Baldock Larry: Families Commission Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Procedure 
Baldock Larry: Families Commission Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:614;Page:10290] 
LARRY BALDOCK (United Future) 
: 
 I rise to speak on the title of this bill and I wish to say to this Committee that this is an excellent title because this bill is about families in New Zealand. There are 479334 families in New Zealand with dependants and this legislation will address the needs of all those families in our country. It is appropriately called the Families Commission Bill because United Future had a vision at the election in 2002 that the families of this country ought to be addressed in this Chamber and that all legislation passing through this Chamber should be viewed in terms of its effect on families. That is why it is appropriate that this legislation is called the Families Commission Bill. 
 Seventy-one percent of the families of New Zealand are two-parent families and therefore we welcome the fact that this legislation will address their circumstances. However some people would suggest that this bill should have been called the “Two-Parent Family Commission Bill” because those are the only families they wish the commission to focus upon. It would have been a great travesty if that had been the case. The correct title for this legislation and for the intent of it is the Families Commission Bill because 29 percent of our families in New Zealand are one-parent families. In fact I grew up in one of those types of families and it would be abhorrent to the people of New Zealand to suggest in any way shape or form that the family I grew up in was not a family. Clearly it was a family. One-parent families ought to be considered by this commission because if we are to have a better outcome for the children of New Zealand we need all family types to do a better job of parenting. 
Some people would have liked the bill to be called the “Marriage Commission Bill”. While I have great concern about the state of marriage in our country and am deeply committed to the institution of marriage I do not think it would have been appropriate to call this legislation the “Marriage Commission Bill”. If we are to correct and improve the lives of children in this country then we must focus on all the types of families that exist. In this legislation—and we will debate this later on with regard to clause 26—it is possible for the commission to appoint committees that can look into the institution of marriage and at how to strengthen it. I would be very much in favour of the commission doing that. There is no impediment that would prevent the commission from doing that. 
There are also other kinds of families in this country and the statistics from the Ministry of Social Development that have been revealed point out that 0.2 percent of families are parented by same-sex couples. Nine hundred and fifty-eight children or more are being raised by parents of the same sex. Some people would have liked to call this bill the “Let’s Exclude Them From the Definition Family Commission Bill”. Again I think that most caring New Zealanders would consider that to be a travesty also. Those children have not chosen their family form and we need to encourage all adults in this country who are responsible for raising children to be able to do the very best job of parenting they possibly can. The commission has a wide scope of powers. It can address such questions as which family form is producing the right outcome in our society and we expect the commission will adequately accomplish that. 
This bill is called the Families Commission Bill because when we see something of value and a culture in our society that needs to be sustained protected and advocated for we often set up a commission. We already have a Human Rights Commission an Office of the Privacy Commissioner a Children’s Commissioner a Retirement Commissioner a Health and Disability Commissioner and a Law Commission. It is good news for the people of New Zealand that this week we will debate in this Chamber the Families Commission Bill. The bill is aptly titled because the commission will represent the interests of families and we commend the bill to the Committee.