Copeland Gordon: Commissioner for Children Bill — Second Reading 
Copeland Gordon: Commissioner for Children Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:613;Page:9820] 
GORDON COPELAND (United Future) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of United Future to speak in support of the Commissioner for Children Bill. I think it is fair to say that the growth and influence of the role of the Commissioner for Children has earned it a very real place in New Zealand culture and New Zealand society over the years since it was established in 1989. Roger Sowry has already referred to the outstanding work done by the late Laurie O’Reilly and we could also add to that the recently retired Commissioner for Children Roger McClay. I would like to take this moment too to wish the new commissioner Dr Cindy Kiro all the very best as she now takes up the task ahead of her in this most important area of establishing a commission and a commissioner who will look after and endeavour to improve the lot of the children in this country. 
I might say as an aside that in the year 2000 I was fortunate to convene a large gathering at the WestpacTrust Stadium a gathering that was to celebrate the 2000th birthday of Jesus. We had 28000 people come to the stadium that day. We ended up covering all of the very significant costs involved in setting up the concert which had an orchestra and many stars such as Sir Howard Morrison. We gifted the surplus that we raised on that occasion to the Commissioner for Children. We did so because of the tremendous concern in this country about the abuse of children and we thought that if we could make some small financial contribution towards the goal of reducing that it would be worthwhile. So I would like to note that little involvement that I had personally with the commissioner at that time. 
 It is fair to say that far too many New Zealand children are at risk. The statistics in this country are distressing. Far too many children are growing up in poverty. Far too many children are growing up without a father in the home. That trend is not improving but is deteriorating as we speak. We must not ever imagine that putting in place a Commissioner for Children will in and of itself reverse that situation. After all organisations such as the Department of Child Youth and Family Services very often provide an “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff” service. They are there after things have gone very wrong. 
I find it quite staggering sometimes to hear in the House—as we did from the Hon Roger Sowry—that somehow or other Steve Maharey is responsible for children being abused in this country. To me that is just a buck-passing system whereby we neglect the real problem which is: what went wrong in that home at that time? Where did the breakdown commence and what are we going to do about it? How will we build a fence at the top of the cliff? Instead of that we— 
Hon Roger Sowry 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I would not normally interrupt on what you will probably rule is a debating point but having been a Minister of Social Welfare I am very sensitive to the issue of child abuse and of accusing a Minister of being responsible. I certainly did not do that. I just said that the Minister should have done something to strengthen the department. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Let me put it this way; that was an intervention and I suggest that the member might rephrase what he said. 
GORDON COPELAND 
: I would like to do that. I was dismayed to hear the Hon Roger Sowry calling for the Minister’s resignation because of his failure on the basis that children continue to be abused. I think that this kind of thinking—and I am not referring just to that but to the kind of thinking that says that Coral Burrows’ death was the responsibility of the Department of Child Youth and Family Services and then says that it was the responsibility of Ruth Dyson—completely misses the point. We should not be looking just at symptoms but at the underlying disease. The underlying disease is obviously the breakdown of the New Zealand family. 
Therefore it is United Future’s position that we need to start building a fence at the top of the cliff. To start to do that we need to go back to working with the Commissioner for Children and very shortly also with the Families Commission. We need to analyse what the problem is why the New Zealand family is breaking down and what we can do about it. I believe that that is a task that all of us in Parliament should be behind wholeheartedly. It will take another generation but it is very important that we make a beginning for the sake of our children who are after all our future. 
The other point I mention—which I do not think many people have—is that 24 pages of the bill are taken up with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which is set out in great detail. One paragraph in Schedule 2 in the preamble to the convention really struck me as I read it. It states: “Recognising that the child for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality should grow up in a family environment in an atmosphere of happiness love and understanding”. I think that statement encapsulates very clearly the goal that we all have for the Commissioner for Children and for the families of New Zealand—that every child might grow up in an atmosphere of happiness love and understanding. 
I think that never in the history of this planet has anything been more thoroughly researched—and there are now literally thousands of studies—as trying to determine what is the best environment in which a child should grow up. The stunning thing about those studies is that they all come to the same conclusion—that households headed by married couples have the highest average income the best outcomes in terms of education for their children the best outcomes in terms of the health of their children and by far the lowest participation in the abuse of and violence against children; and there is the lowest interconnectedness between such families and subsequent appearances before court in the criminal justice system. 
Therefore for as long as United Future is in Parliament its refrain will be that we need to begin as a society to promote and support marriage in every way. I believe that if we do that then we can begin to put a fence at the top of the cliff and begin to reverse the breakdown in the family that we have been seeing for the last 25 to 30 years—for a considerable part of my life. This breakdown by the way now costs the taxpayer about $5 billion a year. How much we could all get by way of tax cuts if we could rebuild family life in this country! I am very proud to support this bill on behalf of United Future because we believe that it is also part of the solution that we seek.