, multi-member board, and the Children and Young People’s Commission from an independent Crown entity led by a multi-member board to an independent Crown entity led by a single Children’s Commissioner.

These changes are important. Shifting the monitor to become an independent Crown entity has been called for time and time again, including in previous feedback and in the more recent final report from the Royal Commission Of Inquiry Into Abuse In Care. The report called for robust, independent oversight and monitoring of care as a critical way of ensuring that care providers fulfil their duties to people in care. Establishing a single Children’s Commissioner ensures children and young people know exactly who their advocate is. Although the current board is led by a Chief Children’s Commissioner, having only one Children’s Commissioner is a much clearer, simpler way to create this distinction for children and young people. Together, these changes to the governance of the monitor and Children’s Commissioner will improve the trust we all hold in the oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system and will allow stronger, clearer advocacy for our children and young people.

During the committee of the whole House stage, an important addition to the bill was made, which will strengthen accountability for agencies that are the subject of specific reports by the monitor. This bill will now amend the oversight Act to require agencies and contracted non-government organisations who provide care for children to complete additional reporting on their progress to improve their compliance with the Oranga Tamariki National Care Standards (NCS) regulations. These progress reports will be required four months after agencies provide their initial response to the monitor’s annual report on the NCS regulations.

This is a crucial step to increase accountability and to provide the public and Ministers with important information about how agencies are tracking towards compliance with the NCS regulations. These regulations focus on whether children in care are receiving the right level of care and support and that a plan is in place to meet their needs. It will give Ministers the ability to take decisive action earlier to ensure relevant agencies are complying and working to enhance the wellbeing of children and young people in care. The additional reporting requirement will take effect from the monitor’s next annual report on compliance with the NCS regulations, which is expected in early 2026.

This is not the end of making continuous improvements to the oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, as work will continue to ensure the system is effectively supporting and assisting children. We have included a requirement for the Acts to be reviewed within five years from 1 July 2025 so that we can continue to understand its purpose and be responsive to change. It is great to see when members across the House from different parties are able to work together as we have done with this legislation. So I thank the members opposite for their time, for their understanding, and for their ability to work constructively with us. I think it is really important in terms of an oversight system that there is consistency and that trust and confidence each step of the way we continue to grow it as a country. I commend this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to take a call in the final reading of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. As we have this afternoon completed the second reading and have given substantial speeches in that reading, and as we’ve just had the committee stage, it does feel like we are repeating ourselves over and over again in the same day. But, for the record, Labour is supporting this bill, but we do so with some outstanding issues that we still have with what is being proposed here this afternoon.

We did provide the select committee with a differing view, so while we support the bill, we still have concerns, particularly around the disestablishment of the Children and Young People’s Commission board and the reversion to a single Children’s Commissioner. We had hoped that the benefits of having diverse representation on the board of the Children’s Commission would have been given an opportunity to be embedded and for the benefits to be seen, but, sadly, this has not been the case. But, in saying that, we recognise that a simplified version of a single commissioner appealed to some submitters.

Unfortunately, I don’t think, this afternoon, this is totally enhancing what was there, because the Minister has stressed in her second reading speech and third reading speech that this is more about form and structure over function and substance—that the substance and function that was there for our oversight entities remain as it was but that the structure is changing. While we are achieving true independence of the Independent Children’s Monitor, we are losing the board of the Children’s Commission and the diversity that that offered by having that.

Secondly, we believe that the current Independent Children’s Monitor situation, as a departmental agency within the Education Review Office, had adequate independence, and the feedback that we had on the performance was largely positive. But we, Labour, do recognise that the perception that the Independent Children’s Monitor was not independent enough is important and that if the re-establishment of the Independent Children’s Monitor as an independent Crown entity strengthens the perception of independence, then this is a positive thing, and that’s why we are supporting this bill this afternoon.

But I do want to take the opportunity to once again note for the House that it is disappointing that the Crown—that the Government—did not take this opportunity to address the recommendations in Whanaketia, the final report of the royal commission into abuse in State and faith-based care. In there, particularly through recommendations 85 to 87, there were a number of recommendations about how to ensure that the oversight system is coherent, that there are no gaps, that there’s no duplication, and that it is providing the best oversight that our tamariki deserve in terms of the system. And so our concern is that those recommendations have not been responded to by this legislation. While the Minister has mentioned the royal commission in her speech, unfortunately, in the Government’s recent response to the recommendations of the royal commission, they are not addressing those specific recommendations. So this was a missed opportunity to be able to meaningfully respond to those recommendations from the royal commission.

