Labour Party - Speeches

Our kids, our responsibility, our future

11.09.2008

Speech Notes for address to Every Child Counts annual conference.

Every Child Counts conference details. (Every Child Counts is an advocacy coalition formed by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the Children, and the Institute of Public Policy at AUT.)

[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]

Firstly I'd like to say that this is a wonderful opportunity for people from both government and community organisations - to participate in a dynamic conference featuring international and national speakers.

I would like to thank everyone who has put so much work into organising this conference, including Murray Edridge, Deborah Morris-Travers, the Steering Committee and Project Team.

I would also like to thank all the speakers who have taken time out to share their expertise. In particular, I would like to thank Lady Doreen Massey, Chair of the House of Lords cross party caucus for sharing some of the important work being done in England to promote the interests of children.

Introduction

I've chosen the speech title Our Kids, Our Responsibility, Our Future because children literally are the future of New Zealand. When we all take responsibility for helping children reach their potential, we collectively create a positive future for all New Zealanders.

Like you, the Government has been working hard to make a real difference in the lives of New Zealand children. We think about the needs of children when we set our priorities for the next decade, and when we create new policy.

I commend Every Child Counts for the work it has done in developing its ten top policy priorities for children, and outlining its five steps to making every child count. The key areas that I want to talk to you about today cover all of these five steps. I will begin with setting our priorities for the next decade and how we are putting children at the centre of policy-making, the first step on the Every Child Counts policy agenda.

I will tell you about a report that is being released shortly that shows that the wellbeing of our children and young people is generally positive and improving. I will then outline our early years approach, Every Child Counts second step. I want to talk about the elimination of child poverty, which is the third Every Child Counts step. I will also discuss the repeal of Section 59, encouraging positive parenting, and the work of the Family Violence Taskforce and action to address child maltreatment, which is the fourth step in the Every Child Counts policy agenda and then talk about your fifth step, the status and value of children.

Setting Our Priorities for the Next Decade

Our government's commitment to supporting the interests of children is demonstrated strongly in the priorities that we have set for the next decade.

In 2006 the government adopted Families - Young and Old as one of our three themes. These three themes focus on transforming New Zealand into a high-income, knowledge-based economy that offers a high quality of life for all New Zealanders.

Under the Families - Young and Old theme we established seven priority issues. These are whole of government, integrated themes including - Giving our Children the Best Start in Life.

Putting Children at the Centre of Policy-Making

Achieving these priorities requires children to be at the heart of policy development. Great policy centred around children will not just benefit them, but also benefit the economic and social wellbeing of the community and society as a whole. Children can't vote, and they can't always articulate complaints about government services. Their level of maturity and dependence on adults also makes them particularly vulnerable to poverty and family violence.

In 2002 the government outlined our commitment to putting children at the centre of policy-making in two documents, The Agenda for Children and the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa. As a result, we've seen better information on the position and wellbeing of children and the impact of policies on them. There have been more opportunities for young people to participate in decisions that affect them. And there has been greater involvement in policy development of child experts and children's interest groups, like many of the groups represented here today.

We also increased the resources and powers available to the Children's Commissioner. Since 2003 the Children's Commissioner's responsibilities have included raising the interests of children's interests, rights and welfare, plus monitoring compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Regularly updating child and youth health indicators is one of Every Child Counts ten top priorities. I agree with this priority. In 2004 we published the first report on how well our children and young people are doing, measured against a set of indicators. And we are shortly to release an updated report. This report will show that the wellbeing of our children and young people is generally positive and improving. For example, infant mortality has more than halved, immunisation coverage at two years has improved substantially, the child assault rate has reduced and the rate of child deaths from unintentional injuries and from road deaths has reduced. Participation in early childhood education has increased and the proportion of children in low income households has more than halved.

17 of the indicators can be compared with other OECD countries. For nine of these indicators New Zealand outcomes were better than the median, on 14 of them we were similar. For example, we compared well on indicators relating to education, children living in households with low incomes and birth weights. But we didn't compare so well on infant mortality, immunisation and oral health.

Reports like these also point to the need for further research to understand what is happening and what actions need to be taken to address them. For example, there has been little change over the last four years in child obesity, oral health care, the proportion of children in crowded housing and reading and mathematical literacy. And there has been a slight increase in the school truancy rate. All areas for future policy focus and future action.

Our Early Years Approach

This government wants all children to have the best start in life, and to reach their potential. Research shows that early intervention provides the greatest opportunity to change the life-course of children at risk of poor health, educational and social outcomes.

Effective early intervention will ensure that all children are safe and secure, that they are strongly connected with their families and whanau, and that they arrive at primary school ready and able to learn.

