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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Wednesday, 3 March 2004) . . Page.. 610 ..

a father, mother and children; in a wider but still necessary relationship, of grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles; a kinship group of human beings linked by ties of blood, marriage and adoption ...

The Australian Family Association holds that:

the family is the basic unit on which human societies are built and is the prime agency for the total development of children, ie the transmission of moral, ethical and cultural values, and for the ongoing social and emotional support for all its members ...

Mr Speaker, never before have we, as a society had such a fight on our hands to save and preserve the roles and values of the family unit. This is, of course, critical to the long-term welfare and wellbeing of children.

It is fair to say that, according to the results of many studies and much research into this area, society should be putting all its efforts into ensuring that children are, as far as is humanly possible, surrounded by the love and nurturing of both a mother and father. Indeed, one Professor Patrick Parkinson, Professor of Law at Sydney University, has widely researched and written much about family law and the indissolubility of parenthood and empirical insights into patterns of parent/child contact after separation. Members may want to refer to a speech delivered by Professor Parkinson at the eighth annual Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference on 12 to 14 February 2003, for which he and research fellow, Bruce Smith, drew upon data from wave 1 of the household income and labour dynamics in Australia, or HILDA, survey.

Federal, state and territory governments need to continue to send clear messages that families do matter. The Australian Medical Association recently held a summit on child abuse and in a media release dated 19 February 2004 they made reference to a report estimating that the long-term human and social cost of child abuse and neglect in Australia is around a staggering $2,000 million annually. We should also acknowledge the excellent work of the federal government in their commitment to working towards giving greater support to families.

Mr Speaker, there does seem to be a huge push across the country to somehow alienate children from their parents and, in the process, take rights and responsibilities away from the parents, with many states now looking at a commissioner for children. However, I do believe we need to look at the issues surrounding young people in a broader context. This is about looking at the whole, not the part.

To that end, today I have introduced legislation relating to a commissioner for the family. The objects of the legislations are to promote the interests of the family as a unit in society and to encourage government authorities that provide services affecting families or family members to take into account the interests of the family in the provision of those services.

Recommendation 40 of a recent Standing Committee on Community Services and Social Equity report on the rights, interests and wellbeing of children and young people suggests that “the ACT government establish a commission for children and young people with the appropriate powers to enable the full investigation of complaints and to

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