Smith Murray: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Smith Murray: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10988] 
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
: 
 In my maiden speech I said: “I believe that the primary cause for most of the problems our nation faces amongst its families comes down to the usurping by the State of the responsibilities of the community and the demise of the Church’s role and status in relation to both the community and the State. The rebalancing of those three sectors of our society is I believe the only way to bring about a lasting solution to the growing law and order health education and welfare problems we face as a nation.” I went on to talk about the need for community autonomy from Government intervention. At the heart of the community is of course the family. Firstly I thank the Prime Minister and other members of the Labour caucus including Martin Gallagher this afternoon who acknowledged United Future’s success in putting the family back on the agenda. Prior to United Future coming to this House the family was barely mentioned. Now it seems that it is every party’s focus albeit disparagingly as far as the Opposition parties are concerned. 
It has been United Future that has put the family back into the centre of our society and that has taken active steps to ensure its growing stability and growing security. The family is the first government that our children are subject to. That is an important consideration. There is therefore an important need for Parliament to respect the family’s authority instead of usurping it and to intervene in the exercise of parental authorityonly when there is a clear imperative to do so. 
Later on this year I will lodge a member’s bill concerning parental discipline to set out criteria that the court should use to assess whether physical contact by a parent with a child is justifiable discipline or unjust abuse. There is a world of difference between the two. 
At this point I really want to address the relationship between the State and the community and the usurping by the State of the community’s role. We see it very clearly in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services mess—poor management poor methodology and poor performance. The Department of Child Youth and Family Services always has a dilemma. It is criticised for infringing on parental rights if it moves too quickly to remove a child from his or her home and it is criticised for failing to protect children if it moves too slowly. The problem is that when the Government gets involved in these activities it can work only as a blunt instrument. The Department of Child Youth and Family Services is a typical blunt instrument. Because it has usurped the role of the local community which knows what is happening in families far quicker and far better than any State agency the local community has been pushed aside. 
The Department of Child Youth and Family Services in its current form cannot and will never be able to cope with the demands placed upon it and deliver the results that it is asked to deliver. That is why having brought the family back to the centre stage United Future is now looking to re-empower communities in order to restore them to their role in building a healthy society. 
Having achieved all the policy goals that formed the basis of our support for the Government within 18 months of arriving in Parliament we have now set some new ones. One was alluded to in my maiden speech as well. I said: “Resourcing community groups through encouraging a greater level of giving by individuals and companies to community organisations is another valuable tool in achieving community independence from State intervention.” One of the things we will be pushing the Government for this year is to raise the donation rebate threshold to $5000 for donations made to registered charities. But we will do more than that too. We want to encourage a tax rebate for people who give time rather than money to registered charities. 
In both these ways we would encourage communities to become self-sufficient. We want to re-empower community organisations. Re-empowering will be done by individuals and businesses in these communities—not through Government handouts and not through other control mechanisms. 
There also needs to be a radical overhaul of the Department of Child Youth and Family Services involving greater community partnerships in order to decentralise this unwieldy bureaucratic organisation. United Future will be pushing this year for that sort of reorganisation. This is the way forward for New Zealand and once again United Future is leading it.