Turner Judy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Turner Judy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:618;Page:14309] 
11.  
JUDY TURNER (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does he stand by his statement with regard to the development of family support services that “I am confident that MSD’s collaboration with NGOs and other relevant agencies to achieve a more effective and responsive family service sector will not only relieve pressure on CYF but also result in greater practical help for New Zealand families in their communities”; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Yes I do. 
Judy Turner 
: What practical help for New Zealand families has emerged from the family services initiative given that documents obtained under the Official Information Act reveal that all that has happened since the baseline review last year is the creation of 23 new management positions at a national and regional level a list of non-governmental organisations and a website? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I take it that the member is referring to the new section of the Ministry of Social Development that deals with family and community issues. The member will know that perhaps one of the most significant developments in relation to the questions she is raising is the partnership that has been formed between the non-governmental organisation sector that deals with family and community services and that part of the Ministry of Social Development. She will also know if she has talked to the non-governmental organisation sector that it has been extraordinarily positive about that relationship and regards it as one of the most important developments that has taken place in a very long time. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Can the Minister tell the House what the Government has put in place to take forward its approach to supporting families? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The Government of course over the last 5 years has made children and families one of the major features of its policies. That is why we now have a family and community services group as part of the Ministry of Social Development and it is why we have a partnership with the non-governmental organisation sector to strengthen family support. We have been doing a large number of practical things to support families and I point in particular to the Working for Families package which will benefit nearly 300000 low to middle income families with children by investing over $1 billion a year once it is fully in place. That represents the biggest offensive against child poverty in this country in decades. 
Katherine Rich 
: When the Minister talks about creating “a more effective and responsive family service sector” how effective and responsive is the Department of Child Youth and Family Services call centre when in the last 6 months nearly 11000 New Zealanders ringing the department hung up because they did not get any answer? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: As the member well knows the Department of Child Youth and Family Services reports to the Associate Minister Ruth Dyson. But I have sat and listened to questions from that member to Ruth Dyson and the Minister has outlined her concerns about the call centre and exactly what she has done to improve the centre. 
Judy Turner 
: Is the Minister confident in the ability of family services to complete the mapping of local community needs across 20 sites given that documents obtained under the Official Information Act reveal that after a 2-year trial the Department of Child Youth and Family Services mapping of services at six sites was incomplete and had barely started at one site; does he concede that the major problem with the process is that there is a vague idea only of what the outcome should be as opposed to the kind of dual-track model for family support services proposed by United Future? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The local services mapping concept is a very sound one and I do not think anyone in the House would dispute the bringing together of all family and community services in a local area so that they work together as having anything other than merit. The taking up of that approach by the new family and community services part of the Ministry of Social Development will guarantee that it will move faster. The ministry has vastly more resources available to it for this purpose than the Department of Child Youth and Family Services did. That is why non-governmental organisations have greeted the new part of the Ministry of Social Development with open arms and why they see it as making more progress. 
Judy Turner 
: Does the Minister agree that given that the Department of Child Youth and Family Services reported a 30 percent increase in notifications over the last year—most of which the department’s staff themselves admit involve basic family support needs—what our families really need is quality early intervention services and a referral system to community agencies that are already trying to do that work such as the model proposed by United Future earlier this year; if not why not? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can only continue to applaud the commitment that that member and her party have to children and families in this country and say that we always take their extraordinarily insightful ideas very seriously and study them very closely. That is partly because they are so close to the ideas of the Government itself. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Speaking about insightful ideas how can the situation possibly improve when the Families Commission legislation was so loose as to its description of “family” that it would include Black Power the Mongrel Mob the Nomads the Headhunters the Hells Angels Highway 61 and the Filthy Few? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I thought the Filthy Few had closed down to be truthful. I point out to the member that that issue was raised during the passage of the bill and as he will remember it was dealt with so that those kinds of groups would not qualify as families.