The last thing that I wanted to speak about is the amendment to have reporting on progress, which was supported unanimously across the House and by the Business Committee—noting that it was out of scope and that this had been a bipartisan approach to bringing that into this legislation at this late stage. Listening to the Minister in the committee stage and also in the third reading speech, the only concern I have from what I understand that amendment to be achieving is that it may be too narrowly focused on the care standards. I want to see—and we will have the opportunity once this comes into law—that responding within four months to the Independent Children’s Monitor’s reports, and so on, is not just the report in terms of the care standards but all of its reports that it has been producing.

We had a report recently, the first of its kind from the Independent Children’s Monitor, on what they are seeing in terms of tamariki and rangatahi Māori within the system, and it was a damning report. There are a lot of concerns raised in that report that need to be addressed. We did raise this at scrutiny week with the Minister for Children, for example, because Oranga Tamariki has a lot of responsibility in terms of responding to those issues, concerns, and findings raised in that report specifically for tamariki Māori, who make up two-thirds of the children in care and protection and in custody. But also, as the Minister noted, Oranga Tamariki are not the only agency who are part of the children system—there being eight, I think, she referred to in the House this afternoon.

So ensuring that we see that response and those progress updates in response to those reports from all of those agencies, and where we are going to see all of that brought together—because we don’t just have these monitoring bodies for the sake of having them; it’s to be able to take their reports and address the issues that they raise. What we are seeing and have heard from the Minister is that her view is that previous Governments and this Government are too slow to respond to the issues and concerns and findings raised in those reports. So I hope that this amendment is going to help bring more transparency and accountability in terms of, actually, the responses to what these reports are finding, because that’s the point of having the oversight bodies—so that we can take action to address the issues that they are identifying within the system.

That’s all I want to add in the third reading of this bill. Thanks once again to all of the submitters who took the time to submit to our select committee. We commend this bill to the House.

Thank you. I rise to speak at the third reading of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. The Green Party will be supporting this legislation. However, where this bill is a step forward, we cannot mistake this as true transformation that will protect our tamariki. Because if we are serious about the wellbeing, safety, and mana of our tamariki, we must be serious about the systems that continue to harm them: the structures that remain colonial and extractive and the legacy of State violence that continues to disproportionately impact tamariki Māori.

This bill gives greater independence to Aroturuki Tamariki, the Independent Children’s Monitor. That is progress, and that is why the Greens are supporting this bill. But we also know the system remains broken. The monitor’s own reports have told us time and time again that tamariki and rangatahi Māori are overrepresented in the system and are still too often receiving care that falls far short of the National Care Standards. The National Care Standards promise children safety, stability, and love. Yet year after year, the monitor tells us that those promises are not being met.

A mirror has been held up to this Government, to Oranga Tamariki, and to all of us. But a mirror is only useful if those who look into it are willing to change. It must be acknowledged that the Green Party welcomes and supports the Minister’s amendment to this bill in Amendment Paper 292. These changes introduce new clause 6A, which requires chief executives to prepare progress reports on how they are responding to the monitor’s findings—reports that explain what’s changed, what’s been actioned, and what remains outstanding.

This is a necessary strengthening of accountability, and it closes the loop that has too often remained too open, and we thank the Minister for listening to the advocate and all of the people who took the time to submit at select committee hearings, whether written or those who came in for in-person hearings. We appreciate you and you are on record as being there for our tamariki.

Hopefully, this will mean that the monitor will no longer issue report after report with little to no action being taken. Agencies must not only respond to criticism but report back on progress—clearly, publicly, and on time. These amendments would also require the monitor to publish these progress reports by the chief executive within 10 working days, ensuring transparency and timely scrutiny. These provisions give the monitor a sharper edge, and give the public, tamariki, and whānau the information they deserve and need. This is what meaningful oversight requires, not just reporting but follow-up, not just criticism but clear consequences and change for the better.

Again, we thank the Minister for listening to the calls of survivors, advocates, and this House, and for bringing forward amendments that help make the system more accountable. I do want to give a shout-out here to my humble co-leader Marama Davidson for all of the mahi that she has done in this mokopuna space, and also, I have to shout out to previous Green MP Jan Logie for the immense amount of mahi, aroha, hours, and thought and effort that she has put into this moment today. So I just wanted to honour them there and give credit where credit is due.

