Rankin to run big families campaign

An Auckland property developer has thrown a wildcard into the election with a multimillion-dollar campaign to turn social policy around to stop families breaking up.

John Sax, chief executive of Southpark Corporation, has hired former Work and Income head Christine Rankin to set up For the Sake of Our Children Trust, which will run the campaign.

Other celebrities supporting it include former All Black Stu Wilson, athlete Steve Gurney, TV3 newsreader Howard Dobson, author Alan Duff, parent educator Ian Grant, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples, National candidate Tau Henare and MPs Peter Dunne and Muriel Newman.

Mr Sax told 300 people at Auckland's Sky City Convention Centre last night that 30 years of misconceived social policy had produced babies born out of wedlock, parents walking out of marriage, payments for sickness instead of wellness and for unemployment, not employment.

He cited "un-politically-correct facts" that children were three times as likely to die from child abuse if they were living in de facto families, four times more likely if they were in sole-parent homes, seven times more likely if they lived with step-dads or in blended families, and 73 times more likely if they lived with mum and her boyfriend.

"We claim we have the right as adults to pursue any relationships we like - but at the cost of our children, do we?" he asked.

Children of sole parents were also twice as likely to drop out of school, 2.5 times as likely to commit suicide and four times as likely to have health problems, said Mr Sax.

Sole-parent families were 4.6 times more likely to have drinking problems and 5.6 times more likely to be drug-dependent.

Girls raised in homes without their fathers were six times more likely to have children as teenagers. Children raised in fatherless homes were 19 times more likely to end up in prison.

"If we value our children, we must love, nurture and care for them in peaceful households with families who love them to bits, in a peaceful community where they know they are cared for."

Mr Sax said the campaign did not offer any alternative policies, but wanted to spark a nationwide debate about the issue.

As well as running his business, Mr Sax has worked for 16 years on youth mentoring schemes in Otara and Mangere and helped to found the New Zealand Mentoring Association.

He said the campaign would have a budget in "multi-seven-figures". He declined to comment on how much of it he was funding himself.

Ms Rankin, who took a grievance case against the Labour Government when her job as head of Work and Income was abolished, said she moved from Wellington to Auckland four months ago and was working three days a week on the campaign. She and her son also run a human resources company.

Dr Sharples said his involvement with Mr Sax predated the creation of the Maori Party and he supported the campaign's principles.

Social Development Minister Steve Maharey said only 10 children died from child abuse in New Zealand each year so he did not know where Mr Sax's figures came from.