Ngaro AlfredHon ALFRED NGARO (National): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. There are many sayings that people say but finally the time has come for a bill that started off with good intentions to then come to its end and it's lived a life in which it set out a line of inquiry that made us ask the questions around the importance of family. It made us ask about the importance around family and whānau and I think that's important to what this bill intended back in 2003. As members have known throughout our debate in the House at the first and second readings committee stage and now at the third reading we have known the history of this and where it's come from. So it started off as a coalition agreement to set up a commissioning agent such as the Families Commission which not only would just be an advocate for all of those things that are important but also would begin to ask the questions around policy and how we then could develop research inquiry and data that would inform policy in a way that would create better outcomes for our family and our whānau as well. So again with the other speakers so far I absolutely agree that its time has come. It's lived a good life. It's succeeded in its intent and now it's evolved into other areas. I want to acknowledge the fact that now that has spread out and some of the residual responsibilities have gone through to the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Social Development and also to the Social Investment Agency as well. That becomes important because now it's embedding itself. I want to acknowledge some of the work over that period of time and in particular the Families and Whānau Status Report. As has been mentioned there's the importance of being able to understand the complexity the diversity of family and whānau and also how in a sense that can again inform some of the policy development in Government as well. I also want to acknowledge the Family Violence Clearinghouse and how that's been important. So it's a cross-agency data set that allows for all of those stakeholders that are involved in dealing with the issues around family violence so that they can be better informed to be able to then make their decisions on what sort of practice at the front line would be important as well. So I want to acknowledge that work that has happened. What I would like to do in closing off my speech is in a sense to still hope that as this transfers over as it evolves into the different roles of the different ministries the important aspect of the line of inquiry and the social investment understanding and thinking will continue. The reason for that is that part of that approach was about first of all holding the line of accountability to our Government departments. That's what the intent was when it first began first of all. We cannot ask of others what we haven't asked of ourselves. That was the intent of this and I do want to acknowledge the Rt Hon Bill English because it was that approach that he took to the public sector—that if we're going to go out and we're going to have an approach of looking for changes and outcomes that are better for our family and our whānau in our communities let's first of all hold the mirror to ourselves. So social investment was first of all to ask the question of us of a Government and Government departments as to how in a sense it's not only procuring services of support but also how it actually conducts its roles of responsibilities and its duty of care and I think that's really important. I hope that that continues and all indications are that it will. What that does is it's not afraid to actually reflect the truth that sometimes even our own systems are at fault for some of the conditions that have happened to some of our family and whānau as well. I think that that's critically important. It asks the question around social investment that for all that we invest how do we know that we are making a difference? It may seem like a simple question to ask but when that was asked initially almost 10 years ago the answer was that people didn't know. I hope that what this will do is ensure that we continue to ask those tough questions those hard questions as well. The other thing that I think is really important is around the fact that when we talk about measurements—and just recently we've been having submissions talking about the aspect of how do we measure whether it be poverty or other areas of hardship income and material—what's also emerged out of this is the aspect of what we actually use as forms of measurement. The concern that's been raised—which those of us even on this side would also raise as a concern—is that there are times when we use a deprivation index. In other words we measure things by the things that we don't have. Where a number of community providers and others have actually started to question that we need to also ensure that we use a strength-based approach. In other words sometimes cultural constructs for certain communities have a different way of measuring well-being and it may not just be income and it may not just be material hardship. There are other ways to be able do that and in that line I want to be able acknowledge the work of the commissioning agencies around Whānau Ora because they have developed the work which is in line with the aspect of family and whānau and how we report on that—in a sense what do they consider as being the well-being conditions or indicators of well-being as well? And it's in line with the work that's come out of the Families Commission. So I want to acknowledge that. I hope that that continues and that we will have the ability to be able to be balanced in the inquiry between the measurements that we have the targets and indicators so that we have both the aspect of using the deprivation index because that becomes important—but at the same time too it balances that with a more strength-based approach. I think that's critically important. So with those comments I too like others want to commend the bill to the House. But more importantly again I want to thank those who over a period of time since 2003 have previously been commissioners CEOs managers researchers office staff—everyone that's been involved employed contracted and supported to ensure that the work of the Families Commission was not only the advocate for those things that are important but also the supporter of research and data that would better inform our Government departments and our agencies as well. So I commend this bill to the House.