Hayes JoJO HAYES (National): Thank you Mr Chair and I stand to take a call on the Families Commission Act Repeal Bill. In 2003 when the Families Commission came into being it caused a lot of angst amongst a lot of the providers—because I worked in provider-land at the time. It caused a lot of angst because in the role of the Families Commission it was to act as an advocate for the interests of families. Working within a Whānau Ora context back at that time a lot of providers that I represented were quite concerned about that. How could a Crown entity actually serve to be an advocate for whānau when Whānau Ora workers were doing that work anyway? So there was quite a lot of angst and I was quite interested to read some of the speeches that were done in the House back then. I must say that the Hon Judith Collins' contribution back then was very pertinent. We all thought Yeah she's right. Why does it take a Crown entity to tell families how to love children the needs of children how to love children?" And $28 million being chucked into this great big entity was a waste of money basically. So when National came into Government in 2008 I was pleased to see that they started some work around changing the Families Commission and moving it in towards the social policy evaluation and research unit (SuPERU). I was really pleased to see that because it then started to take that emphasis off what the Government of that day thought that they were doing for families and telling families what was going to best for them. So moving into SuPERU allowed the focus then to become more around policy evaluation and research and the work that came out of SuPERU to inform social investment as my colleagues have already stated in the committee.I think with the advocacy side being taken out of this legislation it is going to be quite difficult really for Government to actually take on that role. Last week when we were speaking on this bill a question was put to Minister Sepuloni about why advocacy was actually being taken out and the Minister got up and responded that she considered that including advocacy in the legislation was—that the Government would be able to do that role better. I disagree with her because I don't think they can. I don't think they can. I think that advocacy whānau for whānau whānau voice for whānau that need advocates speaking for them will actually provide a better outcome for whānau. So I was quite concerned about that. It almost said to me that "Government knows best we're going to be a nanny State" and it's arrogant. I felt that what that did was take the power away from whānau. It took their voice away and I'm quite concerned about that when I hear about that. I think that the work that has been done so far in the Social Investment Agency Oranga Tangata has actually shown through data collection some of the work that actually can come through and show how far the outcomes can actually occur. I think you need some sort of evidence to actually prove that the policies and some of the investment strategies are working for people and I'm going to say it's for our people because a lot of the work around this Families Commission and the repeal of it has been done with Māori families. Māori families show up very highly in all aspects of social services so it's really important that the way forward is done correctly and even though National is supporting this I think we should not be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I think that the Government retaining the social investment agency—I'd like to see them just carry on with the work that we've already done moving further down the road and starting to actually get some runs on the board for some of the most vulnerable people that this whole area around social investment caters for.Just today I had a meeting with the CEO of Te Pou Matakana and we talked a little bit about social investment. His comment to me was that that particular piece of policy through the National-led Government he was 100 percent behind. He said that it allowed them to do a lot more really positive future work with whānau and allowed them as a commissioning agency rather than working from a deficit model to actually start making some runs on the future well-being of whānau. I found it rather interesting that he should tell me that and I said to him you know "Where to from here with a bill like this and social investment?" One of the things he said to me was he just hoped that the current Government would actually keep going with the direction that the social investment agency had started out with.So I think that as I said the National Party is supporting this bill but I think that there have been some questions that have been asked of the Minister that would be able to give us some comfort and those people those whānau out there some comfort that they're actually being heard that the information that's been gathered on them—and I know that our people have been researched right through from day dot right through all of their lives but I think that you know from that there should be some really key core lessons learnt; that the Government should be listening to those in some of the areas that our whānau really do need some support in; and that the future for the repeal of this legislation will see that a lot more response from this Government should actually come out of a new piece of legislation.Without any further ado I think that a lot of the questions that my colleague the Hon Alfred Ngaro asked around procurement of services and how they are going to do that—where is the role of the Whānau Ora providers and the Whānau Ora commissioning agencies? I would like to see that they would take a key role in the delivery of services and I would like to see the Minister put back advocacy within the bill and actually help to give the Whānau Ora providers that role as well because they do a lot of advocacy work for their people for the whānau that they help. A lot of people won't talk to a Government agency. When it comes to things to speak on their behalf to advocate for them they won't. I know I won't and I know that my family won't. My mother certainly will not but she will talk to someone from a Whānau Ora provider in the Wairarapa because she has that trust with them. So I think that you know taking something out just because you can isn't really a good excuse. I think we should take all the good bits and put it all together and then start to move the programmes forward.Anyway without any further ado I see that all of the SuPERU projects have already been devolved to the Ministry of Social Development and that's good because some of those—Growing Up in New Zealand was a very good project and I think we've learnt a lot from that. I am concerned that some of the key learnings that we've had from the projects that have been done could be lost in any reconfiguration of what's coming through next. I think that we can't lose sight of all the good things that came out of it regardless of what side of the political fence we sit on. This is about family. It is about making sure that family get heard have their voice and are able to articulate that and the words and the feeling that they have as whānau. So anyway I close my contribution today. I just want to say you know it's great that we're keeping on repealing the Families Commission Act and that we're moving forward and that National is supporting the next steps. So thank you.Parts 1 and 2 schedules 1 and 2 and clauses 1 and 2 agreed to.Bill to be reported without amendment presently."