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this page Newsletters - The International Year of the Family
New Zealand & Aotearoa - Families' Commission
Probably the very best thing to be happening in New Zealand in this “International Year of the Family” is the establishment of a Families' Commission by our Government. In our last Parliamentary elections, one of the minor parties campaigned on a “Back-to-basics, good-old-fashioned family values” ticket, and attracted a high number of votes. Unfortunately, the majority party elected is not so much in accord with the Mothers' Union outlook. Their official line is that the nuclear family as we have known it, with two parents bringing up their children within marriage, is no more important than a solo-parent with children from casual relationships, or any other variation that the word “family” could be applied to. These two parties are now in coalition, and the trade-off for votes has resulted in a Bill authorising establishment of the Families' Commission to monitor all legislation which might affect “the family”.
Learning from our failure to stop a Bill legalising prostitution (which passed by one vote), the Mothers' Union made representations at an early stage of the Bill to establish the Families' Commission. Our submissions were accepted, and the Bill passed. There is to be one leading commissioner, three full-time commissioners, and three part-time commissioners, and we accepted the invitation to submit a nomination for one of the part-time positions. The Commission is due to come into effect in July, and we do not know yet who has been appointed, but the Mothers' Union has been advised that, of the 190 nominations received, ours was not successful. However, we intend to monitor the Commission's work very closely, and hope to have a strong input into it.
All in all, New Zealand is a great little country in which to bring up a family. The recent immigration of new citizens with cultures previously unknown is providing us with challenges, and “building relationships” within the family of New Zealanders is something we need to learn.
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