Dunne Peter: Families Commission Bill — Third Reading 
Dunne Peter: Families Commission Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10694] 
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
: 
 I want to start with the point that the previous speaker ended on. She talked about the National Party’s proud 67-year history of commitment to families. It is so proud and it is such a deep commitment that just 9 weeks ago for the first time in those 67 years it appointed a family spokesperson—the member who took a point of order recently. 
I have listened to this debate today with extraordinary amazement. I have been in this House long enough to think I have seen most things but I have seldom seen a debate like this one which is so lacking in argument and substance and so dripping in petty jealousy from members opposite. Their arguments have nothing to do with whether a Families Commission should be established; they have everything to do with the fact that we promised that one would be established we are establishing one and we will ensure that it is adequately resourced to do the job it is expected to do and those members opposite do not like it. 
They claim that we should support all sorts of other organisations. They fail to say that every single one of the organisations they have named supports the establishment of the Families Commission. Every single one of them says it wants this commission in place it sees the value it can bring and it looks forward to it beginning its operations because it wants to work alongside it. The only problem is the National New Zealand First Green and ACT parties have a different view. 
Well I want to say—and I will say it to John Carter because he is the one person opposite who is capable of listening and understanding it if he gets off the telephone for long enough—United Future will not support any future Government that does not support the Families Commission. My comment about the member who is just leaving the Chamber is that her comments today in strong opposition to the Families Commission would I suspect come as a surprise to her leader Dr Brash because he is starting to talk about building wider coalitions. Let me repeat what I have just said: any party that does not support the Families Commission will not have the support of United Future if it is in Government period. That point needs to be understood not as a game of one-upmanship— 
Jim Peters 
: We’re all shaking over here. 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: The member opposite does not count. He knows it. He will go back to the far north go fishing and we will be none the sadder for his departure. Let me make this point. 
Jim Peters 
: The member doesn’t know about these issues. 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: The member opposite knows does he? Let me say to Mr Peters that he may not know it but most people around New Zealand laugh at him. I will move on from there. [ 
Interruption 
] This commission— 
Jim Peters 
: The member doesn’t know! 
Hon PETER DUNNE 
: It is the truth. The member might not like the truth but it is the truth. People will be rocking in the aisles right now at the thought of that member interjecting. As for Mrs Stewart they do not even know who she is. 
I come back to the Families Commission. This commission is being established because when we look a little bit under the veneer of New Zealand society we see that the statistics about the state of our families are appalling. We have the world’s second-highest rate of single-parent families. We have 65 percent of our young male offenders being brought up in homes without a father figure present. We have 40 percent of our criminals aged between 14 and 18. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The member who is interjecting said that the problem is we are taking too diverse an approach. I say to that member that the reality is families in New Zealand come in all shapes and sizes. Families in New Zealand do have a whole variety of structures. If we are to tackle the problems—and let us get real for a moment—yes the two-parent mum and dad family is the ideal we can strive for but it is actually a minority in contemporary New Zealand. If we are to strive for that ideal we should not start by saying to a whole range of family structures and their children that they are automatically excluded and do not count. We will not make progress in that way. We have to say that the ideal is as we have said and will continue to say the two-parent family but the reality is often somewhat different and we need to work with all groups if we are to achieve that ideal in time. I cannot understand members opposite who seriously think that by somehow setting New Zealander against New Zealander—because that is the implication of what they are saying—we will build a cohesive society we will build a country where our families feel included and we will do something about addressing those statistics I mentioned a moment or two ago. 
The member who spoke before asked about the situation in the Wairarapa and those families there. We will not turn dysfunction round overnight but we also will not make any change by carrying on the way we are. This House has seen more emphasis on families in the last 15 months since this party has had a prominent role than in the years beforehand. I say to the Minister of Finance that in the Budget this year by my count 15 family-specific initiatives were introduced. That is far more than in any previous Budget in my time in this House. If it takes the influence of United Future to achieve that and if it takes the prospect of a Families Commission to achieve that well and good because it is a vast change from the days of yore when members opposite were in Government and nothing happened. The legacy of their tenure is reflected in many of the problems we face today. 
For those same people now to say that a constructive effort—$28 million over 4 years to deal with a problem that conservatively costs New Zealand $5.6 billion every year—is excessive irresponsible and wasteful is simply nonsensical. We have to make a start. If we really believe that this country functions well when its families function well if we really believe that families are at the cornerstone of our society if we really believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life then we will get behind structures organisations policies and plans to achieve that. We will not sit here whingeing moaning and begrudging positive effort. That is all that this debate is about. When one sums it up the Opposition is saying: “It’s not fair—you’re doing it and we’re not.” There is nothing more to it than that. That is the reason Opposition members play games in the select committee. That is the reason they do not like their game playing being pointed out. That is the reason for the bilious interjections we are getting at the moment. It is simply a case of “You’re doing it and we’re not. It’s not fair.” 
Up and down New Zealand the families of New Zealand do not take any notice of that. If the Families Commission is such an appalling idea and is ridiculed up and down the country why have there been 170-odd applications for appointment to the commission? Why has every family group and social agency up and down New Zealand been attacking my office and the Minister of Social Development’s office pleading for application forms in order to nominate people whom that group or agency thinks can make a contribution to the work of this commission? 
The reality is New Zealand is crying out for some leadership in this area. It is crying out for a body that will at last put an emphasis and a focus on family life in New Zealand. It is a great tragedy—the previous member drew in current circumstances so let me say this particularly as I see the member for Wairarapa—that at a time when family stress and tension are in our national consciousness that members opposite play the sorts of games they are playing at the moment. It is a great tragedy that we cannot come together at this time and say that as this initiative has a chance of succeeding let us get behind it and let us make it work instead of playing narrow cheap political games sneering moaning whining and otherwise behaving in a generally obnoxious and unacceptable manner.