[2] At the point of its disestablishment in 2018, Superu managed: The creation of the Families Commission was an outcome of post-election political negotiations between the Labour Party and United Future in 2002.
Rajen Prasad, a social worker and academic who had been race relations conciliator from 1996 to 2001, was appointed chief commissioner and continued in that position until 2008 when he became a Labour MP.
Sharron Cole, Mason Durie, Sandra Alofivae, Carolynn Bull, and Lyn Campbell filled the other positions.
[22][23][24] In May 2012, after the National government won a second term, social development minister Paula Bennett announced a suite of reforms that had been foreshadowed in the renewed National–United Future agreement.
[29] Legislation to enact the changes, the Families Commission Amendment Bill, completed its third reading on 24 March 2014 in a 64–56 vote.
In lieu of what it described as a "compromised" commission, Labour proposed establishing a new Ministry for Children, which had been party policy since 2011.
[37] The sole post-reform commissioner position, then held by former national statistician Len Cook since 1 July 2015, was disestablished.