Judith Collins MP
National Party Welfare Spokeswoman

08 August 2005

Dyson hiding from fallout on another CYF failure

“Ruth Dyson continues to dodge her responsibilities to the children of New Zealand, given her latest sidestep on yet another CYF tragedy,” says National Party Welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins.

“Time and time again we call for the Minster to front up. Time and time again she lets officials take the rap. Today she should make it clear why this boy’s disappearance was hushed up for two days.”

Ms Collins is responding to the belated move by CYF to investigate why it failed to pass on information to the police about the disappearance of a 13-year-old from a government-approved camp in December last year.

Otis Auelua was later found dead after falling to his death at Northland’s Matauri Bay.

“CYF and the Minister have known about this tragedy for more than eight months, yet it has taken until today for an investigation to begin.

“This is blatant election-year damage control and an attempt by Labour to sweep the death under the carpet until after the election.

“The family of this 13-year-old, who died while on a Child Youth and Family-approved camp, deserved answers long before now.

“If you stack this case up against the slack response to complaints about a CYF caregiver who has recently admitted inappropriately photographing kids in his care, a worrying picture begins to emerge,” says Ms Collins

“Is this the culture of performance excellence that Ms Dyson talks about?”

ENDS

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