0 Protecting our most vulnerable (Part 2)

We blogged earlier yesterday about the passage of the Vulnerable Children Bill. The Bill had its third and final reading in Parliament yesterday, and passed by 105 votes to ten.

Only the Greens and Hone Harawira voted against the Bill. For some reason, the Greens only recorded nine votes; we guess their other five MP's (more than a third of the party's caucus) must have been otherwise engaged outside Parliament. Either that, or there was a schism within the Greens, and five Green MP's wanted to support the legislation, but were not allowed to break ranks. To the best of our knowledge Hone Harawira did not even attend the Third Reading debate. He certainly did not speak in the debate, and his vote was cast as a proxy by Green MP Kevin Hague.

We were terribly disappointed that the Greens and Harawira could not see past their political noses to support this piece of legislation. The intent of the Vulnerable Children Bill was such that it ought to have enjoyed the unanimous support of the Parliament. After all, what issue, if not protecting our most vulnerable children, could one reasonably expect the Parliament to unite on?

Jan Logie and Kevin Hague spoke on behalf of the Greens. Check out this extract from Ms Logie's speech:

The Green Party wants to ensure all of our children have their basic needs met. We want to address the causes of vulnerability so that all of our children can thrive. That is why we put child poverty on the political agenda last term and we have been continuing that through this term. That is also why we have been working so hard to put domestic and sexual violence back on the political agenda. 

Poverty is created and can be eliminated by Government policy. Child poverty and deprivation escalated in the 1990s due to Government policy. It is not out of our control. We continue to unashamedly call for action every single chance we get on this issue, because it is at the heart of the welfare of our children. Although violence is not quite so easily amenable to Government intervention, and no one thing is going to solve it, we can still significantly reduce it. This bill is not going to do that.

Kevin Hague's speech (and Mr Hague is one Green MP for whom we have considerable respect) was more like an election campaign speech:

KEVIN HAGUE (Green): I guess I agree with a lot of what my colleague Andrew Little has just said, but we disagree on one point. He said that something is better than nothing, and I do not think that is always true. In this case, we do not agree and we are opposing the bills divided from the Vulnerable Children Bill.
My colleague Jan Logie has explained our reasoning behind that. I want to talk a little bit about what the Green Party would do about this situation. If the country gives us a chance later this year we will be looking to address the basic needs of children in New Zealand—those unmet needs that are currently causing the environments that are driving this vulnerability and the problem that we are seeking to address.

Sadly, Kevin Hague's speech was little more than a series of feel-good sound-bites for the child poverty industry. Simply throwing money at societal problems is not going to solve them. Complex problems require changes in mindset and attitude, not a bottomless bucket of money.

National MP Alfred Ngaro nailed that argument in his speech. He quoted Flaxmere resident Henare O'Keefe; the man who could have replaced Ikaroa-Rawhiti MP Parekura Horomia. We have previously blogged about Mr O'Keefe here.

So here's what Alfred Ngaro had to say:

This legislation is about protecting and providing that which is needed. There has been talk about poverty. We know that there are a number of children and families who are in hardship. We do not disagree with that. But can I remind members of this. Henare O’Keefe, who was one of the candidates for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, following the death of the late Hon Parekura Horomia, tells the story at the Whānau Ora conference that when growing up in Ruatōria there were dirt floors, they had very little. They had to boil their water, they had to go outside, they had to hunt for things—they had very little and a large family. But here is the powerful thing that he said at that Whanau Ora conference: poverty is no excuse for abuse, poverty is no excuse for failure. What he was saying is this: you may have hard times, you may have difficulty, but you do have an opportunity to be able to do the best for your family and for the people who are around you.  

Henare O'Keefe (and Alfred Ngaro, quoting his words) are both dead right; poverty (however one defines it) is not an excuse for abuse, be it physical, psychological or sexual. There is no excuse whatsoever for child abuse.

Rather than trying to politicise the issue of child poverty, we reckon the Greens and Hone Harawira ought to have thrown their weight behind a Bill which already enjoyed broad support across the Parliament from both Government and Opposition MP's.

To say that we are disappointed with the stance adopted by the Greens and Harawira is an understatement. We have waited almost 24 hours to commit these words to a blog-post because to have done it in anger last night would probably have been counter-productive.

DPF mirrors our thoughts in a post he put up this morning:

The Herald reports:

A law change aimed at improving the protection of children at risk of abuse or neglect, including stronger vetting of adults who work with children, has passed into law with broad support in Parliament.
The Vulnerable Children Bill passed its final stage by 105 – 10 votes in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon after only the Green Party and Mana Party’s Hone Harawira voted against it.

They voted against???

The bill is the centrepiece of the Government’s ‘Children’s Action Plan’ – developed after Social Development Minister Paula Bennett’s White Paper on Vulnerable Children.
Its measures include changes to the law so that abusive or neglectful parents will have to prove they are safe if they wish to keep any further children they have. In the past, social agencies have had to to prove they were not fit parents to take a child from them.
It also introduces greater screening of those who work with children for government and community agencies, and ban those with serious convictions from working closely with children.

They voted against this? Against screening of those who work with children, against banning convicted offenders working with children?

Green Party MP Jan Logie said Ms Bennett had failed to deal to the main problem of child poverty.

Some on the left think that the solution to every single issue is to tax hard working New Zealanders more, to give to those on welfare. That is their solution to everything. So sad.

The proposals put forward by Paula Bennett and supported by National, Labour, NZ First, the Maori Party, United Future and Brendan Horan were practical in nature, rather than financial. Throwing money at problems simply doesn't work if there is not a change in underlying behaviours and attitudes.

Sometimes you have to step outside your party's ideological bubble in order to make meaningful, lasting change. It is unfortunate and regrettable that the Greens and Mr Harawira were unable to do that yesterday. 