Now, if we truly want to change the system, then we must change the values that underpin it. That is why the Greens are launching a campaign rooted in simple truth. We, Aotearoa, collectively, have a duty to care for every single child. This means ensuring our Government recognises that children’s safety is not achieved through surveillance or reactionary intervention; it is achieved through prevention, care, justice, and whānau strength—stopping harm before it happens. This campaign outlines core duties of care, each addressing a failure of the current system, and each proposing clear solutions across legislation, funding, oversight, and independent advocacy that is encompassing with the royal commission of inquiry into abuse in State and faith-based care, recommendations, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Every child’s whānau and whakapapa must be centred—that means embedding whānau decision-making in legislation, resourcing tikanga-based wānanga, and shifting power to hapū and iwi. Every child must be free from poverty. We must remove poverty from the home, not children. Poverty is the result of political choices. We would replace the broken Working for Families system with a top-up family payment and double the Best Start payment, ensuring that whānau and tamariki have what they need to thrive. Every child must have stable, responsive support before, during, and after care.

💬 Cameron Brewer: Oh!

Were you groaning at children needing care? It really concerns me that that elicited such a response from the Government party. I’ll repeat what I said: every child must have stable, responsive support before and during and after care. I don’t know why that would elicit such a groan—seemingly not everybody in this House cares about children’s stability, safety, and aroha, which will make our country thrive.

Every child must be heard, respected, and placed at the heart of decision making. We would embed children’s right in domestic law, ring-fencing funding for independent advocacy, like VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai and require child impact assessments for every major policy and Budget decision, putting children at the heart of every decision that this Government makes. Every child’s safety must be independently protected. We support fully implementing the royal commission’s recommendations, which includes creating a care safety Act, an independent care safety agency, binding oversight powers and a national care safety strategy. Every child deserves a stable and nurturing home. This means properly supporting caregivers, creating a professional foster care model, and ending the instability that retraumatises tamariki in care. Every child deserves care from a skilled, well-supported workforce. Social workers need fair pay, safe caseloads, trauma-informed training, and long-term funding rounds. We will not achieve better outcomes without investing in people who do the work.

These are not abstract aspirations. They are concrete legislative reforms, budgetary shifts, and by fully honouring Te Tiriti, it would change the care system from the ground up, not just to monitor harm but to prevent it.

In closing, we will support this bill, but make no mistake: this bill is not enough. The Greens will continue to fight for a future where children are not just protected by the State but never harmed in the first place, a future where Oranga Tamariki is no longer needed, a future where whānau have what they need to stay together, a future where tamariki are loved, supported, and free to thrive. That’s our vision, that’s our campaign, and that is duty of care.

Members, the time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break. The House will resume at 7 p.m.

Sitting suspended from 6.03 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Members, we are up to the third reading of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. We are up to call No. 4. It is the ACT Party call. I call the Hon Karen Chhour.

It is a privilege to be standing here tonight speaking to the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. This has been a long time coming, and this has been a promise of the coalition Government—to make sure that we are truly making sure that our most vulnerable and those that are part of our children’s system as a whole have the right oversight and have people watching over them, making sure that they are properly taken care of, and that they are held accountable if that’s not happening. So whilst a lot of the conversation was around Oranga Tamariki, this is about the Oranga Tamariki system as a whole, which is not just about Oranga Tamariki. This includes the Ministry for Children, Police, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development, Education, Justice, and the Department of Corrections, and I think there may be a few more. Each Government department plays a role in our system when it comes to taking care of our children and making sure they have opportunities to be the best that they can be.

This bill is trying to fix a problem that has been spoken about long before I even came to Parliament, and that was around a lack of oversight of the system and making sure that children are taken care of and are safe. We saw in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions that in far too many cases when things went wrong, people either didn’t notice or did notice and didn’t act. So this bill is really important, and it does three key things.

It strengthens the independent monitor. It’s truly independent. It’s no longer a part of a Government agency—it’s independent of that, a separate Crown agency, which will give it that true trust from the public that there is that independence. It will have oversight and will be working and making sure that children are being treated properly. It makes sure that the Ombudsman has the power to investigate complaints, like they do, and that still stays. They can investigate complaints from children and families if they feel that something has gone wrong. The bill also reinstates a single Children’s Commissioner. I know this is a little bit contentious, but back when this law changed, when I was in Opposition, I was very concerned at the way that the monitoring, the oversight, and the advocacy was split in such a way that it would cause confusion for those who were looking to who to speak to when things went wrong.

We needed clarity, and having a single Children’s Commissioner will set out that this is the person that children can go and speak to. It will be this person’s job to listen to children and speak up for them and push for changes when needed. But it will be very clear who is responsible for that.

