Radhakrishnan PriyancaPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Tēnā koe Madam Assistant Speaker. It is an honour to take a call on the Families Commission Act Repeal Bill as someone who has been a social policy researcher before and a social worker as well. It is however slightly bitter-sweet as well given that I have had a fair bit to do with the Families Commission and the social policy evaluation and research unit—which is more popularly known as SuPERU—in some of my prior lives I guess before I came to this House. When I was a newbie researcher looking into the issue of forced marriage in New Zealand it was the first piece of research into that area that was done in New Zealand and the Families Commission was one of many entities that I approached for support in terms of the research work that I was doing. I want to thank them for the support that they gave me and for the work that they've done over the years. I want to take a moment as we—and actually before that I might just go into the purpose of this bill which of course is to repeal the Families Commission Act 2003 and to disestablish the Families Commission. Given that we are discussing the disestablishment of something—an entity that has been going since 2004 and has contributed tremendously to the social policy research landscape in New Zealand—I think it's apt to take a moment just to thank the board the chief executive (CE) and the successive CEs over the years and the staff who have worked at the Families Commission and now SuPERU for the work that they have done for their contribution to evidence-based research in New Zealand and for their unwavering focus on improving the well-being of families and whānau since their establishment back in 2004. Now it is heartening to know that as a result of this bill—and this bill does have support from across the House which is great. Actually at this point I might bring in a point made by a member on the Opposition benches which was that it was started by the Hon Anne Tolley and just recognise the work. I mean it might be that we're supporting this because the disestablishment has gone too far but I do want to just take a moment to acknowledge the work that has been put into this bill and also the process of disestablishment to date. Kieran McAnulty: Fair call fair call. They still fluffed about though. PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: Well yes but you know we've still got to acknowledge some of the work even if it was a little bit fluffy as the member Kieran McAnulty puts it. But anyway the work of SuPERU will not be lost and that is incredibly important because there is a huge amount of research. A large number of publications I understand will still be available. There have been online guidance materials and tools that have been produced by SuPERU that will continue to be available to those who really need them. An example of that which has been taken up a fair bit in the community and voluntary sector more specifically is the NGO capability guidance material and tools. So for those who might be watching at home and so on and so forth let's just also go into a little bit about the functions of SuPERU and what would happen to some of those functions if this bill were to go through to select committee. One piece of work that I want to highlight is the Families and Whānau Status Report and related work that SuPERU has been conducting or undertaking in that space over the years. That will transfer to the Ministry of Social Development and I understand that former staff who have been working in that area of research have also transferred to the Ministry of Social Development which is great from a continuity point of view. So what is the Families and Whānau Status Report? It's a report that is published annually and measures how New Zealand families and whānau are faring across a wide range of well-being measures. Another contract that has been undertaken by SuPERU is the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study. The cohort for that I was quite happy to notice is broadly generalisable in terms of ethnicity and socio-economic status to contemporary New Zealand and that's a nod to how the research has been undertaken by this entity which is in keeping with the changing demographic—the changing face—of New Zealand. The purpose of this particular study is to provide evidence about what shapes children's early development so that every child in New Zealand can have the best start in life. This was a study that was started in 2008 and it will also be transferred to the Ministry of Social Development. Now another area that SuPERU has had oversight over is the Family Violence Clearinghouse. Having been an advocate in this space and having been a family violence activist and a policy analyst in this space as well the Family Violence Clearinghouse is a part of SuPERU that I've had a lot to do with. Some amazing research reports that have been produced by the Family Violence Clearinghouse are still available online so I just want to urge everyone to go back and have a read through of the research that's come out from SuPERU because as I mentioned before it's still available online and it's absolutely valuable work. Family violence has been a key priority of SuPERU since 2005. Actually the Family Violence Clearinghouse has been known to be the national centre of research and information on family and whānau violence so I'm really pleased to note and highlight that this work won't be lost—that the Family Violence Clearinghouse contract won't be lost but it will in fact be transferred to the Ministry of Justice. Now we all know that Government policy absolutely has to be based on evidence—on sound good robust evidence—and SuPERU has demonstrated this time and again. One of the reasons that we have to as members in this House be cognisant of the fact that our policy must be evidence- and research-based is partly because areas like social policy research—social and cultural problems I guess—are often known as wicked policy problems. They're known as wicked because they're difficult or they're impossible to solve for a number of reasons: for one it could be that there's incomplete or contradictory knowledge; the number of people and the opinions involved; the fact that these policy issues pose a large economic burden on the country; and the interconnected nature of these policy problems really. For example poverty which is a social policy issue is linked with education. Education is linked with nutrition. Nutrition again is linked to poverty and the economy. So it's that all these different social policy areas are interconnected in the way that if you make a policy change in one space it often has ramifications and implications for other policy spaces as well. So it's really important when it comes to issues like crime—which of course is outside the ambit of the social policy space. But for things like poverty or if you're looking at social welfare you've got to look at them in a way that is cognisant with other policy areas as well. So in a sense taking it out of SuPERU disestablishing this entity and mainstreaming the research is potentially a good way of looking at the interconnected nature of these different social policy areas. So they're complex. They're hard-to-solve policy issues and that's why they're called wicked problems not because they're evil—and I just feel the need to point that out at this point. So there's no real quick fix for any of these policy issues but careful consideration is absolutely required and that's what we're going to see. With the disestablishment of this entity and the mainstreaming of the research areas what we must absolutely highlight is that the work will not be lost. It will remain; it will just take place in a slightly different form. I also want to note the staff who have worked there. There have been I think close to 30-odd staff members employed by the entity and they've been given options to move on—some of them who've had responsibility in specific areas—to the ministries that will now be overseeing these pieces of work. So I just want to say once again that I thank the Families Commission and SuPERU for the work that they've tirelessly been involved in. It is my pleasure to commend this bill to the House. Thank you.