Quotes from this outspoken children's advocate over the years.
"Oh, get over it, Mark!"
In this terse reply to a question (about her celebrated corporate attire) from host Mark Sainsbury on TVNZ's Close Up earlier this week, Christine Rankin is in typical form - shooting from the hip, tellin' it like it is.
Ms Rankin has said she
intends to be outspoken and create waves to get her view across in her new job as a Families Commissioner. We look back at what she has said about family issues in the past:
On her appointment:
Checkpoint on National Radio, Monday 11 May 2009
"I'm very passionate about the state of New Zealand children and families and I look forward to my role ... I think the commission needs to get some results for New Zealand families and I hope I can contribute to that happening."
"It appears to me that the Families Commission does a lot of research. Well, at some stage we have to take action with the research that we've got ... Perhaps they do lobby the Government in terms of all of the research ... I need to wait and see."
On her opposition to the anti-smacking legislation:
TV3 interview 12 May 2009
"There are everyday people who fear being investigated when they are doing nothing wrong ... these people are frightened about disciplining their children in a normal way ... what we need to do is get on and investigate - and take action over - the people who are truly harming their children."
"I'm not a Christian, I'm a Buddhist ... but it doesn't matter what an individual's beliefs are .. I think that ... mum and dad and the kids ... that's a model that works ... anywhere in the world."
"I don't find that groups like Family First, or Parents Inc, hold extreme views at all .... I think that often their views reflect ordinary New Zealanders who don't feel empowered to stand up and say what they think."
On what she sees as the perils threatening families in this country:
Light One Life, 2007
"The image of New Zealand as a clean and green paradise is being undermined by a shocking United Nations report on children's well being.
The report ranked New Zealand at the bottom of a list of 24 developed countries for child deaths from accidents and injuries.
It seems we are learning nothing from the horrendous incidents that we are starting to see in the paper and on our television screens almost daily."
Child Rights Information Network, 2007
Christine Rankin, chief executive of For the Sake of Our Children Trust, agreed alcohol and drugs were the main reason for Maori child abuse, saying OECD and Child, Youth and Family reports had reached the same conclusion.
She said the key to improving the situation was better services for alcohol and drug users which focused on stopping addiction rather than moderating their intake.
She did not accept poverty as a reason for Maori child abuse, saying, "There are many poverty stricken countries, with terrible poverty, that do not treat their children the way we do ours."
Nor was unemployment a valid reason because there were shortages of workers across all sectors.
"The only excuse to be unemployed at the moment is if you are into drugs and alcohol," Ms Rankin said.
She acknowledged loss of family and tribal connections as possible reasons for Maori child abuse but said, "Whatever the reasons that they're doing it, it's at epidemic proportions.
"They might be reasons but they can't be excuses for what is happening out there to our babies every single day."
Light One Life (2006)
On the death of a 3-year old in February 2006:
"I hope to goodness we are not becoming desensitised to what is going on in our community.
"This child's death should not go unnoticed. It should not be buried, as an after thought, in the back pages of newspapers."
Ms Rankin also challenged the court's decision to grant name suppression.
"If these people are indeed found guilty of such a terrible crime, this suppression must be overturned," she says. "This is a crime which should not be kept secret."
On the role of Child Youth & Family:
Herald on Sunday, June 25 2006
CYF "is immune to evil and works under a flawed philosophy - that the family is more important than the child".
In 1989 the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act changed the focus on how authorities monitor and protect children. Instead of being removed from the family and placed in an institution, at-risk children were placed within the extended family, or whanau.
Rankin: "So when an abused child is taken from parents, he or she might be placed with the grandparents, who probably abused that child's parents when they were little."
On what drives her:
Inspired People blog on nzherald.co.nz, November 2008
"I have learned the hard way that it's fatal to work from 6am to 7pm. I was quite ill in 2006. I have zillions of things on my plate, and I get off on it, but I am careful to manage my state. At night, I watch my favourite TV programmes and read, and I like to cook. My grandchildren are a huge part of my life, and I try to see them every day. We have little rituals. Every Saturday we go for breakfast at the same place. I play with my grandchildren as I never did with my children - we get down on the floor and play hide-and-seek.
"I look back and regret the times I was working intensively and wasn't there for my boys. Joshua was in hospital once as an eight-year-old, and my father was there in my place when he woke up. Joshua was fine with that, but I'm not. I missed Matt's graduation from the Territorials because I was having a big week at work.
"I worry about New Zealand men. I went through the feminist movement. Today's women in their 20s and early 30s have it easier. They expect too much of their men, and take things for granted.
"If you look at many family breakdowns, it's often because of men's confusion about their role. I believe women become wise at 50. Young women need to be sensible about what they expect. Men are supposed to earn big bucks, be macho and still be in touch with their feminine side. It's too difficult.
"People give up too easily in relationships. I did. I asserted myself: 'I will not do this and that'. It's the one precious thing that you can give a child - a mum and dad that love each other. It's hard but it's achievable.
"Relationships are hard enough to maintain, and you have to put time into them. What are we doing to our people? If people are working from 6am to 7pm then something is wrong.
"Get rid of negative people. Cut them out of your life. I have done it, and sometimes it's painful. Sometimes you miss them, but I always say enthusiasm is contagious, and so is the lack of it. I surround myself with people who can lift me up, and I feed off them. You need support from people around you, whether it's a professional or family or friends. It gives you courage. They can challenge and support you. I need to be passionate about what I'm doing, and I need the high of achievement.
- compiled by NZHERALD STAFF