I know that for far too long issues over the years, probably from even before I was born, often get swept under the carpet because they’re either too hard to speak about or nobody actually has the courage to come out and say what needs to be said. So having this independence and having this independent oversight, and also having the extra accountability of the additional reporting—for agencies having to respond to that reporting and having to keep coming back and showing their progress in those recommendations—adds that extra bit of accountability to make sure that it’s not just another report that sits on a shelf and grows cobwebs while people forget all about it.

We cannot have a repeat of history where young people are often invisible, often unheard, and often feel like the very people that are meant to protect them do the very opposite. I’m not going to speak for too long. This bill has been spoken to a fair bit today. But I’m really proud to be standing here and supporting a piece of legislation that will bring some truly independent oversight to the Oranga Tamariki system as a whole.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise again on behalf of New Zealand First in the third reading of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. As the previous speaker, the Hon Karen Chhour, said, we’ve traversed quite a lot over this bill over the past little while, so there isn’t a lot to add. What I do know is that everything needs improvement, including us, but it’s very good to see that this piece of legislation is an improvement. Issues are identified, and the best thing to do is get on top of them straight away and improve them. It doesn’t mean you’re going to find them all; there are going to be more along the way. It was very good to hear the Minister today talking about there being another review in five years’ time. That is encouraging to know. On that note, I’ll commend the bill to the House. Thank you.

The next call is a split call.

Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Tēnā tātou. E tū ana ahau ki te whakakōpani ake i ngā whakaaro o te iwi Māori me te Pāti Māori mō te pire i tōna pānuitanga tuatoru i roto i te pō kotahi, mō te pire e kīia nei ko te Oversight of Oranga Tamariki Systems Amendment Bill.

[Thank you, Madam Speaker. Greetings to everyone. I stand to conclude the opinions of the Māori people and the Māori Party concerning the bill in its third reading in one night, regarding the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Amendment Bill.]

I truly hope that the adjustments being suggested and considered actually produce improvement in a system that has been broken for so long that it’s managed to fail at least 13 reviews—that every bit of tinkering has been done before.

I stand here to convey our opposition to this bill, because no amount of tinkering, over generations, has produced the shifts required to release the 70-plus percent of children in the care of Oranga Tamariki who are Māori from the clutches of its grip; this is the reality for tamariki Māori trapped in a system that’s failed them decade in, decade out. Tonight, I stand here and just share the sentiments being shared that we really do hope that change comes from what’s being proposed, all the while understanding that when it comes down to looking at the factors involved over long periods of time, we know that the small incremental changes won’t produce the change that’s hoped—that’s the reality—and that the moves aren’t courageous enough.

The fact that we’re here doing it under urgency tells me that we’re probably heading in the wrong direction again. And what’s the fallout of that? Well, the fallout of that is that young Māori children remain trapped in a system—that families remain broken and torn apart by a system. I’ve heard the Ministers, and other Ministers, speak tonight about the fact that many agencies have a role to play and it strikes me that the set of circumstances and symptoms that exist here across the management pipeline of children in State care are not too dissimilar from those in place for managing adults in State care, and that the result of that management of both children and adults in State care continues to deliver Māori the most abhorrent statistics that have been a perpetual nightmare for Māori for generations—generations.

So I do hope that the changes being proposed and that the review in five years produce more results than all of the tinkering that’s occurred in the past. But the thing I want to maybe just say for the Minister, and for those who care to consider, is that dealing with the outcomes of our systems—be they in Oranga Tamariki or be they the outcomes of Māori engagement with police, or the treatment of Māori by police or the corrections system or the justice system—is that the symptoms that te iwi Māori have had to deal with and continue to have to deal with require each of those bodies to take an equal amount of responsibility and not sit back and just say, “Well, this is our area and this is what we do and we can’t help it if that crowd over there—we don’t have any say on what happens over there. We don’t have any say on what happens over there.”

So for the hope and for the sake of tamariki Māori and their families, I really do hope that this House and all of its ministries take the view that they do have responsibility and they have a responsibility to bridge the gaps that are going to produce the better outcomes that are being talked about, because our experience tells us the siloed approach won’t, and if this is a perpetuation of that, then we need to move forward. Nō reira e te Pīka, tēnā koe.

