HON ANNETTE KING
DEPUTY LEADER

SPEECH – CONGRESS 2011

“It’s About Our Kids”

Saturday 21 May 2011
Wellington Town Hall

Norm Kirk, a great New Zealand and Labour Prime Minister once said what people want is a job; a home; something to hope for and some on to love.

It’s hard to believe he said that over 40 years ago, because that message is just as relevant today as it was then.

It’s part of what we in Labour stand for – a fair go for all Kiwis, where everyone pays their fair share and gets a fair share in return.

Where the opportunity to get a job that pays a decent wage in a safe work environment is a right not a privilege.

Where an affordable home that’s warm and secure is a basic requirement of a decent society.

Where we celebrate equality in our society and break down the barriers that inequality bring.

Where every parent has the gift of time to give to their kids and the hope that they may be better off than their parents.

Delegates:
It’s great to belong to a Party with a long established set of principles and values that are not for sale or expendable.

And a Party that is prepared to put up policies and prepared to fight for them.

I recently read a comment by the Chief Executive of Presbyterian Support who said late last year “How can a small relatively well-off country like New Zealand allow such a generous ration of misery to so many, when at face value there should be more than enough to go round?”

It’s an excellent question, why has this Government taken so much from those who have the least, to give to those who already have the most?

And on Thursday, when the third Key / English Budget was unveiled, once again they took from those who have the least – Working for Families; KiwiSavers; students; old people; young people; those wanting a job; children.

All of them told to tighten their belts to help pay for John Key’s Deficit Mountain.

And the future is fast becoming not ours to own, as John Key put the first bunch of New Zealanders assets on the block for sale to the highest overseas bidder.

It does seem to me that the thin space between hope and despair is fast becoming crowded.

I had hoped that the growing number of voices calling for Children to be a priority would have been heard by the Government by now.

After all, John Key said in his statement to Parliament this year “We’re still failing too many of our kids.” And he committed his Government to a “special focus” for vulnerable children.

Let’s add to that to the growing list of broken promises.

But while the Government continues to have cloth ears, since our Conference last September, there has been growing momentum for major change to the priority we place on children in New Zealand.
For me it was encapsulated in a comment by a Principal of a South Dunedin School who said at a recent meeting – “It’s about OUR Kids.”

Delegates: that is what our 2 ½ years of policy work is all about “It’s about our Kids”.

Last year I set out the framework and priorities that would underpin our children’s policy for 2011.

I said Children would be at the centre of our social policy; that ensuring every child got the best start in life would be the priority, and that every child is to be valued.

Firstly we established the reasons for focusing on children. They are the most vulnerable in our society. Their well-being does depend on how well their family’s basic needs are being met.

I pointed out New Zealand child health outcomes compare poorly internationally.

In a 2009 OECD report New Zealand ranked 29th out of 30 countries for child health and safety.

In fact some New Zealand disease patterns among children are closer to those of developing countries.

We are not doing as well for children as other comparable countries. We sit in the bottom third of OECD rankings on most child indicators.

We have an appalling rate of child abuse, known to lead to poor health and learning outcomes and behavioural problems.
We know children have not been a priority.
We need to ask ourselves why other countries have better results for their kids.

It’s apparent, that although other overseas governments have faced similar challenges to us, countries like the UK, Canada, Victoria Australia and Ireland have made progress in investment, planning, targets, reduction in child poverty and offending as well as child health.

Last year I set out the social benefits for promoting a policy that focused on children.

If that wasn’t enough, for the cynics, sceptics and commentators (not necessarily the same people) who think it sounds like a ‘Nice to Have” policy, let me put the economic benefits of investing in our kids!

Professor Natalie Jackson, from the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato has pointed out that while our birth rate in New Zealand is little above replacement level, our age structure tell a different story!

The number of elderly New Zealanders to children will cross over in just 12 years’ time.

As each wave of baby boomers retire, they will be replaced by a successively smaller group of young people.

If just a small portion of those young people leave New Zealand and don’t return, New Zealand employers will be faced with a labour shortage of crisis proportions.

This is a situation that has already begun, is significant outside the main centres and will be very evident within 5 years.

If we want to own our own future then we need to start valuing the kids who will have to carry the economic load for us.

Rather than calling Working For Families “communism by stealth” as John Key did, we should be investing in and supporting families prepared to raise children.

Be they single parents, 2 parents or grandparents.
The old saying it takes a village to raise a child is a good one to embrace and as an insurance policy for the future.

Professor Jackson suggests that it may be time to have a population watchdog in New Zealand if we don’t want to wake up one day and say “Where have all the children gone?”

Delegates:
Last year I set out 4 major elements to our Childrens Policy. The reason for focusing on children- which I’ve just outlined. Secondly the need to have strong leadership to champion children’s health and wellbeing.

