Stewart Barbara: Families Commission Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Procedure 
Stewart Barbara: Families Commission Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:614;Page:10299] 
BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 Mr Adams along with the rest of United Future may have had the vision but we the people of New Zealand will have to live with the nightmare of the Families Commission—a $28 million nightmare I might add. The Families Commission will not do what Mr Adams wants. It will not save even one child. The issue is not about defining families; it is about ensuring that New Zealand children are raised in the best possible situation and the best possible way. This bill will not save one child. 
We want the best conditions and the best outcomes for New Zealand children and New Zealand First believes that the best way to do that is to strengthen the Office of the Commissioner for Children. We all know that children are the basis of families so why not give the Commissioner for Children part of the $28 million that is being set aside and appoint a Families Commissioner who could work in conjunction with the Commissioner for Children? 
Likewise in reference to clause 16 we believe that there should be only one commissioner and one deputy commissioner rather than the huge bureaucracy that is being set up with at least three but not more than seven commissioners a chief commissioner and a deputy chief commissioner. Lo and behold a general manager—or a chief executive as amended by Supplementary Order Paper 173—will also be appointed. I must remind United Future that none of those commissioners or the chief executive will be paid at the lower end of the scale—they definitely will not be. By the time the bureaucracy that has to surround all those officers is in place—the people who will be employed to carry out the research and clerical functions—we will be looking at a giant expensive bureaucracy. When we come down to it we could have called this bill the “Building a Bureaucracy Bill” or the “Biggest Best Bureaucracy Bill”. It is foolish to test the water with both feet by building such a huge bureaucracy. 
New Zealand First would have definitely supported the appointment of a family commissioner to strengthen the Office of the Commissioner for Children plus some additional researchers to carry out research on “families’ resilience” and “families’ strengths” as the Supplementary Order Paper phrases it—whatever that might mean. With this bill the opportunity to support strong families has basically been dismissed. That $28 million could have been better spent in other ways. We believe that unfortunately this giant bureaucracy will not deliver what is required for children and for families in New Zealand. 
I also would like to correct United Future on a point that its members constantly make as they try to ensure that they have a monopoly claim on families—which they do in a rather condescending manner. I remind that party that family-friendly policies were around prior to its coming to Parliament and they will be around long after it leaves. 
The Families Commission will not do exactly what United Future believes it will do. We all know even without a Families Commission that the family is fundamental to the optimal development of children and that many current social problems are the result of a lack of support of that traditional institution. I would like to think that the legislation introducing the proposed commission would have recognised that but I believe that in this instance it absolutely fails to do so and will just exacerbate the current situation. The cumbersome structure that is proposed in the bill and the duplication of tasks that are undertaken by a whole lot of other agencies mean that the goals of the commission will never be realised despite the eloquence of United Future members. New Zealand First believes that the commission is totally neutered. It is political expediency and a sell-out of traditional New Zealand families. It was most interesting too to see that the appointment process for the commissioners is not included in this legislation.