Collins Judith: Urgent Debates — Department of Child Youth and Family Services 
Collins Judith: Urgent Debates — Department of Child Youth and Family Services 
[Volume:613;Page:9651] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 It is a tragedy in this country that we even have a Department of Child Youth and Family Services because it is a tragedy when the Government feels that it has to step in and take over the role of a family. No Government wants to have to do that but it is done because families are failing at the moment and they are failing a lot worse than they were back in October 1999 when the Department of Child Youth and Family Services was first set up. Labour took over in November 1999 and today we have had the disgraceful sight of the new Minister in charge of the Department of Child Youth and Family Services trying to blame National which had 1 month in power after the Department of Child Youth and Family Services was set up for the running of that department. She is blaming us for the 4 years of neglect and lack of responsibility that Labour and its cohorts have wrought on this country. That is absolutely a shame and a tragedy to the people of this country. 
Today the Prime Minister has told us that Labour does not set out to put things right. No it does not; it sets out to put things wrong! Absolutely! I would like to know why when Jackie Pivac has resigned and is going off without a golden handshake that Minister Steve Maharey is still on the front bench. He is getting paid the same money for doing a quarter of the job. That is what he is doing. Where has responsibility for the department gone? This particular department has gone from the Minister who refers to himself as having had a life of blameless excellence to poor old Minister Ruth Dyson who has never claimed she has had a life of blameless excellence—and I say good on her for never claiming that. What has happened is that the buck has not been able to stop with Steve Maharey; it has been able to stop with poor old Ruth Dyson. She has yet another unsuspected situation on her hands where she will be able to fluff around make all sorts of comments and try to blame National—when actually National was not in power when all of this was happening—and nothing will happen. 
Today I would like to talk about the work of social workers. I have met many social workers both in my life as a lawyer and in my time in Parliament. Most social workers give a tremendous amount a huge amount to the children in particular of this country. They are people who consistently have to work in an environment where there is a culture of blame on them. It is not their fault when families fail. That is the fault of a Government that sets about destroying the family unit so that people will become more and more dependent on the Government. That is a shame and a tragedy. How many social workers will this country need by the next election? It will probably need another couple of thousand. The reason is that this Government is all about taking responsibility away from parents paying parents to have children that they cannot afford having children shift from home to home depending on how much money will come in the door with them and having solo mothers attract predators who want to get an income from living with them—using children to feather their own nest. That is a disgrace. 
I spoke to Mr Ron Burrows about 6 weeks ago. He rang me to tell me about his phone call with the Department of Child Youth and Family Services in Tauranga. He told me what he had said to the department and he told me that it had said there was nothing that it could do. We have now found out after investigation that the staff member did not even bother to log that 21-minute phone call. He or she denied Mr Burrows had rung the department. Fortunately Mr Burrows’ telephone records showed that he had so that verified him. First the department did not do anything about his call secondly it called the man a liar and then it turned around later and said it was sorry and the chief executive would be sacked. Of course the Minister was sacked too but we are not supposed to say that because he is still on the front bench. Responsibility for the department has been given to another Minister who will at least try to do her best. 
I sat on the Social Services Committee for some months earlier this year and last year and I am pleased to say I will be back there this week as well. I have seen a Minister Mr Steve Maharey come along to that committee and act in a way that I can only say is arrogant. He has a way of dismissing any comment from the committee and any questions that do not fit his spin that everything is just fine with the department. Well everything was just not fine with the Department of Child Youth and Family Services. 
I have had a look at the baseline review. That baseline review states some very interesting things. It states it has come to the conclusion that the particular situation in the Department of Child Youth and Family Services has not improved. It has not improved since back in October 1999. It has not improved after 4 years of that Minister who still sits there collecting his ministerial salary and all the perks that go with it being responsible for the department. Not one thing has improved in 4 years. 
More taxpayers’ money has been poured into the Department of Child Youth and Family Services. I do not think there is a person in this House who would object to money being well directed in order to help the children and families of this country. I do not believe there is one person in this House who would object to that. I think we would all like to see money being used for the benefit of the children of this country who do not have the sorts of families that many of us had—very good families. We would like to see that money do some good but has it done any good? No it has not. The situation has actually become worse. It is an absolute tragedy that no matter how much money is poured into the department we have a culture where we do not take responsibility for our actions and where children are used as a mechanism to get income. That is a disgrace and it is something that this Labour-led Government has encouraged and fostered and will keep on doing. 
One of the things that the Government has stated in this review is: “... we are not able to say what a sustainable baseline for CYF should be.” That is because the Government cannot tell what the data regarding the department are because the department is not very sure about its data. We already know that it does not bother to log phone calls that are 21 minutes long from distraught fathers who are worried about their children—and particularly not at Christmas time because maybe someone needed to go out to see that child. 
One of the things that have happened over the last 4 years is that this Government has been so intent on trying to get the numbers of unallocated cases dealt with that it has actually had a certain quantity of work going on but there is not the concern for quality that there needed to be. We have heard today about the number of people who with their new qualifications to be social workers—straight out of learning to be social workers—have had the buck stop with them. They are the people who have to live with the fact that their actions have not been able to save children and that is not right. They should not be resigning. They are the people who suffer—those social workers and the children and their families—while this Government sits by and does yet another review. When will this Government learn that review after review will not change a thing if it keeps up the attitude that families are not important? 
In my time in this Parliament I have been shocked by the way that this Government thinks it will replace families. It will not replace them while there is breath in our bodies. The family is the central unit of any society. The traditional family is the best unit for children. We see that time and time again. Sure there are some families that are dysfunctional but the dysfunctional ones that we consistently see do not represent the traditional family unit. In fact they are something that has been made up because of the money that comes from the funding of children whether or not they are wanted. That is a disgrace. 
In summary this Minister Mr Steve Maharey needs to go. He needs to go right back to the back bench and to start to learn again. Ruth Dyson who has been given yet another responsibility is sitting there on the back bench. She is in the Labour Cabinet and she is getting all the tough jobs. I am sure she is not necessarily the right person to do them but at least she will have a go.