Moroney Sue: Families Commission Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMoroney Sue: Families Commission Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16503. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SUE MORONEY (Labour):I want to come in and support my colleague Jacinda Ardern and her analysis of the reasons why Labour is opposing the Families Commission Amendment Bill. It is a sad day when the current Government has brought the Families Commission into such disrepute that the Labour Party which actually when in Government established the Families Commission to start off with is now of a mind that it serves no useful purpose for families in this country. I think that is a really sad indictment on what the Government has done to a unit a commission that actually did have a genuine reason and a genuine purpose.But as we have just heard from my colleague that has been somewhat diminished—in fact to the point where already in the last term of Parliament the Labour Party had come to the conclusion that children’s interests would be better served by disestablishing the Families Commission and using that funding instead to support the development of a Ministry for Children and a Minister for Children. What the Labour Party said at that stage and this remains its policy today is that we would prefer to have a senior Minister around the Cabinet table whose job it was to advocate the interests of children rather than have the Families Commission which as Jacinda Ardern pointed out had got to the ridiculous stage in its development where it would not support extending paid parental leave.I want to just revisit that for a couple of minutes. I am the sponsor of a Labour Party bill currently before this House to extend paid parental leave to 6 months the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill. Imagine my surprise when I read in one of the Sunday papers—I think it might have been the Sunday Star-Times actually—where the Families Commissioner launched an attack on a piece of research that had been done by a previous Families Commissioner. That previous research had argued very thoroughly on behalf of families to ensure that we valued—what was it called Dr Prasad? Was it “Time to Deliver” maybe? Because that is certainly what it is. It is time to deliver. It is time to deliver on paid parental leave by the way. But there was actually a very thorough piece of research done that put forward the argument on behalf of families that paid parental leave should be extended to 12 months in fact.Certainly that is Labour policy as well. We think that that is not quite achievable in the current climate but we do believe that 6 months’ paid parental leave is entirely affordable. So imagine my surprise to read the very person who I thought would stand up for families and the very person who should have stood up for families saying that they thought that the previous report from the Families Commission was gold-plated and not necessary.I think that that story probably tells New Zealanders all they need to know about the worth of the Families Commission these days. If the Families Commission was really advocating on behalf of families then the commissioner would understand the stress that families are under presently and that mean they would be looking to the Families Commissioner to stand up for their needs in terms of their ability to spend more time at home with their young babies in those precious early months. But no it was not the Families Commissioner who was prepared to stand up; it was the Labour Party that has been the organisation prepared to stand up for those families and those parents and their day-to-day stress and their need to make sure that their children get the best start in life. Of course I imagine that the Families Commissioner was probably feeling somewhat nervous about commenting on the issue of paid parental leave because National had voted against the paid parental leave bill at its first reading. National voted against it like it has done actually for years now. Ever since paid parental leave has been on the agenda in this Parliament—since 2002; it was probably voted on in 2001 actually—National has consistently voted against it.But that is the point: we should not have a Families Commissioner who feels nervous because of a vote that the Government MPs have taken in this House. The role of the Families Commissioner is to be neutral to be independent and to advocate for families. That clearly is not the case any longer. As Jacinda Ardern said has the National Party not taken the name of the Families Commissioner far too literally? It is not the commission that you appoint your own families to National; it is actually the commission that should be representing families.