Tēnā koe e te Māngai. Tēnā koe e te Whare. I do want to acknowledge the points that my colleague Tākuta was just making, in terms of this bill and the historic, intergenerational harm that has happened via Oranga Tamariki, in its many different names. It doesn’t matter if you give it a Māori name; it doesn’t mean that it’s going to serve the 70 percent of tamariki Māori who are in State care or the 90 percent of Māori children who are in State custody in youth justice residences. I want to acknowledge the many submitters who said this is such a piecemeal approach. I read Julia Whaipooti, who previously worked for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, who now advocates for Treaty rights, who talked about doing it once and doing it well.

Obviously, this is just part of a number of different recommendations that have come out of the Royal Commission Of Inquiry Into Abuse In State Care, but it is a piecemeal approach and we would have liked to see this go further. The reason we are supporting it is because, if we don’t have Oranga Tamariki in the state of the way things are right now, what does mean, particularly for children in custody? Is it Corrections? Even though there is a pipeline from State care into the corrections system. We can’t accept that with the Government that we have and the way they want to take away the power of iwi and hapū to look after their own children, by removing section 7AA. This is the way that it is at the moment. We have Oranga Tamariki; it’s preferable to Corrections, and therefore we must do everything we can to strengthen the oversight of that body, which is what this bill does; it strengthens the independence, it strengthens the oversight. But we don’t want to get caught in the trap of thinking that because we have more reporting and monitoring, it’s going to improve the quality of care, protection, or custody.

We have had endless reports that have outlined the failings of Oranga Tamariki, the abuse that children have experienced. We have had report after report after report, and it hasn’t changed anything. It hasn’t changed anything, and although the royal commission of inquiry covered the years from 1950 to 1999, we know that that abuse still endures to this day. That’s why we, obviously, supported the Minister’s amendments that she brought previously, which strengthened the regularity of that report back and actually makes an accountability mechanism that means we have to say how we’re actually implementing those recommendations. And we support that. But, again, there has to be a cultural shift, and, as I said in my speech earlier, we have a Government at the moment that believes that we should not too heavily rely on the State and that we should have Social Investment. And, if that is the case, why don’t we hand over the power and the resources to iwi and hapū to look after our own?

💬 Laura McClure: That is the plan.

If that is the plan, that is great. In my previous speech, I talked about the importance of independence that is outlined in this bill, and I spoke about some international examples where things like youth detention centres are independent of politics altogether and how that works better to build consensus on our approach to youth justice.

In this speech—I ran out of time last time—I want to talk a little bit more about the Aroturuki Tamariki - Independent Children’s Monitor and their reporting and what they’ve shown us and how critical they are. As I have said, we are not able to go into State care facilities, we are not able to go into youth justice residences to see the conditions for ourselves, and the thing that I have learnt with Oranga Tamariki is that it can attract some of the most excellent youth workers who are passionate about children and rangatahi, but, in the same vein, it can also attract people who just want to impose power over young people and who can misuse this power.

Every inch of oversight that we can have and every extra bit of power that we can give to people like Dr Claire Achmad and to her office and to her oversight bodies—to the Ombudsman—means that we can have a clearer idea of the picture, but if we don’t have the courage and the bravery to do anything with those reports, or if we just give out empty, hollow apologies every time we realise the scale of the harm that’s being caused by these systems, there is no point in reporting at all. Those are my comments. I’m glad that we can work through this collaboratively, and I hope that this approach will carry over into other areas like youth justice.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I arise to speak in the third reading of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. This is a very good bill that is going to strengthen the independent monitoring of the Oranga Tamariki system. It literally creates more independence for the independent monitor, and as the Oranga Tamariki system, that includes, without limitation, the delivery of health, education, disability, and other services by those agencies or contracted partners within the Oranga Tamariki system.

The State, ultimately, doesn’t want to have to be in a position to be required to care for children, but, unfortunately, there are parents and their communities who are unable to care for children at particular moments in time. That is where the State steps in to help them. We want to have this bill there to make sure that that job is being done well. I commend this bill to the House.

I’m very happy to stand and tautoko this bill tonight. But I want to acknowledge my whanaunga “Doc” Ferris’ kōrero, because this is what I was talking about earlier: the frustration amongst te ao Māori, in particular, with this kaupapa. It always comes down to what “Doc” Ferris was saying, in terms of: is there enough change in this? So we always face this dilemma, in terms of te ao Māori, about incremental change and transformational change, and so for Te Pāti Māori the change is not big enough. And we understand that. I understand that—I understand that. But we’re working within a system where—he should know, and certainly previous Te Pāti Māori people have known—this is not a place where you get transformative change. Sadly, it’s hard yakka, it’s hard work, and we have to pull out of the system, sometimes, what we can, which I think we as a Labour Government were able to do probably more so than any other Government in history, particularly for te ao Māori. This particular Government is not doing the business, and I acknowledge what he says and what the Greens say.

