This is unbelievable, MSD didn’t even bother checking on the children whose parents they were punishing with sanctions!
MSD quiet over harm sanctions are causing to beneficiaries’ kids
The Ministry of Social Development won’t provide examples of how children suffer when their parents are hit by benefit sanctions because it would be too much work to gather the information.
So punishing beneficiaries with sanctions they can do, measuring the negative harm that does to the children of those beneficiaries they can’t do!
This is cruel punishment being meted out to the children of these beneficiaries and is just another reason why the Children’s Commissioner should not only have expansion oversight of Oranga Tamariki, but over MSD as well!
Who will stand for the children that the State abuses?
How can you all have sat through that Royal Inquiry into the abuse of children in State care and not see how important extra oversight is required?
We electrified 130 children as punishment.
Let that sink in and tell me we shouldn’t have extra oversight over these State agencies and their cruel policy.
Watching some of the virtue signalling nonsense policy being burnt on the bonfire last week was great but it made me wonder why one of the dumbest and most corrosive decisions made by this Government wasn’t also dumped?
Why the hell wasn’t the decision to end the Children’s Commissioner’s oversight of children abused in state care dumped?
Every single party in Parliament opposed ending the oversight, yet Carmel Sepuloni went ahead with it anyway.
The defence that the Ministry told Carmel to use was that the Children’s Commissioner was only a temporary oversight until a new oversight was built.
Now that is true, the original Frankenstein monster National carved out of the old CYFs into Oranga Tamariki only had this Children’s Commissioner oversight as a temporary measure, but one would have thought in light of the Royal Commission inquiry into historic abuse in State Care that the lesson learnt was more oversight is necessary, not less!
This new oversight is this box ticking board inside the Education Review Office who have suddenly burst upon the scene with a press release interview stating how well they are watching over Oranga Tamariki AT THE SAME TIME as I have been highlighting the stupidity of appointing them to this position.
Coincidence?
Why dump all this stupid policy and not include the most dangerous one?
MSD shows us why the Children’s Commissioner needs a wider remit and must be extended over Oranga Tamariki as well!
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This looks like child abuse to me. I’m pretty sure that in Criminal Law, a blow aimed at one person and hitting another is an Indirect Assault offence. Sepuloni should be charged with child abuse. The buck stops with her if her department is damaging children. Whether they record the damage or not, is beside the point, but their cavalier attitude is mind-boggling, as well as negligent, as is her shocking decision to kneecap the Commissioner for Children.
But surely they must be doing a great job otherwise why was their boss made Deputy Prime Minister.
Female and PI, nothing else we all know that she is absolutely useless in her portfolio.
Snowball – a blow aimed can be contrived as assault if done in close enough proximity. The issues of children in poverty and suffering abuse also occurred under National governments (even with oversight) – were you screaming out for heads to roll at this time?
RB – compared to any Nat led government, the current one is much more caring and compassionate. I could never see the Nats having a winter energy payment, cost of living payments, increased minimum wage, or a raft of other kind policy initiatives. Your second post?
Trev – Jacinda’s decision to move on way self-less and has changed the likelihood of another Labour led government being returned to power later in the year. At the time of Jacinda’s resignation Labour were on a downward spiral that required decisive action to change. Chippy’s work since becoming PM has been excellent, for the most part. I look forward to political debates between Chippy and Luxon later in the year!
In terms of the post I thought we were supposed to be responding to. I have to agree that it was folly to remove the oversight of Oranga Tamariki. But, also, you need to avoid confusing historical events with the current operating policy and situation. The events at Lake Alice should never have occurred, but were down to a couple of deviant people in power where there was minimal oversight of the operations of the institution. Even strong and pro-social policy which meets basic human rights will never stop the actions of the odd psychopath that is able to access power.
Snowball – a blow aimed can be contrived as assault if done in close enough proximity. The issues of children in poverty and suffering abuse also occurred under National governments (even with oversight) – were you screaming out for heads to roll at this time?
RB – compared to any Nat led government, the current one is much more caring and compassionate. I could never see the Nats having a winter energy payment, cost of living payments, increased minimum wage, or a raft of other kind policy initiatives. Your second post?
Trev – Jacinda’s decision to move on way self-less and has changed the likelihood of another Labour led government being returned to power later in the year. At the time of Jacinda’s resignation Labour were on a downward spiral that required decisive action to change. Chippy’s work since becoming PM has been excellent, for the most part. I look forward to political debates between Chippy and Luxon later in the year!
In terms of the post I thought we were supposed to be responding to. I have to agree that it was folly to remove the oversight of Oranga Tamariki. But, also, you need to avoid confusing historical events with the current operating policy and situation. The events at Lake Alice should never have occurred, but were down to a couple of deviant people in power where there was minimal oversight of the operations of the institution. Even strong and pro-social policy which meets basic human rights will never stop the actions of the odd psychopath that is able to access power.
Bob. Briefly, Yes, probably to everything . Including presenting to a Parliamentary select committee at the invite of a prominent charity ; published in the Dom when Bill English used his veto to stymie the extension of paid parental leave – although I don’t think I knew he’d presented false financial figures at that time – and I have never stopped criticising the latter for his unacceptable attempts to typecast all our young males as useless druggies, and at a time when the suicide rate for 18-24 year olds was tragic.
It’s a return to 19th century judgmental thinking with class disdain – and we thought we had got over that but there are pockets of it like disease-carrying pods ready to infect from the slightest tear in the wrapper.
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