Call To Hit Pause On Controversial Bill – University of Auckland

It’s time for the Government to taihoa on the Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill, say University of Auckland legal academics.

The new Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill is seriously flawed, both in its substance and the process followed to develop it, say a group of legal academics.

In a paper titled Time to Taihoa, the University of Auckland law experts from Te Puna Rangahau o te Wai Ariki, the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre for Indigenous Peoples and the Law lay out major concerns with the Bill, which is progressing through Parliament and is due to go before the House of Representatives for its second reading.

They say that the Government has disregarded both te Tiriti o Waitangi and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in developing the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People’s Commission Bill, and that its progression must be paused.

“It’s essential to have on record the many concerns about the Bill and to hold the Government to account,” says Dr Fleur Te Aho (Ngāti Mutunga).

“Not only has the Government decided not to establish a Māori-led transition authority or provide for Māori tino rangatiratanga over the care and protection of tamariki Māori, but it has also pushed ahead with the Bill and failed to engage with Māori on its development in a way that reflects our status as Tiriti partner and as Indigenous peoples.”

Read the full release.