But we have to sometimes grab these opportunities because we have to acknowledge that the perception of independence will be strengthened through the establishment of the monitor as an independent Crown entity. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. It’s a positive step. We understand that many people and organisations in the sector—and that came through the Social Services and Community Committee process—want to see the monitor as its own entity. So we want to congratulate the monitor on its work to date and encourage it to remain focused on holding us all to account for what we do for our tamariki.

But coming back to what I was saying, the kaupapa, particularly of Oranga Tamariki, came to the nation’s notice through te ao Māori. So that’s what I want to say tonight. I want to honour some of those people, my whanaunga, and my brother Des Ratima, who first brought this kaupapa up in terms of Oranga Tamariki and brought it to the nation’s attention in terms of the mistreatment of our tamariki. We need to honour some of these Māori tonight.

So we put some of those questions to the Minister for Social Development and Employment earlier during the committee process, where she was questioned about the relationship in terms of Māori going forward, about the panel that will be set up, what priority is going to be given to the panel in terms of tikanga Māori, and what type of expertise is going to come about, because when we traversed this kaupapa of Oranga Tamariki, we, in Labour, knew that we had to bring a strong Māori focus forward. So we had people like Des Ratima, who’s now moved or gone to the other side. Fantastic work in terms of uplifts and, I suppose, embarrassing us or putting the pressure on us as a Government at the time, and rightly so—there was something wrong. What did we do? We brought a whole Māori focus to Oranga Tamariki with people like Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi, who was appointed to the board; Dame Tariana Turia, who was an adviser; Naida Glavish, who I think helps and supports the Minister today, she was brought on; Tureiti Moxon; Merepeka Raukawa-Tate—these people of expertise were being utilised by us. Matthew Tukaki became the chair, the inaugural chair. I was proud of the work they did in terms of making it clear to their organisation that there had to be a strong Māori focus because our tamariki were being affected.

So we said to the Minister today, through the committee of the whole House process, and quizzed the Minister in terms of her commitment to te ao Māori, and we weren’t dismayed, because there seemed to be some support for what we were talking about in terms of that continued relationship with Māori and in that continued partnership with Māori, which was pleasing, given that this Government has not shown that same type of commitment over the last year, so it seemed to be out of sorts with what the Government was saying.

But this will not succeed if there is not a strong partnership continued with te ao Māori—a partnership, the foundation that was set down by those people that I talked about. And it is important, it is imperative, that that we bring a tikanga taha Māori side into this, because we have people out there—and you heard from Tākuta Ferris this evening—who have just about given up in terms of the system delivering anything for us. I understand that—I understand that. However, we have to make inroads. We have to show our people that, OK, we’ve got this independent monitor, this independent monitor will be advised by people who are strongly in the tikanga Māori area—there will be a change; there have been changes.

See, one of the strong ideas that came from te ao Māori was that Oranga Tamariki should be just wound up, thrown out, and iwi take over. That type of kōrero was put to us as a Labour Government, and that of course will be put forward to the National Government. What we said was “Give us an opportunity.” We tried; I think we were on course. Now we’re saying to this Government, “Well, what are you going to do?”

This, in my view, is probably one of the most positive steps, if not the most positive step, I’ve seen happen within the system. However, we still have our doubts, we still have our reservations, in terms of what’s happening. We’re not sure in terms of the perspective, in terms of this monitor being a supporter. We’re not sure about that perspective, but we do think that we’re on the right track in terms of independence.

Of course, one of the things that the royal commission found was that the disjointed nature of our systems contributed to harm in care, so children and perpetrators fell through the oversight gaps. So the recommendations in Whanaketia were designed to join up the systems to close the gaps. And we’re not there yet—we’re not there yet—in that area. While I appreciate, we appreciate, the bill’s got a five-year review provision, that’s still a long way off. So the timing of this bill was close enough to the tabling of Whanaketia for the royal commission’s recommendations to be given greater consideration as the bill progressed, but the Government’s refusal to do this is indicative of their general approach—and disappointing approach, I should say—to the royal commission.

But I reiterate: we support the bill. We’re on the right track. But if that partnership is not recognised and supported in terms of Māori and that Māori expertise is not tapped into and drawn on, then we will continue with the failures that we’ve had within this system. But I’m happy to say tonight that Labour will support this bill. Kia ora, Madam Speaker.

On this third reading of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill, we confirm that the object of the bill is for the improvement of the outcomes of young children and youth in the care of Oranga Tamariki. I commend this bill to the House.

