Logie Jan: Families Commission Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Families Commission Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11503. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green):I rise to add another Green voice to our opposition to this bill the Families Commission Amendment Bill. I have heard words from the other side of the House about the streamlining of the Families Commission to make it leaner and more functional. You know they are good words. We like “functional”. We like “streamlined”. But I have to let the other side of the House know that when the community hears those words from you alarm bells go off. That is not what they are looking for and they know when they hear those words that it is about an agenda that is different from theirs.I would just like to read some statements from two submissions that were made to the Social Services Committee in response to this bill. The first one is from the Women’s Refuge and in its conclusion it said: “we oppose the Families Commission Amendment Bill 2012. The Bill will shift the focus of the Families Commission away from the very important function of advocating for families. Indeed the Bill undermines the Commission remaining a commission at all.” Alarm bells are going off in our communities because of the intent that lies underneath this bill.I quote also in a little more depth from the Child Poverty Action Group submission. From its perspective it is saying that “The proposed Bill also removes the autonomy of the Commission by ceding decision-making and direction to the 4-member Social Science Experts Panel who are appointed on the direct recommendation of the Minister and the Prime Minister’s principal Science Advisor. At the same time the functions of the Families Commission are considerably extended to absorb many of the research and monitoring roles currently performed by the Ministry of Social Development. The changes proposed in the Families Commission Amendment Bill 2012 would transform the Commission into an arm of Government further undermining the diminishing support available to families in New Zealand. Child Poverty Action Groups strongly urges that the Amendments should not proceed.”Our comments on this bill are not based on our own ideological view of the world. They are based on the experience of those in the community and their desire for a community where children are able to live to their potential where families are supported and nurtured and their needs are met by the Government. Sadly we find this bill to be another nail in the coffin of those aspirations of our community. It is a sad day—another sad day—in this House when we see those needs being so undermined.I would like to take a moment to speak as well to one of the functions that sit within the Families Commission at the moment and that is the White Ribbon campaign which will be moving out of the commission. I want to speak a little bit more on this. It seems to me that there are two major challenges to our country at the moment in terms of our overall well-being and specifically the well-being of our children and those are domestic violence—violence against women and children—and child poverty. They are two enormous tasks challenges and harms to our country at the moment that we need to be focusing as much of our resources as possible towards addressing. And what is this bill doing? It is taking resources away from those challenges. It is undermining our ability to actually to be able to provide the safe and healthy future for our children.The White Ribbon campaign sits within the Families Commission at the moment but now we are hearing from the Chief Families Commissioner that she does not believe that it fits with the new shape of the Families Commission. In 2011 the White Ribbon campaign produced 623 media reports. It led to 7000 Facebook users a day going towards its page and to 58000 hits on its website. When I look at its website now I have not seen any action pretty much all year. It seems that already even though things are not supposed to shift until 2015 because of the direction of this bill the ability of thecampaign has been undermined to the point where it is hard to see any action whatsoever. That is a shame for this country.