New Children's Commissioner Does Not Engender Confidence

May 5, 2011

“Are our children any less at risk of serious abuse because of the Children’s Commission”? asks Larry Baldock, leader of the Kiwi Party. “We have just had the suspicious death of yet another innocent baby and the news this week of the appointment of a part time Children’s Commissioner, Hawkes Bay pediatrician Dr Russell Wills, does nothing to convince me our children will be safer as a result.

“How much money has been spent on the Children’s Commission”, continued Baldock, “and what proven improvements in our children’s welfare can the Commission claim?

“The Kiwi Party has been calling on the government to set up a Royal Commission to determine the real causes of child abuse in New Zealand so our appalling statistics can be drastically lowered.

"It does not engender confidence in our new Children’s Commissioner that he will be able to find the real solutions to child abuse when we are aware that he was a strong advocate for the anti-smacking law that has made no difference in our appalling statistics.

“Surely it is time to spend taxpayers’ money more effectively on a Royal Commission rather than continue to see it poured into the Children’s Commission with no discernable benefit for our most vulnerable children”, concluded Baldock.

ENDS

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