The next call is a split call. I call Glen Bennett.

Kia ora, Madam Speaker. The true character of a society is seeing how the society treats its children. That’s something that we must always consider in this House, with even every bit of legislation that we focus on, whether it be one that talks about children, whether it be one that talks about infrastructure, whether it be one that talks about health or housing, education—whatever it is—we should always consider the impact on our children. I could sing a song, but I won’t, but you can imagine where it would go—beautiful, by the way; that the children are the future and are the present today.

What we had in the legislation that is about to change this evening was looking at how diversification—how we had more voices around the table, that children and young people actually saw themselves, because to be yourself, to be safe as yourself, you actually need to see yourself. So the fact of what had been set up in the last term of Government was around how does that diversity look for young people who might be Pasifika, for a young person who might be Māori, for a young person who might be Pākehā, for a young person who might be female or male or non-binary. It was about how do we see—how do they see themselves? So I cautiously support where this is going, but also want to encourage and challenge what the new iteration of the Children’s Commissioner looks like: that they will fiercely guard the diversity, that they’ll fiercely guard the inclusion of all young people, of all children; that they’ll make sure that no matter what creed, what colour, what size, what gender, they are included when it comes to the work of the Children’s Commissioner.

Now, the role of the Children’s Commissioner is important because, again, it’s a reflection on our society. So it’s around advocating for children’s rights. It’s about speaking into policies, into legislation, into the decisions that are made in this place, decisions that are made by agencies outside of this place. It’s around speaking up for the rights of children and young people, speaking up for those who have no voice, and being a point of contact—a listening ear—where they can represent, but also where they can report back to the public about how we are tracking as a society, how we are tracking as a Government, how we are tracking as agencies when it comes to our work with children and young people.

So we say yes to this change in law this evening, but we also encourage the Government to consider and continue to lean in, and lean in strongly, to the recommendations of the royal commission—to lean in strongly to what advocacy truly means, and what’s empowering, and allowing healing and voices to be heard when it comes to the hurt, to the harm, that was enabled through the halls of this building, that we allowed to happen.

I want to finish by thanking those who work, who advocate, for our tamariki and for our young people. I’m talking about those who are passionate advocates, who come and bang on the doors of electorate offices, who speak into select committees, who speak into MPs’ offices and into agencies around the country, and who go to schools. I’m talking about those who volunteer, and those who give their time; those who teach; those who are social workers; those who work in sexual harm; those who work in liberation movements, when it comes to kaupapa Māori spaces, when it comes to ensuring that every child and young person has a voice. I want to say thank you to the caregivers and to those who work tirelessly to protect, to empower, and to build the children of tomorrow—of the future, but they’re our people of today.

Finally, to our tamariki, to our young people: we talk about you being the future, but you are the present as well. Sometimes you might not know what standing up and speaking up means—what it means to advocate, to reveal what is going on. We say: please speak up, please find spaces, please find safe people that you can speak to, to advocate, to make sure that you will thrive and be incredible members of our society. To our tamariki, to our young people: the challenge for us is to be a decent society where we lift you up and treat you at your best.

It is with great honour that I stand to speak in support of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill in this third reading. It’s great that we do have agreement across the House with pretty much most of the parties in this Chamber, because this is a very important bill. It will strengthen the independent monitoring of Oranga Tamariki, and, of course, they look after the most vulnerable in our society.

This bill will return the Children and Young People’s Commission back to a single commissioner, moving away from the current five-member board, and I think it’s very important that these issues don’t fall between the cracks. This will give children and young people a single, visible advocate, and I think this is really important. Therefore, I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you. Just to be clear, what we’ve had in recent days is we’ve had a commission where there have been five commissioners, and there’s been a chief. So we haven’t not had somebody who is taking that lead, but we’ve also had others joining in and making those decisions. What we’ve seen is a commission that—and a commissioner, a chief commissioner—that has been prepared to stand up against Government policy. I made that point in my last speech, but I just want to talk about that again because I think it’s really important to the public.

This is a group of people who are focused on the interests of children, and the current chief commissioner came out and said that she was very concerned about this year’s Budget in terms of the impact it had on our children. She was really specific about saying that this Government needed to look at things very differently from the way it was and it needed to allocate resources differently because she had a report that comes with the Budget to look at. She could see that the poverty statistics, the deprivation statistics, were going in the wrong direction as a result of this Budget, and so she was commenting on that.

