Ara Taiohi

This Bill is creating a huge amount of concern for our sector, taiohi, whānau, and communities.

As the detail of the Bill is quite technical are keen to summarise the detail and link to some helpful articles below. We are advocating that this Bill be paused for full consultation and to include feedback from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Our concerns include that:

• Consultation with young people, was tokenistic at best
• The voices of those care experienced young Rangatahi that submitted to the Select Committee hearings were not listened to,
• The Bill diminishes the powers of the Children’s Commission and places oversight of Oranga Tamariki within government (with either the Ombudsman or the Monitoring Committee hosted in ERO)
• Appropriate changes to the Bill have NOT been made.

Here’s where the action comes in. We encourage you to sign this Action Station petition which will be presented at the next hearing of the Select Committee. Another action your organisation can take is to write to your local MP and ask that the letter be sent to Minister Sepuloni. This shows your local MP that you’re interested in action being taken, keeps them informed of their local voices, and will encourage conversation amongst MPs.   

Working together as a sector, we are hopeful that we can get this Bill paused. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.  

Action station petition

Opinion piece by Martin Bradbury