Hon Steve Maharey
11 April 2001 Speech Notes
An Agenda for Children
Speech to mark the launch of the Children's Agenda Discussion Document
Welcome.
It’s great to see you all here.
It has certainly been a morning of extremes as you can see by my less than formal attire.
Laila Harré and I have just left the Aro Valley school holiday programme where we launched the Agenda for Children
consultation.
I don’t think we could get more polar opposites than a kids school holiday programme and a parliamentary briefing.
Although I suspect some members of the public might disagree.
What a refreshing opportunity to spend some time in an environment saturated with vibrancy and the excitement of
children at the start of their holidays.
Unfortunately it can be a rare event for politicians such as myself to get the opportunity to hear first hand what young
people think about growing up in New Zealand.
I can tell you they have a lot to say and a lot we need to hear.
One young chap in particular was very enthusiastic about his views on being a young person in New Zealand.
The feedback this morning from the kids on the programme was very encouraging and convinced me that we are heading down
the right track with an Agenda for Children.
I can assure you a great deal of work has been achieved since we met last year at the Seminar on Children’s Policy where
the initial work on an Agenda for Children was done in conjunction with many of you here today.
The contribution of the members of the reference group appointed shortly after this seminar has been invaluable in
helping the Ministries of Social Policy, and Youth Affairs move along on this very important initiative.
I think that you will all agree that in the past it has been uncommon for the government to take account of the views
and insights of children and young people.
So you might ask why focus on children now?
Its because we are tired of seeing too many children suffering the effects of poor housing, bad health, family violence,
and learning difficulties – the whole gamut of disadvantage imposed by the jeopardy of poverty.
This cannot go on.
In order for our child policy to be effective we need to know what issues children and young people are facing in their
lives and what this mean for the future.
What better way to find out than to ask those who know.
By talking to children, young people, their parents, and organisations who work with them and people such as yourselves,
we can take steps to ensure our policy is reflective of the needs of some of our most under-represented members of
society.
The Agenda for Children discussion paper encourages us all to take collective responsibility for protecting and
promoting children’s interests, rights and needs.
Over the next 10 weeks these booklets launched today will be the basis for discussion by various organisations and
individuals working with children and young people.
As you can see both the Children’s Discussion Pack and the Discussion Paper for adult groups, and individuals with an
interest in children’s issues are certainly eye catching.
The booklets set out early government thinking on a vision, principles, key goals and possible priority action areas for
child policy.
At the same time, hundreds of children and young people aged 5-17 years will be asked about what makes New Zealand a
good place for them, what would make it better, and what they consider to be the important issues for children and young
people.
Given what I saw and heard this morning, I am sure there will be an influx of responses from young people wanting to let
us know their views.
This Government believes that a broad, child-focussed approach to policy and the delivery of social services is
essential to protect the interests of the child. This approach must also reflect the richness and cultural diversity of
our country.
By adopting a two pronged approach incorporating both social policy and research the Agenda will provide a plan for work
by Government over the next five years.
I know it may take some time to reverse the impacts of the economic reforms over the last decade. But by setting
achievable goals the Agenda will realise its vision of making New Zealand a great place for children.
It is not far fetched to conceive a vision where children are viewed as valuable and respected members of our society.
Where they live free from poverty and violence, that services are funded and delivered in a way that responds to their
interests, rights and needs.
I don’t believe this is some utopian view, majestic in its vision but unattainable in reality.
However, its success is dependent upon co-operation across all government policy sectors. This is a promise the
coalition government made when it came into office – that we would foster a relationship with the community based upon
respect and openness.
Already a number of different initiatives that dovetail with the Agenda for Children are making a difference in the
lives of New Zealand children.
Work on the Child Health Strategy, the Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Education and various other initiatives to
address disadvantage like Family Start and Social Workers in Schools.
Complementing the Agenda for Children is the Ministry of Youth Affairs Youth development Strategy Aotearoa that Laila
Harré will launch later this month.
She will expand on this shortly, but I can assure you that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and the Ministry of Social
Policy are working in tandem on these key projects.
Before I hand you over to Laila I want to express my gratitude to the enormous contribution of the Working Party
Reference Group, and the various organisations and individuals committed to improving the lives of our children and
young people
Your energy and vision makes a difference.
ENDS