Commissioner For Children Bill Important First Step Towards Better Recognition Of Families

United Future leader, Hon Peter Dunne, says the Commissioner for Children Bill introduced to Parliament is an important first step along the path to better recognising the cornerstone role of families.

"We all know the extent to which the family is under pressure today, and in many ways children are at the forefront of that."

"We cannot continue ignoring that, and rubbing our hands in unctuous concern while more children suffer and more families become dysfunctional."

"A society that does not care about its children has failed the first test of social responsibility."

"Our children are our most precious asset and our most valuable legacy to the future, and United Future will bow to no-one in supporting and enhancing the interests of our children, because their interests should be our nation's fundamental interests," Mr Dunne says.

He says, however, that the role of the Commissioner for Children cannot be treated in isolation from the wider issue of the care and protection of the family.

"United Future is strongly of the view that official agencies and policies take insufficient account of the interests of the modern family, and that this imbalance has to be redressed."

"That is why we favour the establishment of an over-arching Commission for the Family to be the filter through which all issues relating to families are run, and we see the Commissioner for Children playing a vital role within that structure."

"In the meantime, until we are in a position to implement that policy, the new Commissioner for Children Bill is a welcome first step forward," Mr Dunne says.

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