There must surely be many more useless government departments than the Fatuous Family’s Commission, and there is surely fierce competition for the spot, but the government department created by the Clark Government as a bribe to keep Peter Dunne on side (and to foster the illusion that his years in parliament had actually achieved something) must be the most well known as a prime candidate for the chop.
What has it actually achieved? Nothing. What was it supposed to achieve? To fool Done-Nothing's supporters into thinking he'd achieved something in his career.
So when former bureaucrat Christine Rankin was appointed to the position of head of the Fatuous Commission yesterday it hardly made my heart sing. Yes, she took the right stand on the anti-smacking bill promoted by Sue Bradford (who yesterday was disgracefully characterising Rankin as being a promoter of violence towards children) but she’s still just a wasteful bloody bureaucrat in charge of a department that should not exist.
So that’s what I was thinking as I listened to her interviewed on Newstalk ZB last night. That anyone who could make both Sue Bradford and Peter Done-Nothing expose their true character can't be all bad (and aren't they nasty when they're crossed) , but this is still just another high-spending bureaucrat in charge of just another useless quango.
But then she said something that made my jaw drop. Larry Williams put to her that very point – that the Families Commission was nothing more than a political creation, by expediency out of MMP, and a complete waste of time, space and money – and she agreed. And she said that if after examination she still held that view, then she would be working to close it down.
I’ve never heard a bureaucrat say that before – even with those few weasel words. So just this once, I’m going to support the appointment of a new bureaucrat, no matter how wasteful she's been in the past. Well done Ms Rankin. You now have a year’s grace before I see you as just another jobsworth.
Here’s a song which may or may not be related to this discussion:
UPDATE: Oops. A commenter points out that Rankin isn’t boss, “she's only one of seven. Also look up the FamCom website to check out the drivel they produce. The thing should have been abolished....full stop.”
10 comments:
Check your facts Peter, she's only one of seven. Also look up the famcom website to check out the drivel they produce. The thing should have been abolished....full stop.
Oops. Thanks for the correction.
If you're in a mood to make corrections, this doesn't scan well: "There must surely be any more useless government departments than the Fatuous Family’s Commission, and there is surely fierce competition for the spot, "
Oh Lawdie! Thank goodness for commenters. Fixed now, ta. :)
Well I think it's a fucking brilliant move that with Rankin and the Parent's Inc guy, its not outside the bounds of possibility that the Commission will demand that the law is changed so that parents have a real legal responsibility to discpline your children---that's the way it should be: if youre kids are playing up and you don't whack 'em to teach them to behave, then that's when CYFS needs to come in and take the kids away --- not the other way around
..CYFS needs to come in and take the kids away --- not the other way aroundthe Commission will demand that the law is changedThe Commissars? CYFS?
Shouldn't exist.
If scum want to breed scum, so be it.
...so that parents have a real legal responsibility to discpline your children
It is quite possible to discipline children without smacking them. If parents feel they have to resort to smacking, the problem is with the parents, not the kids!
"It is quite possible to discipline children without smacking them. If parents feel they have to resort to smacking, the problem is with the parents, not the kids!"
And you are entitled to your opinion, BFS, but - for the umpteenth time - that is not the point.
The point is that nobody is entitled to *impose* their position upon others - and, naturally, vice versa.
We're talking persuasion as opposed to force.
If scum want to breed scum, so be it.
Bullshit. I have to pay for those scum. Either we get rid of welfare, or we get rid of the scum. OR both. Your pick.
It is quite possible to discipline children without smacking them. If parents feel they have to resort to smacking, the problem is with the parents, not the kids!
Another lefty theory completely disproved by the crime rates over the last 20 years!
Stop capital punishment and murder rates go right up! Stop corporal punishment and you get hooliganism, tagging, drinking on streetcorners.
David Garret is Right. NZ needs to get back to ideals of discpline, responsibility, and hard work - not lefty cuddling and bludging.
Sus, my response was simply to those who seem to think that smacking is necessary as discipline. It just isn't true.
Another lefty theory completely disproved by the crime rates over the last 20 years!I won't say anything about your lack of understanding of the scientific method, but are you trying to tell me that the crimes are being committed by those who were not smacked, and that those who were smacked are not committing crimes? I very much doubt that.
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