She also made strong comments about what are often called “boot camps”. She talked about military-style camps in general and she said that there is no evidence that says that they work. She talked about what did work and where the resource should be going and how it would be best going to serve the children of this nation. So it was very interesting—just two of the examples of what she did, and she does a lot of things. She, I think recently, came out with strong comments also about the funding cuts to our community organisations, because that cuts straight across the interests of our children, and the Oranga Tamariki system cut funding to a lot of those organisations.

The Auditor-General has come out with a report too. It’s another independent organisation coming out with a scathing report on that funding cut and its impact on children. So this is absolutely a voice that the Labour Party values. And what the commissioner, the chief commissioner, had with her were five people from variant backgrounds. They were from all sorts of walks of life. It must be enormously helpful in a leadership team—most modern leadership teams no longer rely on one person; they are teams. It must be helpful to the strength of what they say to be able to say it as a team, to have different perspectives and disagreement and come to a consensus over what is to be said, especially when you’re doing something quite scary and brave and it really does matter what the people in power are going to make of it.

So I am hesitant about that aspect of this bill, and I remain so. Nothing that has been said today in the House has made me comfortable about that decision to go back to one person when we in fact had five joining that discussion. I don’t think it’s the end of the world. I think that we have very good people doing this kind of work, and there will still be a board, there will be a smaller board. It won’t be at the same kind of structure, but there is still a board.

I’m sure that those people who are appointed to the board, and the chief commissioner, as she changes her role back into being in the single-leadership position, will be brave and do their best. So I think that the legislation has the upside of looking more independent, and there was a balancing act to be done there. We in the Labour Party have decided to support it because there’s more up-side than down-side in this legislation. There is a small step taken in the right direction.

There’s also a really interesting aspect of this, which is the five-year review. I wish we did more of it in this House. I wish we were humble enough to say, “We might not have it all right. We really need to see what happens next, and we need to start reviewing our legislation.” It just makes sense. We cannot know what the unintended consequences are of everything we do in here, and to monitor like this, to review in five years, makes a lot of sense to me. So I absolutely commend that aspect of this bill.

I just wanted to talk now about the issue over the connection between this and maybe the disconnection between this and the abuse in care inquiry, because we’ve had this enormous effort made. The royal commission is something which was very traumatic for those involved, very worthwhile for us all. We have ended up collating terrible stories from around New Zealand of people who have been impacted, and it was our children who were impacted by what went wrong in our system. While I understand Laura McClure’s remark that it’s not all about Government, we do have a role in Government we can never shirk away from. We have a role to pull the levers that we can pull—and it doesn’t mean that’s everything, but it does mean that we never shy away from our responsibility to amend the system.

What we know in the commission was that there was also an enormous amount of information coming in from ordinary people in New Zealand who had been harmed. All those people fed into a process, and what came out of it were recommendations. There were three recommendations—and they were recommendations 85, 86, and 87—which all went to the issue of our children falling through the gaps of the different kinds of monitoring that we have. The recommendations are all about putting a system together which is more comprehensive so that our kids don’t fall through the gaps. That is the aspect of this that worries me most.

We have done so much work in the abuse in care inquiry, and we have been given the gift of these recommendations. What we could have done here is we could have incorporated those recommendations into the solution that we have today. Unfortunately, we don’t have that. It hasn’t happened. That doesn’t mean it cannot happen, and so it’s very important that I record on the Hansard the suggestion that that’s something that we should look at here.

Yes, I think five years is a long time away for that to happen. So I would hope that that happens sooner, under this Government or under the next Labour-led Government, because it’s so important—and that won’t be five years away—that we do that work, that we actually honour the horrible torture and the stories of harm and trauma that have been shared with us in that report and that have come to recommendations. This was somewhere we could have done that, and we haven’t. So I ask this House to consider its duty to do that in the near future, not wait for five years, because it’s so important. We can talk all we like about how we want a different system and it’s not us, it’s not the Government, it’s every other lever, but actually, this is absolutely in our tool box. We could make that kind of change.

So while I accept that change is often incremental, change is often about just doing what we can all agree can be done, and we should be commended for doing that tonight. Almost every party is supporting this legislation. I also ask this House to be braver about looking at those recommendations and incorporating them as quickly as possible into solutions so our children don’t fall through the gaps. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I stand to take, I think, the last call on this bill, the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System Legislation Amendment Bill. It’s all about improving outcomes for children and young people in New Zealand, and what could possibly be more important than that? I commend the bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a third time.

I declare the House in committee for further consideration of the Employment Relations (Pay Deductions for Partial Strikes) Amendment Bill.