20th May 2019

The Sensible Sentencing Trust say the Children’s Commissioner is guilty of riding the ‘Colonialism’ bandwagon by blaming racism and colonialism after Oranga Tamariki removed a child from its mother’s care.

Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft has said Oranga Tamariki’s decision to remove a baby from a young mother’s care was not due to the families history of family violence, but was down to racism.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/388886/oranga-tamariki-accused-of-bullying-racism-over-removal-of-baby

National Spokesperson for the Sensible Sentencing Trust, Jess McVicar, says the blame game has gone too far. “Is he saying it’s okay for these kids to go into homes of abuse because it’s racist to remove them?”

“When there are children being harmed it doesn’t matter what colour they are, they need help. He should be coming up with solutions for Oranga Tamariki rather than trying to put the blame on something that happened 179 years ago.”

“The Children’s Commissioner now believes it is acceptable to place children in the care of people who abuse drugs and alcohol or have a history of family violence instead of doing everything needed to protect the children. Using excuses of the past especially Colonialism is NOT going to help our most vulnerable victims today. We have one of the worst levels of Domestic Violence, Family Violence and Child Abuse in the developed world. A level of violence that is not decreasing!!" says Jess.

In 2007 NZ Police were attending a family violence incident every seven minutes. In 2018 NZ Police were attending a family violence incident every four minutes. Our most innocent victims - our children are present at 80% of all family violence incidents.

Since 2007 we have seen thousands of dollars spent on awareness and educational services, media coverage and anti-violence campaigns, but family violence has increased NOT declined.

Jess says “To blame Racism and Colonialism is a repetitive excuse that has gone too far. The simple fact is this-Colonialism happened over 179 years ago, to use this as an excuse for why a parent chooses to smoke Meth instead of care for their child is wrong!”

“To blame Colonialism for a parent beating and sexually abusing a child is wrong!”

“To blame Colonialism for the step-parent who chose to beat a baby to death is wrong!”

Jess says she never thought she would see the day that our small beautiful country would be so divided from claims of racism. “These claims of racism and colonialism have divided our country, instead of coming up with solutions together. Nothing will change until the cycles of generational abuse is broken. Nothing will change until personal accountability and responsibility is taken. Nothing will change if we continue to make excuses for those who choose to harm our most vulnerable victims.”

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