Turner Judy: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Turner Judy: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7433] 
JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) 
: 
 There were a number of noble signals from the Prime Minister in her statement this week that will if delivered on—I say “if”—begin the small steps on New Zealand’s journey towards environmental responsibility the small steps towards a tertiary sector that is better aligned with the needs of the workforce the small steps towards sentencing reforms and the small steps towards an improved national identity. 
The Opposition has rightly countered that noble intentions do not an outcome make—that is true. However I am interested in some of the issues not signalled in the Prime Minister’s statement that I believe need attention from this Government this year. At the risk of sounding like a dripping tap I bring to the attention of the House the plight of kinship caregivers and most importantly that of grandparents raising grandchildren. These people step into the breach and foster family members. The status and circumstances that led children to have this need of foster care are exactly the same whether it is a non-family member or a family member who will care for them. Yet family members are expected to do the same task with substantially less financial support than all other caregivers. 
United Future welcomes work by the Ministry of Social Development that has begun but urges the Minister to make sure that these people who have waited for a very long time for an improved outcome see something that works in their favour. 
Parents who choose to stay at home to raise their children are given some sort of recognition and support by this Government only if they are not partnered. United Future is pleased to announce that as part of our supply and confidence agreement with the Labour-led Government background work that would need to be done on the issue of income splitting is being advanced. A tax system that takes into account how many mouths are fed from an income gives due recognition to the contribution of both parents when it comes to the raising of children. 
The other issue I am keen to see progress on which is also part of the supply and confidence agreement that United Future has with the Labour-led Government is to look at the age at which tertiary students are assessed against parental income to determine whether they qualify for a living allowance. They are the only group in New Zealand that currently has to borrow to live. A young person who is on the dole will not be income tested against his or her parents. However if that person decides to go to university or polytech and build a future for himself or herself parental income will be brought into question. I think that is grossly unfair. Our agreement is that we will see some definite tracking down at least of the age at which young people are assessed against parental income. 
I am really pleased finally to note that today in question time the Minister Ruth Dyson expressed her willingness to look seriously at the need to establish a Child Youth and Family complaints authority. I say to the House that that situation demonstrates the advantage a minor party has in having a positive working relationship with the Government of the day. Not only do we get to see policy gains through our supply and confidence agreement but we also have the opportunity to respond to current issues and to be listened to and have our ideas considered and advanced. 
Like most members in this House I get a steady stream of letters every week from families who have some complaint against the actions of Child Youth and Family. As members of Parliament we do not have the resources to investigate and find out whether these complaints are valid in any way. But most of us would recognise that somebody should perform this role. We also support and call on the Government to better resource the Office of the Children’s Commissioner which works at investigating those issues as they pertain to children. The complaints authority that we are calling for would pertain to adults who have complaints.