But Hansard will forever record that yesterday, it was more important for them to make a political statement than to support legislation to improve the safety of the children they purport to represent. That alone speaks volumes. 


Footnote: Speech extracts are from the uncorrected Hansard for 19 June 2014.

0 Protecting our most vulnerable (Part One)

Parliament yesterday passed the Third Reading of the Vulnerable Children Bill. Sadly (and inexplicably), Parliament was not in unison on this legislation; the final vote was 105-10, with the Greens and Hone Harawira voting against; more on that later.

Paula Bennett has hailed the passage of this legislation:

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has welcomed the passing of the Vulnerable Children Bill into law ensuring that New Zealand’s most at risk children get priority in accessing services and support.
“With more than 30 specific initiatives contained within the Children’s Action Plan, this new legislation provides a solid platform of accountability and monitoring never before seen in child protection to underpin the plan,” says Mrs Bennett.
The Vulnerable Children Act confers responsibility on the heads of five government departments, holding them directly accountable for improving the lives of vulnerable children.
The Ministries of Health, Education, Social Development, Justice and Police frontline staff must now ensure that children identified as vulnerable get the services and support they need to thrive.
“Every child in this country deserves good health, education and welfare.  Most parents provide that but for those who can’t or won’t, government agencies must step in and be advocates for those children.  I expect these children to now go to the front of the queue,” says Mrs Bennett. 
The 10 new Children’s Teams, two of which are up and running now, will provide a coordinated group of professionals to plan and wrap services around at risk children early to keep them safe from harm so they can thrive, achieve and belong.
The new law introduces new vetting and screening checks for government and community agency staff working with children including banning people with serious convictions from working in core children workforce roles.
The legislation switches the onus on parents who have killed or severely abused or neglected a child.  They will now have to prove they are safe to parent subsequent children.
Other changes include greater clarity in Family Group Conference plans that specify exactly what parents will need to do to meet their children’s needs.  Children in care will also be enrolled in the Kiwisaver scheme, allowing better planning for their future.
“While no law can stop children being abused, neglected or killed, this new legislation transforms our child protection system.  It means there will more eyes on vulnerable children, services and support will be prioritised and there will be greater vigilance on known abusers,” says Mrs Bennett.

The Vulnerable Children Bill is not perfect, and there is no guarantee that it will protect every child in New Zealand. But it is definitely a step in the right direction, and we especially applaud the added responsibility given to heads of government departments instructing them to work closely with other departments, and holding them accountable for that.

In her Third Reading speech yesterday Paula Bennett had this to say:

This Bill is a critical step in giving effect to changes in the Children’s Action Plan.
These include ensuring joint accountability across Justice, Health, Education, Police and Social Development, for the wellbeing of vulnerable children.
They also include the new requirements for the screening and vetting of Government workers and contractors who work with children.
All up these new requirements will cover around 182,000 New Zealanders.
There are also new workforce restrictions to prevent those with serious convictions, who pose a danger to children, from coming into contact with them. 
The legislation will also switch the onus on parents who have killed, or severely abused or neglected a child, and they will now have to prove they are safe to parent subsequent children.   
But let me be very clear, the legislation contained in this Bill is a small part of work already underway.
We can pass laws to improve screening and vetting.
We can pass laws that place restrictions on dangerous people where there currently are none.
But we cannot pass laws that stop children being beaten, neglected, or sexually and emotionally abused.
We cannot pass laws that stop children being killed, by those who should love and protect them.
We cannot expect that throwing more money at this problem - without changing how we work - will actually fix anything.
Accepting that this is as good as it gets will not cut it.

This is a pretty emphatic statement from the Minister of Social Development. She and her Ministry have been working on these proposals for several years. Mrs Bennett launched the White Paper on Vulnerable Children in 2012, which received more that 10,000 submissions. She told Parliament that the legislation passed yesterday "would be nothing" without those submissions.

Labour supported the passage of the Bill. Sue Moroney began her Third Reading speech with these words:

It is a pleasure to rise to speak at the third reading of the legislation formerly part of the Vulnerable Children Bill. I congratulate the Minister for Social Development on bringing the legislation forward and bringing it all the way through to its third reading in a timely fashion. I also want to commend the work that was done at the Social Services Committee on the Vulnerable Children Bill, because I think that it did improve the bill, and we were able to ensure, I guess, that some of the more problematic parts of that bill were taken out, actually. That was what happened; quite a significant part of that bill was taken out. I also want to acknowledge Anthea Simcock from the Child Matters organisation in Hamilton, because I understand that quite a lot of what has ended up in this legislation has been as result of her advocacy around the issues for children who are vulnerable, and vulnerable to child abuse. I think we should just call it what it is, quite frankly. So I congratulate Anthea on her involvement in this.

Parliament is by its very nature an adversarial place. But the two main parties were able to find common ground yesterday. 

New Zealand First too found general agreement with the Bill; here's what Asenati Lole-Taylor had to say in her introductory remarks:

Talofa lava, kia ora, and thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to talk about this legislation, arising from the Vulnerable Children Bill, in its third and final reading. The legislation sets out to achieve some goals. It proposes solutions that are much needed for problems, given the epidemic that has been in existence for quite a while in New Zealand. We are all aware that problems associated with vulnerable children are complex, and so the solutions identified in this legislation may only go so far. The member who has just spoken, Alfred Ngaro, is absolutely right: it is not perfect legislation; not yet. Obviously, we need to look at this legislation carefully because there are underlying issues that must be clarified.

There will undoubtably still be challenges ahead, and the Government freely concedes that the legislation is not yet perfect. But it has passed into law, despite the Greens and Hone Harawira not being able to bring themselves to support it, for wholly political reasons.

We will examine those reasons in Part Two later today.