Afraid Of Being Out-Dunne, Peter?

Thursday 2 Oct 2003
Heather Roy
Press Releases -- Other

ACT New Zealand Families Spokesman Heather Roy today suggested that if United Future Leader Peter Dunne was so concerned about New Zealand families, then perhaps he should speak with families in New Zealand - rather than those in Utah.

"Despite what he may believe, Mr Dunne does not have a monopoly on families. ACT New Zealand has always campaigned in the interests of the family," Mrs Roy said.

"United Future, on the other hand, would prefer to waste money on the Family Commission - a $28 million, seven-commissioner attempt to tell New Zealand parents how they should raise their children.

"Mr Dunne may see himself as the nation's Dad, with Prime Minister Helen Clark as the Mum, but I can assure him no one else does. The time, money and paper wasted on his 60-clause Families Commission Bill - with six clauses pertaining to the family, and 54 looking after Family Commission staff only - would be better spent advocating a tax cut for families.

"Only a generation ago, families were taxed around 25 percent, now it is more like 40 percent - which has altered family dynamics significantly. Allowing families the means to care for their children will go further toward lowering abuse rates than spending millions of taxpayers' dollars to force parents to raise their children the United Future/Labour way.

"Of course, I can see why Mr Dunne is upset that people see National and ACT as family-friendly. After all, we have so many platforms, and United Future really only has one - and it cannot even do that effectively," Mrs Roy said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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