Turner Judy: General Debate 
Turner Judy: General Debate 
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JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) 
: 
 Over the last week or 10 days there has been considerable comment about the value that our society places on parenting and in particular on the contribution of parents who choose to base themselves at home for the express purpose of attending first-hand to the task of caring for their children. In a few short generations we have shifted dramatically in our assumptions from the “breadwinner” model of family life to a place where that option is fast becoming what members of Cabinet have referred to as a luxury for those who can afford it. The catchphrase or slogan that voters are meant to draw comfort from is that “It’s all about choice.” The Government wants to set before New Zealand parents a veritable menu full of the great choices they can make about the arrangements they can have for the care of their children. It is a great choice unless of course they stubbornly choose to do the job themselves because that is not on the menu. 
A Government does not create a climate of choice by loading the incentives in a particular direction. Providing childcare subsidies for those choosing to return to paid employment with no reciprocal subsidy for those choosing to parent at home creates an imbalance. Parents do not feel empowered by that system; they feel driven. When the odds are stacked favourably in one direction choices with limited benefits—due to limited incentives—quickly become viewed as the responsible choices particularly when children are involved. 
This push by both the Government and the Opposition to improve workforce participation by both single-parent and two-parent families fails to understand what most parents actually aspire to. They want to be able to approach the parenting season in their life without feeling squeezed and constrained by inadequate income and by exhausting daily timetabling due to juggling work and family obligations that seem to work against each other and without the guilt and anxiety associated with long hours of separation from their children. They want actually to enjoy this time not merely survive it. 
Sociologists are telling us that the new generation approaching parenthood is more conservative than the generation before and included in this unique brand of conservatism are definite hopes and dreams about what they want parenthood to look like. They want to be more hands-on and they are anxious about how they are going to be able to afford the brand of parenting that they aspire to. They are not comforted by the Government’s emphasis on increasing workforce participation and they are terrified at the prospect of a National Party policy that would slam-dunk them if they fell on hard times as parents. 
In an election year it would make sense that parties that want to woo these voters should be developing policies that made the choices about childcare arrangements a more level playing field. Telling these parents that they do not have to be anxious because the Government is able to supply them with several international studies that say there is no advantage to their children in having the parents stay home is cold comfort. Their parenting instincts tell them otherwise and they want to follow their hearts on this issue. 
United Future is certainly attentive to their concerns and will be continuing to work so that the choices parents have are real and fair. The policies that we will be touting during this election will have little to do with dawn-to-dusk care in schools; we will be looking more at the kinds of aspirations and dreams that particularly our up-and-coming generation of parents are looking for.