“The Waitangi Tribunal’s attempt to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour makes me deeply fearful for them,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“I’m worried they haven’t thought about who they’re dealing with. Karen is a Māori woman who survived the state care system. By their own standards, they are buying a fight with someone of much greater mana.

“It’s not just Karen. They don’t seem to understand the subject either. Karen is removing section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act because a child’s safety and welfare matter more than their race.

“Section 7AA has led to Māori children being uplifted from loving homes due to the ethnicity of the carers. The Tribunal seems to think that’s okay. I call it race fanaticism.

“It’s not just the person and the issue, though. It’s also the timing. With the recent publication of a Newsroom story about the traumatic ‘reverse uplift’ of children from a loving home because their carers were the wrong race, their timing couldn’t be worse.

“The Tribunal summonsed the wrong woman, on the wrong issue, at the wrong time. No wonder some people think they’re past their use-by date. Perhaps they should be wound up for their own good.”

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