Dunne: merge Children’s Commissioner and Families Commission

UnitedFuture Leader Peter Dunne says it is now time to merge the Children's Commissioner with the Families Commission.

“Rolling the Office of the Children’s Commissioner into the Families Commission just makes sense,” Mr Dunne said.

“Much of what the two agencies do overlaps and is inter-related. The interests of families and children deeply entwined, and I believe a merger would strengthen their combined advocacy role, while maximising their value for money.”

“Currently both the Families Commission and the Office of the Children’s Commissioner share a common administration, so it is an obvious next step to merge them fully,” Mr Dunne said.

He said that unifying the two agencies would make it easier for parents and families to seek advice from “more of a one-stop-shop”.

“This is no slight on the new Children’s Commissioner, Dr Russell Wills, who is a very impressive appointment. However the part-time nature of his appointment clearly makes room for a more efficient, holistic and publicly accessible joint agency.

“The well-being of our children is dependent above all else on the strength of our families,” he said.

“A single commission focused on promoting the needs of families will, by definition, have a positive effect on the lives of children in New Zealand.”

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Mark Stewart | Press Secretary | Office of Hon Peter Dunne

DDI +64 4 817 6985 | Mb +64 21 243 6985 |

www.unitedfuture.org.nz

Dunne backs Children’s Commissioner on helping parents

 UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne has welcomed Children’s Commissioner John Angus’ call for parents to be helped to stay at home to raise very young children, saying UnitedFuture is the only party with policy that backs parents to do that.

 “Only UnitedFuture has a policy that back parents choosing to have one of them stay home and look after the children if they choose to,” Mr Dunne said.

 Income Sharing will allow couples with children under 18 to combine their income and split it for tax purposes, reducing their overall tax bill. Up to 310,000 New Zealand families stand to benefit on average by $1000 to $5000 a year, with some families by up to $9000.

 He said the Income Sharing Bill is currently with Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee.

 ‘If people agree with the Children’s Commissioner; if they want to have greater flexibility in their family income to have one of them look after their own children, then they should get behind this important piece of legislation.

 “Every political party claims to be family friendly these days, but if they will not back a piece of legislation that specifically helps families in a practical way then those claims are just empty words,” Mr Dunne said.

Dunne unveils key Child Support review submission themes

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne expects to release a summary of the main themes of public submissions on the Child Support review next month, he announced today.

 The consultation period on the Supporting Children discussion document ran through September and October last year and drew nearly 2300 submissions.

 “As expected with an issue that affects so many New Zealanders, there was a huge range of strongly held views, which is excellent in the context of the comprehensive review that we are undertaking,” Mr Dunne said.

 He said that key submission themes included:

•   arguments for both the inadequacy or excessiveness of child support payments and how they are calculated

•   issues around recognising shared care

•   whether child support payments should apply if there is an equal care arrangement

•   the impact that a child support formula based on the income of both parents would have on the incentive for parents to work or increase their earnings

•   the impact on the family income when a parent has re-partnered and the extent to which the cost of supporting children in the second relationship are taken into account

•   dissatisfaction with current child support penalty rules.

Mr Dunne said these and other issues drew strong views and both the level and tenor of responses only confirmed his view that the current child support regime "is outdated and sometimes unfair".

“We will absolutely make it better and fairer. Obviously, in such a contentious and, at times, emotionally charged arena, you cannot please all the people all the time.

“However I have no doubt we are going to improve the lot of the 210,000 New Zealand children who need and deserve support, and parents will generally feel that they are operating in a better, fairer system focused on the well-being of their children,” he said.

State of the Family – a Report Card

Dunne: Help into housing; more parental leave and DNA paternity testing

 Families should be allowed to capitalise their Working for Families entitlements to buy first homes, extend parental leave to 13 months, and there should be compulsory DNA paternity testing, UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says.

 In releasing UnitedFuture’s Report Card on the State of the Family today, Mr Dunne said there needs to be some “serious rethinking” of how New Zealand supports families.

 “We need to really look at some of the fundamentals that we have in place around families, because right now there are too many ways in which they are struggling in these difficult times.

 “We hold parents accountable for how they raise their children and have high expectations that those children will be safe, well and nurtured. To do that, society – and government – must play a key role to ensure families themselves are safe, well and nurtured,” he said.

 Mr Dunne said that one simple step in actively support families would be allowing them to capitalise their Working for Families entitlement as a lump sum to get a deposit on a first home, or possibly extend their existing home.

 “That money is to support families anyway; we need to drop the bureaucracy and make it flexible enough to be really useful as a social investment in families and housing is key to that.

 UnitedFuture would also support extending paid parental leave to 13 months, including one month for fathers.

 “This would enable infants to be cared for by their parents during the crucial first year of childhood, which has been shown to improve family stability, reduce child poverty and lay a foundation that reduces the incidence of child abuse.

 ‘Too often we put the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We need to look at smarter ways to help families avoid problems, rather than try to solve them later when things are going wrong.

 “Giving parents more time with their children early on is a no-brainer for a society that wants strong families and healthy, secure children,” he said.

 Mr Dunne said compulsory DNA paternity testing in cases where claims, counter-claims and doubts exist over the parentage of a child would “unnecessarily excite certain civil libertarian tendencies” but commonsense needed to apply.

 “Frankly, where something as fundamental as fatherhood and a child’s right to know and be supported by its parents is at stake, someone wishing not to submit to a mouth swab is small beer in the scheme of things.

 “We need to get our priorities right. Looking after our children and taking responsibility for them is a top priority in my book,” he said.

Dads key to winning the war on child neglect – Dunne

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne has labelled the fight against child neglect a “war that must be won” if we are to overturn our current rates of child neglect and welfare dependency.

 “The report released today by the Children’s Commissioner is another timely reminder of the challenge we face to become a truly family-friendly society,” said Mr Dunne.

 “While we always hark on about New Zealand being a great place to raise kids, this report puts that in perspective. There is a lot we could be doing better.”

 “I believe one of the most pressing issues is the increasing prevalence of fatherless children as the result of relationship breakdown. While the Government has no control over the causes of broken relationships, it can do a much better job in keeping both parents fully engaged with their children once the break-up has occurred.” 

 “First and probably most important is to amend the Care of Children Act to make explicit the presumption of shared care when determining the care arrangements for children when parents separate. This would be predicated on the assumption that both parents are competent, and it is in the child’s best interest.”

 “Secondly, there should be a full review of the Family Court system with a view to make it less adversarial and legalistic, stop delays, and provide greater access to mediation services.”

 “Finally, the Government must do more to encourage men into teaching. At present males make up less than one percent of early childhood teachers and one in five primary school teachers, so for many children without a father at home there is little or no contact with adult male role-models. This is a particular problem amongst disenfranchised young males.”

 “For too long political policy targeting the role of fathers has been pushed into the too-hard-basket for fear of being labelled anti-women. However, unless we begin to address the issue of fatherlessness now we can not expect any improvement in redressing child neglect in New Zealand,” said Mr Dunne.

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