Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, July 9th, 2008 - 53 comments
Categories: john key, news -
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Is it a sign of a successful campaign regarding family violence – that “it’s not ok” – which sees broadcaster Tony Veitch taking time away from his television and radio shows in the wake of revelations that he allegedly assaulted his former partner? It certainly seems to have generated quite a bit of discussion amongst my friends – some observing that the days of sweeping domestic violence under the carpet (along with its effects of family and society) are long gone. And if we think this is a good thing, don’t we expect the agents of the this evolution to be supported?
Should we be concerned that Mr Key has raised questions over the future of the Families Commission, who are one of the main sponsors of the anti-Family violence campaign?
KiwiParent Election questionnaire – Families Commission: What value do you place on the role of the Families Commission in New Zealand? What is your party’s intentions towards the Families Commission, do you intend to keep it, disband it, or change its current form?
National believes that the Families Commission should focus on supporting everyday parents. We are not convinced that all of their current work, including advertising campaigns worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, are necessarily of practical help to mums and dads.
For myself as a parent, kept pretty busy looking after my brood, I don’t have a lot of time to think about policy but I’m glad the Families Commission is there to look out for kids. So Mr Key – what are your plans?
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It’s okay andrew – I’ve got you marked down in my ledger as a rightie, albeit a sensible one that should really have been a leftie were it not for some terrible quirk of fate…
Y’know – it’s never too late to change…
Sod: Does that mean come the revolution I’m the last up against the wall?
Dave: Aah, I didn’t think of that. Why not? It would be interesting to know if any such cases exist.
Apology/admission now made I see.
That will exclude a person who commits suicide as a result of being caught smacking his kids
Eh?
Sod: Does that mean come the revolution I’m the last up against the wall?
Bro – come the revolution I suspect it’ll be me up against the wall pretty early on…
Nice try Dave – but at least you got one bite.
“I read an NZH story” – well obviously that makes it true then
ps: i mean that from a “nzh is generally sub par” angle, not a “nzh is a tool of the vast right wing conspiracy” angle
Apology/admission now made I see.
Interesting question (to which I have no answer): How did Tony Veitch cover the Sitiveni Sivivatu wife-beating incident? Hmmmmmmm.
Some people need to be informed of their responsibilities. This is why the ‘It’s not OK’ campaign is working. People previously didn’t think that a child being abused was their responsibility but now that they’re aware that it is they’re doing something about it.
Scribe: Veitch is not among those who commented on the matter at all, neither on his Breakfast Sport show nor on One News. At least not between 12 April 2007 when Sivivatu’s name suppression was lisfted and 1 May 2007.
Others did; Veitch didn’t. Generally speaking, sports coverage doesn’t focus on matters of player conduct except inasmuch as it might affect their selection or a team’s chances, so this is not surprising for the Radio Sport side of things. In One News copverage the issue was treated as news, not as sport, so Veitch wasn’t involved there.
L
“Interesting question (to which I have no answer): How did Tony Veitch cover the Sitiveni Sivivatu wife-beating incident? Hmmmmmmm”
Like an experienced professional I guess
Thanks for that, Lew. I’m sure he’s glad he didn’t now.
People previously didn’t think that a child being abused was their responsibility but now that they’re aware that it is they’re doing something about it.
Yes, its nice that someone beats up their wife with the awareness knowledge that it is their responsibility…
but when is the awareness going to change behaviour before someone is killed and the perpretrator reported to the Family Violence Death Review Committee…
Personally I think the “It’s not OK” campaign is money well spent as well and I am a rightie.
However, before I could make up my mind about keeping the Families Commission or dropping it I’d want to know how much the Families Commissions budget is. If it’s excessive and the output is minimal then I would suggest that the money would be better spent by distributing it to agencies that are set up to look after those areas already – for example the Womens Refuge. Most advertising agencies look after clients like the Womens Refuge on a pro-bono basis but if the Womens refuge had more money to spend on media placement then you could argue they would get a better result for less money.
Rather then making this a political football, I’d rather see a discussion based around “could the families commission money be better spent elsewhere to get a better result”
However if the Families Commission is not a huge drain on the taxpayer and the results it achieves are good then I agree with Russell Brown, let it be.
There’s certainly other government agencies that should feel the chop before the Families Commission. Youth Affairs has always been a joke and I think Youth Affairs money is much better spent by giving it to the charity organisations already set up to look after youth problems.
I disagree with Dancer about the “best days work you’ve ever done” campaign though. People that love their families don’t need to be told that and people that don’t care about their families wouldn’t give a toss. That money could have definitely been better spent elsewhere – even if it was only used to build four new houses for low income families.
“lprent: The more I hear that particular line from the right, the more I think it is the right approach for Key. It is obviously causing some pain somewhere if we’re getting such a consistent line for so long. Of course it always has our best interests at heart.
4 months to the election – sounds like someone is worried about stamina?”
If a good mate of yours bought a new jumper and thought he looked great in it, but everyone else thought he looked like a fashion reject, would you have the heart to tell him? Yeah, it’s kind of like that.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I thought this site was far more interesting when people actually debated policy instead of post after post after post of someoneones wearing that same horrible jumper.
We’re embarassed for you, lprent.
[lprent: Good to have your vote on continuing to look at C/T. We always value your opinion.
The policy vacuum from the Nats reduces the writers ability to discuss it. We've been through everyone else.]
It shouldn’t be hard to save the best bits of the family commission and cull the useless bits that simply produce fluffy reports to gather dust or replecate the work done by other departments.
To me, “everyday parents” sounds suspiciously like “mainstream New Zealanders;” remember them?
“Should we be concerned that Mr Key has raised questions over the future of the Families Commission?”
I am sure the Families Commission can defend itself. I am sure it can give specific details of the economic and social benefits from the government’s $28m investment during the commission’s first four years, just like the government will, in due course, be able to tell us what it expects the rate of return to be on its investment in KiwiRail. Once the Families Commission has given John Key and the wider public all the necesssary information, I have no doubt that its future will be secure under a National Government.