Parliament yesterday passed the Third Reading of the Vulnerable Children Bill. Sadly (and inexplicably), Parliament was not in unison on this legislation; the final vote was 105-10, with the Greens and Hone Harawira voting against; more on that later.
Paula Bennett has hailed the passage of this legislation:
The Vulnerable Children Bill is not perfect, and there is no guarantee that it will protect every child in New Zealand. But it is definitely a step in the right direction, and we especially applaud the added responsibility given to heads of government departments instructing them to work closely with other departments, and holding them accountable for that.
In her Third Reading speech yesterday Paula Bennett had this to say:
This is a pretty emphatic statement from the Minister of Social Development. She and her Ministry have been working on these proposals for several years. Mrs Bennett launched the White Paper on Vulnerable Children in 2012, which received more that 10,000 submissions. She told Parliament that the legislation passed yesterday "would be nothing" without those submissions.
Labour supported the passage of the Bill. Sue Moroney began her Third Reading speech with these words:
Parliament is by its very nature an adversarial place. But the two main parties were able to find common ground yesterday.
New Zealand First too found general agreement with the Bill; here's what Asenati Lole-Taylor had to say in her introductory remarks:
There will undoubtably still be challenges ahead, and the Government freely concedes that the legislation is not yet perfect. But it has passed into law, despite the Greens and Hone Harawira not being able to bring themselves to support it, for wholly political reasons.
We will examine those reasons in Part Two later today.
Paula Bennett has hailed the passage of this legislation:
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has welcomed the passing of the Vulnerable Children Bill into law ensuring that New Zealand’s most at risk children get priority in accessing services and support.
“With more than 30 specific initiatives contained within the Children’s Action Plan, this new legislation provides a solid platform of accountability and monitoring never before seen in child protection to underpin the plan,” says Mrs Bennett.
The Vulnerable Children Act confers responsibility on the heads of five government departments, holding them directly accountable for improving the lives of vulnerable children.
The Ministries of Health, Education, Social Development, Justice and Police frontline staff must now ensure that children identified as vulnerable get the services and support they need to thrive.
“Every child in this country deserves good health, education and welfare. Most parents provide that but for those who can’t or won’t, government agencies must step in and be advocates for those children. I expect these children to now go to the front of the queue,” says Mrs Bennett.
The 10 new Children’s Teams, two of which are up and running now, will provide a coordinated group of professionals to plan and wrap services around at risk children early to keep them safe from harm so they can thrive, achieve and belong.
The new law introduces new vetting and screening checks for government and community agency staff working with children including banning people with serious convictions from working in core children workforce roles.
The legislation switches the onus on parents who have killed or severely abused or neglected a child. They will now have to prove they are safe to parent subsequent children.
Other changes include greater clarity in Family Group Conference plans that specify exactly what parents will need to do to meet their children’s needs. Children in care will also be enrolled in the Kiwisaver scheme, allowing better planning for their future.
“While no law can stop children being abused, neglected or killed, this new legislation transforms our child protection system. It means there will more eyes on vulnerable children, services and support will be prioritised and there will be greater vigilance on known abusers,” says Mrs Bennett.
The Vulnerable Children Bill is not perfect, and there is no guarantee that it will protect every child in New Zealand. But it is definitely a step in the right direction, and we especially applaud the added responsibility given to heads of government departments instructing them to work closely with other departments, and holding them accountable for that.
In her Third Reading speech yesterday Paula Bennett had this to say:
This Bill is a critical step in giving effect to changes in the Children’s Action Plan.
These include ensuring joint accountability across Justice, Health, Education, Police and Social Development, for the wellbeing of vulnerable children.
They also include the new requirements for the screening and vetting of Government workers and contractors who work with children.
All up these new requirements will cover around 182,000 New Zealanders.
There are also new workforce restrictions to prevent those with serious convictions, who pose a danger to children, from coming into contact with them.
The legislation will also switch the onus on parents who have killed, or severely abused or neglected a child, and they will now have to prove they are safe to parent subsequent children.
But let me be very clear, the legislation contained in this Bill is a small part of work already underway.
We can pass laws to improve screening and vetting.
We can pass laws that place restrictions on dangerous people where there currently are none.
But we cannot pass laws that stop children being beaten, neglected, or sexually and emotionally abused.
We cannot pass laws that stop children being killed, by those who should love and protect them.
We cannot expect that throwing more money at this problem - without changing how we work - will actually fix anything.
Accepting that this is as good as it gets will not cut it.
This is a pretty emphatic statement from the Minister of Social Development. She and her Ministry have been working on these proposals for several years. Mrs Bennett launched the White Paper on Vulnerable Children in 2012, which received more that 10,000 submissions. She told Parliament that the legislation passed yesterday "would be nothing" without those submissions.
Labour supported the passage of the Bill. Sue Moroney began her Third Reading speech with these words:
It is a pleasure to rise to speak at the third reading of the legislation formerly part of the Vulnerable Children Bill. I congratulate the Minister for Social Development on bringing the legislation forward and bringing it all the way through to its third reading in a timely fashion. I also want to commend the work that was done at the Social Services Committee on the Vulnerable Children Bill, because I think that it did improve the bill, and we were able to ensure, I guess, that some of the more problematic parts of that bill were taken out, actually. That was what happened; quite a significant part of that bill was taken out. I also want to acknowledge Anthea Simcock from the Child Matters organisation in Hamilton, because I understand that quite a lot of what has ended up in this legislation has been as result of her advocacy around the issues for children who are vulnerable, and vulnerable to child abuse. I think we should just call it what it is, quite frankly. So I congratulate Anthea on her involvement in this.
Parliament is by its very nature an adversarial place. But the two main parties were able to find common ground yesterday.
New Zealand First too found general agreement with the Bill; here's what Asenati Lole-Taylor had to say in her introductory remarks:
Talofa lava, kia ora, and thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to talk about this legislation, arising from the Vulnerable Children Bill, in its third and final reading. The legislation sets out to achieve some goals. It proposes solutions that are much needed for problems, given the epidemic that has been in existence for quite a while in New Zealand. We are all aware that problems associated with vulnerable children are complex, and so the solutions identified in this legislation may only go so far. The member who has just spoken, Alfred Ngaro, is absolutely right: it is not perfect legislation; not yet. Obviously, we need to look at this legislation carefully because there are underlying issues that must be clarified.
There will undoubtably still be challenges ahead, and the Government freely concedes that the legislation is not yet perfect. But it has passed into law, despite the Greens and Hone Harawira not being able to bring themselves to support it, for wholly political reasons.
We will examine those reasons in Part Two later today.