So we've invested money to build targeted and intensive parenting and home visiting services, on a platform of community-based universal programmes. Our key universal programmes in the early years are early childhood services and the Well Child/Tamariki Ora programme.

For example, we have invested $95 million in early years programmes and services over the last five years. This includes expansions of the Family Start programme for vulnerable families and the Social Workers in Schools programme, improvements to the Strengthening Families programme and the piloting of six new early years programmes. It also includes the expansion of SKIP - an initiative that provides information and resources to promote positive parenting.

I am a strong supporter of the Early Intervention Family Support model for families with disabled children - a strengths based, integrated link with the broader community.

Improving Participation in Quality Early Childhood Education

A key aspect of the Early Years Approach is supporting the interests of children through major improvements in early childhood education.

We agree with the Every Child Counts priority of encouraging children's learning through additional support for quality childcare options and early childhood education.

In 2002, after extensive consultation with the early childhood education sector, the government launched the Early Childhood Education Strategic Plan - Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki. The plan's three goals are to increase participation in quality early childhood education services, improve the quality of early childhood education services and promote collaborative relationships.

Our strategies for achieving these goals have been successful -the percentage of Year One students who have attended early childhood education was nearly 95% in 2007, up from 91% in 2000.

The introduction of 20 hours free early childhood education for three and four year olds has also had a significant impact on the affordability and accessibility of quality early childhood education. Over 85,000 three and four year olds and their families are now benefiting.

Reviewing the Well Child/Tamariki Ora Programme

Another key universal early years service is the Well Child/Tamariki Ora programme - first introduced into New Zealand by the Plunket Society in 1907.

Well Child/Tamariki Ora services support families to provide their children with the best start to life by maximising their developmental potential, health and wellbeing. The programme now offers health assessments, health promotion, and support services to all New Zealand children and their families from birth to five years. And by the end of this year it will offer the B4 School Check to all parents of four-year-old children.

The Government is reviewing the Well Child/Tamariki Ora services to ensure that they effectively meet the needs of children and their families. Under the review, the government has agreed to make changes over the next three years to improve the services provided.

Eliminating Child Poverty

But Early Years Services is not the only area that we have been focussing on - we also care deeply about the elimination of child poverty.

We know that the Government's Working for Families package has already decreased child poverty - using the Social Report measure, the child poverty rate fell from 23% in 2004 to 16% in 2007. This represents about 70,000 children lifted out of income poverty. Added to the approximately 60,000 children lifted out of poverty between 2001 and 2003 as a result of other government policies, and it's clear we're making a significant difference to child poverty in New Zealand.

Working for Families has also significantly raised the incomes of low to middle income households with children. Incomes at the top of the lowest 20% rose 12% in real terms from 2004 to 2007, compared with 6% at the median and 3 to 4% on average, for households with higher incomes. This means that income inequality has fallen for the first time since the late 1980s. But as you know, there is much more work that needs to be done to reach the goal of eliminating child poverty.

Working for Families isn't the only government initiative that has improved the lives of children in New Zealand. We've also introduced housing, education, and health initiatives that we know have made a real difference.

Looking after the needs of children means supporting parents so they can give their best to their kids. If we say that children are important to New Zealand because they represent our future, we have to put policies in place that support this ideal. This includes paid parental leave and flexible working hours.

Since the introduction of paid parental leave in July 2002, families have had more choices available to them to assist with parents caring for their new babies.

From July 1st this year, the new law on flexible working hours is assisting parents in their role of caring for their children. This law has given employees with caring responsibilities, an employment right to seek to vary their hours of work or place of work. The opportunity to work flexibly will help parents to strike a better balance between their paid work and other responsibilities.

Outlawing the Physical Discipline of Children

Last year politicians right across New Zealand's political spectrum came together and agreed that family violence was not ok. This led to the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961.

The purpose of this repeal was to remove the legal protection that could be invoked under section 59, by people charged with assaulting their own child. It was an important step in New Zealand toward changing the culture of violence against children and encouraging positive parenting.

Our monitoring shows that there is a growing awareness of positive parenting and alternatives to physical discipline.

The Supporting Kids - Information for Parents or SKIP Initiative

The amendment of Section 59 is just part of a whole range of actions New Zealand is taking to change perceptions towards violence in the home, and especially violence towards children.

In partnership with the community, the government has been promoting awareness of child abuse and encouraging and promoting positive parenting. This has included implementing the Supporting Kids - Information for Parents or SKIP initiative, and expanding Family Start, Early Start, and HIPPY programmes. These programmes do everything from providing intensive home-based support for vulnerable families with kids under five, to supporting parents to be good parents and encouraging the use of safe, effective alternatives to physical discipline.

