United Future
Hon Peter Dunne

Annual Conference Open Home Foundation Elm Court Waikanae

"It’s great to be back!”

My view of this nation is encapsulated in our name.

We want a New Zealand that is not only united in family, and in community, but also in our vision for the future (and, I might add, is No. 2 on your Foundation’s five-year vision statement)

Our New Zealand is a safe New Zealand - in the physical sense, certainly, but also safe in the way that home is safe.

Warm, welcoming, non-threatening.

A place where we feel secure in our identity, in our opportunities to advance ourselves, in our opportunities to meet and greet our neighbours and where everyone feels welcome.

So ours is also a welcoming New Zealand, a creative New Zealand, a New Zealand where fresh ideas are encouraged, a ‘can-do’ country where patriotism and a sense of nationhood are not emotions to be ashamed of or hidden.

Our New Zealand is a positive place, an enabling society, where people take responsibility for their own actions, their own futures, their own opportunities.

Our New Zealand celebrates, and just as importantly encourages, success wherever it happens - in the arts, sport, business, in academic endeavour.

In our New Zealand, tolerance is a virtue and diversity is celebrated, not condemned.

All of these are attributes we would want for our own family  -  not just for our country.

That is why it is our passionate belief that the family is the very cornerstone of New Zealand.

That is not because of some quaint belief in family values  -  although there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

It is because strong and healthy families mean a strong and healthy New Zealand.

These are not just words. United Future has battled long and hard to give concrete expression to our desire to put families at the cornerstone of our society.

We’ve succeeded in persuading the Labour-led Government to set aside money in the upcoming Budget for the establishment of a Families Commission.

That Commission, when its enabling legislation is passed later this year, will;

· adopt a broad and inclusive approach to families · act as an advocate for families (being advocacy for families generically or as social institutions rather than an individual family’s particular case or issue) · raise awareness of issues affecting families including support of parenting, marriage and committed relationships and promote informed public discussion · have a degree of independence from government but be subject to statutory guidance and have regard to any priorities identified by government.

I am confident that the fully-functioning Families Commission will be a significant resource for organisations such as yours in your admirable efforts to improve the lot of New Zealand families.

I would like now to refer to a very important comment made last week by the Wellington coroner, Garry Evans, concerning the effect of cannabis use on young people and their families.

Basically, Mr Evans said the damage from prolonged use of this drug is just too high and has very wide effects on the individual’s family.

The evidence that cannabis is harmful to families is just too overwhelming to be dismissed, as at least one of the Opposition parties in Parliament constantly does.

When United Future signed its agreement to support the Labour-led Government on matters of confidence and supply, one of the conditions was that there be no change in the legal status of cannabis.

Mr Evans’s comments simply strengthen our view that opposing the decriminalisation of cannabis was a correct path to follow if we are genuine in our goal of strengthening families.

Delegates, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to address you, I wish you well in your work and congratulations on everything you have achieved so far.