Labour: Taking The Family Out Of Families Commission

ACT New Zealand Families Spokesman Heather Roy today predicted that New Zealand children at risk of abuse would receive no relief from the Families Commission, and said the only families it would benefit would be those of its members.

"Of the Families Commission Bill's 60 clauses, only six actually pertain to families. The rest simply provide insurance for members," Mrs Roy said.

"It seems that the only families who will benefit from the Commission - whose $28 million Government funding allocation is nothing more than payback for United Future's supine attitude toward Labour - will be those of its members.

"The Commission's three core roles are to be advocacy, research, and policy input and analysis. This, however, will result only in the politically correct reiterations of the conventional wisdom of middle-aged, 1970s social scientists. My prediction is that the Families Commission will `discover' that everything is the fault of the white, middle-class male - $28 million to tell us something that we already know is untrue.

"This legislation is less about addressing the hard problems of welfare reform, and more about arrogantly telling families how to live their lives. The Government is not addressing the hard issues at all, it is simply pretending to.

"What is needed is real action - not Government lip service. Changing attitudes and behaviour is then only thing that will make life any better for New Zealand families," Mrs Roy said.

© Scoop Media