Push to highlight children’s issues

Eleven-year-old Luke Lolesi says a simple story about an angry mouse turned his life around.

Luke, now in his first year at Te Awamutu Intermediate, admits he was "really naughty and impatient" when his parents enrolled him at the Waipa Children's Art House in Kihikihi for one art session a week four years ago. The teacher there, Shona Hammond Boys, changed his life with a few words.

"It was a simple story that Shona told me about a mouse that didn't do anything and was really angry and didn't like what other people said about him," he said.

"All the other mice just tried to work in and help him.

"You might not think that means anything, but yeah, it's just like I felt different after she read that story."

This morning Luke Lolesi tells his own story in an attempt to turn the country around - to put children at the centre of policy debate in the forthcoming election. He is star speaker at the launch of a campaign called "Every Child Counts" backed by Barnardos, Unicef, Save the Children, Plunket and the Institute of Public Policy at the Auckland University of Technology.

The campaign will argue that investing a bit more money into extra help early in life - such as children's art programmes - can help young people to achieve their potential rather than costing society more through crime and misbehaviour. "It costs $5000 to work with an aggressive 5-year-old, with a 70 per cent success rate," said Dr Emma Davies of AUT. "It costs $20,000 to work with an aggressive 20-year-old, with a 20 per cent success rate."

Luke's mother, Pele Lolesi, said Shona Hammond Boys taught her to value Luke for what he was, rather than expecting him to be perfect.

"I was taught just to take my child and say that if I love him and treat him well and talk to him nicely and discipline him well, then he will meet his potential."

Shona Hammond Boys, who moved the Children's Art House Foundation headquarters from Auckland to Kihikihi to create a model "creative village", said modern schools were churning out "clones" good at using computers but not valued as human beings.

Every town and village needed an art house where children could develop their personalities.

"I believe Auckland is a childless city. If you go round Auckland, where do we put children first?"

"Where are our children's galleries? Where is the belief in children manifest in our buildings and our planning?

"The art houses do that, where we have a house that is totally given over to being a house of childhood."

All MPs have been invited to today's launch at the Butterfly Creek butterfly house near Auckland Airport, but by yesterday only one party leader, Greens co-leader Rod Donald, had said he would come.

Barnardos chief executive Murray Edridge said he understood that Helen Clark was on her way to Gallipoli, but he was very disappointed no other leaders were attending, as most made time to attend Grey Power's annual conference.

"Our politicians are courting the superannuitants, and we don't begrudge them what they can get.

"However, children haven't got the same captive appeal for politicians, and the reality is that on the measures of child poverty and child maltreatment and homicide we rank very badly in international statistics.

"If politicians are serious about having these things as central to their policy, and if we can get some of these issues written into coalition agreements post the election, at least we will be getting a focus on them."

Every Child Counts agenda

* Put children at the centre of policy development, including reports on the impact of new policies on children.

* Ensure every child gets a good start, including more paid parental leave, family support, "well child" health care and parenting education.
* Commit to a plan to end child poverty by a set date, as in Britain.

* Reduce neglect and abuse by changing attitudes about violence, faster access to services for neglected or abused children and better pay for foster parents.