We know children are not a powerful group. They don’t vote and their interests can be crowded out by adults.

We don’t always meet out International obligations we have signed up to in regard to children.

Like Article 3 of the UNCROC – that “in all actions concerning children, the best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration.”

We believe the leadership should come from the top.

There should be a Minister with responsibility for Children sitting at the Cabinet table.

I have had a hugely positive response to that suggestion. It is now clear from feedback it needs to be a Senior Minister.

After the 2011 Election, a Labour-led Government will have a Minister for children.

It still astounds me that in New Zealand we have a Minister for Race horses; a Minister for the Rugby World Cup; a Minister for Senior Citizens but no Minister for the most vulnerable in our community, our Kids.

Labour will establish a Ministry for Children. Its job will be to make sure children are a priority, not just in theory, but in practice.

It will be tightly focussed and will lead policy, research and monitoring our whole-of-government approach, and integrated approach to service delivery.

It will also monitor the agreed set of indicators for child health and wellbeing we promised last year, including our commitment to eradicate child poverty in NZ.
Something we see as unfinished business from the work done by the 5th Labour government.

So where is the money coming from I hear the critics say?

The time has come to dis-establish the Families Commission and fold some of that work back into a small Ministry for Children.

Their current budget is $ 7.7 million a year, compared with the Ministry for Women’s Affairs’ budget of $4.5 million.

I believe we can establish a Ministry for Children with enough left over to hand some funding back to the Minister of Finance for other priorities in Children’s Policy!

The Commissioner for Children has and does play an important role in being the independent but at times muted voice for children.

It’s time to see how that independence could be strengthened.

After the 2011 Election a Labour-led Government will review the roles, responsibilities and functions of the Commissioner for Children to enhance the strong focus we intend to place on achieving better outcomes for our kids.

In developing our policy we have drawn heavily on the expertise and experience of our Members and reputable researchers, academics and providers of services.

The wealth of knowledge in New Zealand is staggering and many of our researchers and programmes are world leaders.

But too often we start a policy then move on to the next shiny idea before the last one has even been evaluated.

We are the world’s magpies in collecting social policy ideas and programmes!

There is no unwillingness to share information, ideas, research and solutions. But too often they are not heard or are ignored.

The next Labour-led Government wants to harness that energy, expertise and commitment.

We will bring together the major players at an Annual Children’s Summit. This will become a major policy event with policymakers, practitioners, community groups and the media.

It will be a place for open, warts and all assessment of not only the government’s performance but a place to thrash out what’s working and what’s not.

We will be there to listen and learn.

And we haven’t given up on a cross party approach for children.

There does need to be an agreement on a plan for children, a long term strategic direction, and what our agreed expectations are for the future of our kids.

Most other political parties are willing. The pooper at the party is National. John Key has refused to allow his party to join such an approach.

He said he is satisfied with what they are doing for children already.

After the election we will once again offer to work with National.

I’m disappointed in the Minister for Social Development for her lack of action on her election promises for children made in 2008.

It is a surprise that Paula, also a grandmother, has failed to carry through on her promises.

It appears that 3 years on and she has just woken up to the growing need for action for children.

Four weeks ago she announced it was time for a “national conversation” about child abuse.

Child abuse is a serious issue. It is but one issue facing children and their families. But she starts from the wrong place.

Let’s start from preventing child abuse and helping parents do the best job they can.

However you have to ask yourself if she is serious about child abuse why did she allow the cutting of family violence prevention funding and funding for child advocates?

After 3 years of being the Minister we are to get a ‘green paper’, to be followed by a white paper and who knows perhaps a red and blue paper as well. And sometime in the future a policy.

After the expense and loss of time and action let’s hope it doesn’t end up a toilet paper!

We don’t need more papers. The work has already been done. Now is the time for action.

The third element is to have a whole-of-government approach to children’s policy. It will be underpinned by legislation and led by the Minister for Children.

Legislation which would set out long term commitments, actions and accountabilities of relevant government agencies.

It will also include a requirement for government department and agencies to undertake Child Impact Assessments on new and changed policies.

The idea is to bring those Government agencies together with a shared agenda.

It would be easy if children’s needs all slotted into just one policy sector they don’t. Their needs overlap and interact with each other.

You can’t separate parental care, education, income employment, housing, health care and safe neighbourhoods into compartments.

There has to be a co-ordinated approach to address children’s needs.

Policies have to be developed in a coherent way across the agencies, taking account of all resources. We cannot afford to waste a single dollar.

You will hear more about the whole-of-government approach at the workshop that follows this presentation.

The next Labour government will also review and rewrite the Children, Young Person’s and their Families Act 1989.

In its time it was a visionary and ground-breaking approach to dealing with children in need of care and protection and children in trouble.

