February 24, 2022
Children’s Commission grizzles fail to sway Davis
The Minister for Children is dismissing criticism of a bill that will get rid of the Children’s Commissioner as grizzles.
The Bill in the name of Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has sparked a petition led by Save the Children, and the National Urban Māori Authority has also slammed the proposed new structure as doing nothing for Māori.
Past Children’s Commissioners have been highly critical of the government’s child protection agencies including Oranga Tamariki, and they have had the power to conduct unannounced spot checks on facilities.
Mr Davis says the aim is to strengthen the monitoring of Oranga Tamariki.
“Instead of having a commissioner we’re having a commission. There’s more people which means there are more people to look and evaluate what Oranga Tamarki is doing so it’s actually about strengthening the system. To be honest I don’t know what the concerns are. I think it’s just another thing to grizzle about,” he says.
Mr Davis says it will be up to the new commission to decide what sort of public face it will put on its activities.