Turner Judy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Turner Judy: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:614;Page:10285] 
12.  
JUDY TURNER (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister for Social Development and Employment 
: Does he have any plans to propose amendments to the Families Commission Bill? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Social Development and Employment) 
: 
 Yes. A Supplementary Order Paper has been tabled today that includes the following changes—ensuring the Families Commission has regard to family strengths and resilience empowering the commission to refer matters to other official bodies and improving the guidance on diversity of families to make it absolutely clear that the family does not include organisations such as gangs flatmates and the like and it has some minor technical amendments that I had hoped the Social Services Committee would have done. 
Judy Turner 
: Can the Minister confirm that the amendments remove any doubt that gangs are not to be considered families for the purposes of the commission’s work and that this was solely the result of negotiations with United Future? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: Yes and yes with the assistance of some very constructive submissions to the select committee. 
Judith Collins 
: Is the Minister planning to amend the bill to acknowledge that two good parents are better than one good parent? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The bill reflects the diversity of families in this country. 
Peter Brown 
: Why has the Minister taken so long to come up with a definition of a family; and noting that the definition in the Supplementary Order Paper is fairly simple and largely precise will he clarify the circumstances and what the statement means: “two or more persons living together as a family”? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: The last would qualify as a de facto family. This matter has not taken long at all. It has been going through the processes of the select committee and is back in the House now. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: Can the Minister confirm to the House whether his Government is continuing on with the policy of being opposed to traditional mum and dad families; if not why are these families not recognised in the Families Commission Bill? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: This Government is not opposed to what the member describes as a traditional family. But I would like to point out that “traditional” for most ethnicities in this House would be the extended family and not the nuclear family which is a relatively recent invention. 
Judy Turner 
: Can the Minister confirm that marriage is now specifically referred to in the bill? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I can confirm that contrary to comments made in the second reading debate marriage has always been referred to in the bill as it should be alongside existing references—for example in clause 8. The amendment to clause 10 proposed in the Supplementary Order Paper also refers to marriage to assist in clarifying “family” and “family group”. 
Judy Turner 
: Has the Minister received any reports from other parties in Parliament as to whether they will support these amendments given their refusal to consider any changes at the select committee? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I expect to see support from Labour the Progressive party and United Future. I hope the other parties will recognise that the Supplementary Order Paper makes improvements to the bill and will support it on that basis. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Since the bill came back to the House has the Minister become aware of any proposals made to him from any parties—other than those he has just referred to—to amend the bill; if so what are those proposals? 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY 
: I have not become aware of any other party wanting to amend the bill. I hope therefore they intend to support it.