Time and constant reinterpretation of its intent means it’s not working for many families today.

We will rewrite the legislation to better reflect the needs of children and families in the 21st Century.

The 4th element of our policy is better service delivery to children and their families.

It’s about joined up action and thinking across agencies, services, communities and organisations.

Barriers put up by agencies, a lack of communication, information sharing and separate assessment processes mean kids often fall through the gaps.

Integrated service delivery is not a new idea. Over the years projects have been started and funded only to be taken over by the next good idea.

The latest is Whanau Ora.

Whanau Ora is about integrating services, for the most vulnerable families. But it is at a fledgling stage.

Its success will partly depend on political commitment and its ability to be applied to a wider range of families and providers.

So, let’s stop the bickering about whose idea it was and what we called it and accept integration of service delivery has to happen.

However, to make it work 4 key components will be needed; leadership, flexibility of funding to get results, a workforce to deliver and better information sharing.

This will enable the delivery of measurable benefits.

New Zealand is in a unique position to share information.

We are one of the few countries to have a well-developed system for enrolment and collection of data at birth.

But progress towards a Universal Child Health Record which integrates Well Child data and other services a child comes in contact with, has to be accelerated.

Labour in Government, will place priority on full implementation of the Child Health Information Strategy.

Since the last conference further work has also been done on developing the concept of community Hubs based either at Early Childhood Centres or at schools.

Several successful projects already exist around the country.

The latest one I visited was the North East Valley Community Project based at a local school in Dunedin.

In a very short time they have:
• Got social workers on site
• Run seminars and workshops
• Connected people in need, to helping agencies
• Run an activity club for kids
• Established an education council; and a community garden.

The leaders of that project said “Schools like ours are fast becoming the only reliable lens into the community…. “Those who work in schools see what’s happening inside families and inside neighbourhoods.”

“We are the front line.”

They believe through early identification and support to families, children are safe, strong and happy; their families equipped and the community a safe place to live.

“One child, then one family, then a whole community” is their approach.

And it’s working. Even more exciting it costs almost nothing at all.

It’s about coordinating what is already there and motivating a community to join in.

Under Labour we want to see more projects like these developed.

Delegates:

In the space of 2 years, the economic situation in New Zealand has changed dramatically.

From a record low in unemployment to over 271,000 people jobless today.

From a Labour Government paying off the Crown’s debt and saving for the rainy day and our future, to the John Key Debt Mountain we are now staring at.

We cannot ignore these problems. That debt has to be tackled and jobs have to be created.

I had intended to come to Congress today to announce a major plank in our Children’s Policy.

But two days after a budget that has alarmed New Zealanders, the time is not right.

I’m not prepared to announce spending commitments before New Zealanders have seen how we intend to create the wealth to pay for it.

New Zealanders have had enough broken promises and meaningless slogans.

They want to know what our party’s plan is to grow the economy, pay the debt, lift incomes and create jobs.

We will soon make those announcements.

But the priority for social spending under a Labour-led Government will be for children.

Last year I said there would be a 6 year Agenda for Change for children in New Zealand.

That remains the case.

We know it’s not possible to implement such a comprehensive policy overnight.

We will start by refocusing policy on the 2 crucial early phases in children’s development: from birth to 2 years and from 3 – 5 years.

In the birth – 2 year period policy will focus on enabling care and children’s early development.

Support will be available to enable parents to have the time to care, and choices around care with resourcing provided to do it, including for grandparents who undertake care.

There will be recognition that caring for young children in families is work and is a valuable contribution.

Those taking time out to care should not be harshly penalised.

We will also ensure our youngest children get the best start in life by enrolling all babies at birth with a Well-Child provider.

At-birth enrolments ensure babies at risk are identified early and support can be provided to the parent or caregiver for as long as is required.

For children from 3 – 5 years we will focus on enabling every child access to good quality, free early childhood education, building up the supply of quality education services in low income areas first to meet the needs of Māori and Pacifica children, in particular.

For very vulnerable children, early education will need to start earlier, in quality settings.

We know this can lead to significant improvement in a child’s readiness to learn at 5 years.

Access to Parenting Programmes for all New Zealand families will be introduced over time.

We will start with more intensive Parenting Programmes aimed at families who need more assistance.

As Dr Johan Morreau, Chair of the College of Paediatricians said last year, “Let’s spend our money on parenting not prisons”.

Today, I have reaffirmed our commitment to children in New Zealand.

We believe in investment in the early years of life is an investment in our future.

It will, in the long term, produce huge savings for the country in the criminal justice system and the health system.

It will also be an investment in a well-educated and well-paid workforce. A workforce that will stay in New Zealand and contribute to that future.

So delegates, the best way to own our future is to make sure our kids get the best start in life.

That is our vision. Let’s make it New Zealand’s vision.

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