David King: Why the Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill must be stopped

A young David King who now believes new legislation intended to protect New Zealand children is misguided. Photo / Supplied

Opinion

OPINION

Reducing child abuse matters to me, personally.

Throughout my childhood, I was subjected to ongoing abuse. My father told me he had learned everything he needed to know in the army.

The key lesson he learned was that for a person to achieve great things they needed to be pushed to the point where their spirit was broken and then pushed further still.

He applied this philosophy to parenting me.

As a result, I emerged into adolescence with an overwhelming sense of insignificance, terrified that others would reject me and that I would be cast out and die alone.

For 40 years, I put on a mask of normality every day as best I could while battling inside just to survive these terrible feelings.

But in September 2020, I ran out of the energy to keep going anymore, collapsing in severe depression, and hitting rock bottom at the end of 2021.

Only one thing kept me from taking up a life of homelessness and eventual death - the pain it would cause my family.

Then in early 2022, a major change took place and I saw a fulfilling new life was possible.

I could work independently on child care and protection policy to help ensure that no child was abused and, if they were, that they got the best possible mental health support.

I immediately became aware of the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People's Commission Bill.

This bill is critical to reducing child abuse because Oranga Tamariki is responsible for identifying and addressing abuse and the Children's Commissioner has been the key public voice for children in relation to Oranga Tamariki.

So I examined the papers to understand the Government's thinking and analyse whether what it was proposing was right. A report Jonathan Boston and I released last week was the culmination of that work.

Our analysis shows that everything hinges on the answer to just one question.

Will children and young people be safer if the monitoring of what Oranga Tamariki does is performed by a government department or by the Children and Young People's Commission (which will be headed by a Chief Children's Commissioner)?

Our report finds that if, as the Government proposes, monitoring is performed by a government department, it will not in practice be independent, no matter how much the Government dresses it up to look independent (it has, for example, named it the "independent" monitor).

The monitor is just too close to the centre of power not to be influenced by bureaucratic and political considerations.

David King. Photo / Supplied

Without independent monitoring, the truth about how Oranga Tamariki is performing can be watered down, "managed" internally, and even covered up.

Without that truth being brought to light, there is a real risk of a significant reduction in the safety and wellbeing of children and young people over time – almost certainly there will be no improvement.

We conclude that only a fully independent body like the Children and Young People's Commission can identify how Oranga Tamariki is really performing and what needs to change for more children and young people to be safe and cared for.

Our analysis backs up what nearly every submitter on the bill said: the Government cannot be trusted to monitor itself when it comes to our most vulnerable children and young people.

Our tamariki and rangatahi are just too precious to risk placing "independent" monitoring of what is happening to them in the hands of politicians and officials.

It is symbolic of just how wrong this bill is that two MPs who would usually have so little in common, Act's Karen Chhour and the Greens' Jan Logie, are opposing this bill.

The Prime Minister, with her passion for children and young people, is the only person who can stop this bill now.

I have never met our Prime Minister but she said in a recent interview that she is a real "policy wonk" who loves engaging with policy issues.

As a policy wonk myself, I say to her, that the papers behind this Bill are not of sufficient quality to justify proceeding with it when young lives are at stake.

The minister responsible for the bill (Carmel Sepuloni) is not taking the time to get proper advice on the substantial analysis Jonathan Boston and I have undertaken.

Take just one month to engage with the issues afresh - I would love to talk with the Prime Minister about them.

Talk too with those who are so concerned about the Bill – the care-experienced, the children and young people's sector, and Māori.

The flame of hope still flickers in their hearts - please do not extinguish it.

• David King is an independent public policy analyst, based in Wellington.

Disclosure: David King is a friend of former Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft. David emphasises that his mother was also a victim of abuse and did everything she was able to protect him. His report with Jonathan Boston can be found at: Improving A System When Young Lives Are At Stake.