31 August 2015 MEDIA STATEMENT

Privatising CYF about ideology not care

John Key’s suggestions today that Child Youth and Family could be privatized will be a terrifying thought for New Zealanders already dealing with the mess created in private prisons and plans to sell our state houses to Australians, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says.

“Clearly the Government is softening up the public for the privatization – at least in part – of CYF. That is wrong and it cannot be allowed to go ahead.

“Once again, the Government’s answer to a major social issue is to look for someone to make a profit out of it.

“The Children’s Commissioner’s report into care made it clear that this was a department that had a huge increase in demand for its services, with little additional support or resources. We need to fix that, not hand it off to those who would profit from it.

“John Key suggested phone calls into CYF could be handled by a private firm. That is one of the most crucial steps in care, as it is when it is decided whether intervention is needed. It was also one area the Commissioner said CYF was doing well.

“Community organisations do work with CYF but that is very different to what the PM is suggesting.

“These are our most vulnerable children and they cannot be subject to experimentation in a privatisation plan that is much more about ideology, than it is about care,” Andrew Little says.
ends

© Scoop Media