Family Violence Taskforce and Addressing Child Maltreatment

The Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families - is a group that is determined to change the way New Zealander's think and act about family violence.

The Campaign funds community initiatives that address violence within families - particularly violence toward children. A key part of this is the "It's Not Okay" media campaign, which includes a series of hard-hitting television ads. We know that the ads are making an impact on people who see them - almost 90% of those surveyed remembered the ads and almost 20% of those who remembered, have reported taking direct action as a result.

The Taskforce is also developing a programme of work on the prevention of child maltreatment. This programme will build on New Zealand and international evidence of what works in prevention. Projects will address the inequalities in rates of referrals for maltreatment across different population groups, and the vulnerability of particular groups of children.

Assistance for Community Organisations Through a Pathway to Partnership

As Plunket and CCS Disability Action proves, it is often community-based services that play an important role in supporting families and making sure children get the best start in life. The organisations providing these services know what their community needs, where the gaps are, and what can be done to make sure families, children and young people are taken care of. More often than not they are the people in the community that vulnerable families go to for help.

This is one of the reasons why the government has developed Pathway to Partnership, providing an additional $446 million in funding over the next four years.

Pathway to Partnership will fully fund essential community services for families, young people and children. It will provide for annual cost adjustment payments, address forecast volume increases and enable providers to build workforce capability and capacity by giving them security of funding. It will move contracts to outcomes focus and provide a new platform for the next stage of integrated and collaborative early intervention and support for families.

Another initiative that I want to mention which is a strong contributor to collaboration and which is contributing to better outcomes for children is the differential response model. The basis of this model, is that there is no wrong door for a family seeking help.

It allows for more appropriate options to support a family and it connects families to services as early as possible to prevent more serious problems occurring.

The new model will be live in all Child, Youth and Family sites by the middle of next year.

The final points I want to make are in relation to your fifth objective - Increasing the status of children and of the child rearing roles of families whänau hapu and iwi.

And as I mentioned earlier, we now have better information of the position and well being of children and the impact of policies on them. We measure what matters. There have been more opportunities for young people to participate in decisions that affect them.

The final point I want to make is in relation to another of the recommendations of the Every Child Counts policy platform, and the contribution that Doreen Massey has stimulated in relation to a Cross Party Caucus.

Can I first of all put my cards on the table, and say in relation to a Cross Party activity and a portfolio position, that I start off being quite cynical. I frankly find it a challenge to put as a priority, the idea of me working alongside Judith Collins.

I am not being silly about this, I'm being perfectly up front. We have very little agreement on what matters in our country and how we can make a difference.

But despite my cynicism, I have heard consistently, from people whose opinions I regard very highly, and whose views I always listen to, call for a Cross Party Caucus, and I've always responded honestly and expressed my cynicism.

But when I heard Doreen Massey explain how it works in the United Kingdom, and what they are seeking to achieve and what they do achieve, she started me thinking, about the proposal for a Minister of Children.

Today, I reflected on something I have been thinking a lot about recently. This year I have had a lot of requests to attend meetings hosted by different organisations around the country to debate with other Party representatives on disability issues. So organisations have said "We are going to have a Party political forum to talk about disability issues. Will you come?"

We didn't do that three years ago. This year for the first time ever, every Party in Parliament has a disability issues spokesperson. They are all going to have to have policy. And actually there are a lot of issues that I can now talk to Members of other Parties about and we are on the same page - sometimes not in the same book. But because we had the portfolio and the strategy, and because I have worked with other Parties, together we have changed the understanding of disability issues.

Disability issues, as it is discussed in Parliament, is no longer support for people with disabilities in a health sense, it is now a social model of inclusion.

I will commit to proposing this to my colleagues in the Labour Party, to have both a Minister for Children and to have a commitment to our Party being part of a Cross Party Caucus on Children's Issues.

Don't put my cynicism out of your mind, I will not be party to anything that wastes your time or my time. But if we can achieve the sorts of things that I think Every Child Counts wants to achieve, then I will be part of it, and I hope that my colleagues go along with me.

Conclusion

Over the last nine years we have worked hard to improve the lives of New Zealand children. We've made the interests of children central to many of our policies, the first step on the Every Child Counts policy agenda. We've worked to create a better future for all New Zealanders ensuring that children and their families have the support they need to reach their potential.

And today, more than ever, the wellbeing of our children and young people is generally positive and improving.

We've taken these actions because we believe that New Zealand's children are our responsibility, and our future. It is our partnerships with other organisations that carry out much of this vital work. Together, we can all work together to make sure that every child counts.