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Weekly Media Roundup

September 08, 2017 at 8:55 AM

What life looks like at NZ’s largest decile one high school

When you work at a decile one high school, you’re confronted with the realities of child poverty on a daily basis. Teacher Sam Oldham writes from Manurewa.

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Foster parent shortage leading to placement problems

Children are being placed with unsuitable families because of a shortage of foster parents, the Ministry for Vulnerable Children has admitted.

Figures from last year showed there were more than twice as many children in state custody as there were available carers.

There were more than 5300 children in state custody in the year to June 2016, but only 2400 available and approved caregivers, the figures obtained under the Official Information Act showed.

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Moko inquest: Who knew what - and when - before Moko Rangitoheriri was killed?

The Herald breaks down the evidence at the inquest into the death of Moko Rangitoheriri.

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Jonathan Boston: Finally, after a poverty of debate, parties commit

OPINION: Both Labour and National are now politically committed to major reductions in child poverty rates. Moreover, their ambitions are bold and explicit.

National is promising to reduce child poverty by two-thirds – at least on one specific income-based measure – by the end of the next parliament. Labour has committed to ending child poverty and enacting legislation containing multiple official poverty measures and related targets. Several other parties, notably the Greens and the Māori Party, support broadly similar initiatives.

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Minor parties wade into child poverty debate

The setting of a child poverty reduction target by the National Party leader - out of the blue - has been met with some surprise, but also plenty of support.

Bill English put a specific number on how many children he would like to see lifted out of poverty during last night's televised Newshub Leaders' Debate.

His predecessor, John Key, had long refused to set a target, saying child poverty was too hard to measure.

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Babies' speech tracked in bid to bridge learning gap between rich and poor

A device which parents attach to their babies has tracked their speech in a new project which is aiming to bridge the gap between how rich and poor kids speak.

The technology - being used for the first time in New Zealand - was brought to the country as part of the Talking Matters campaign, a cross-sector group including early learning centres, schools and researchers.

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Girl faced 'pointless and repetitive' police questions

A 12-year-old living in state care who said she was raped three times faced "pointless and repetitive" questions from police, a Family Court judge says.

In his ruling, Judge Alex Twaddle also said the investigation into the complaints, which were made nearly a year ago, had taken too long and officers needed to try harder to solve them.

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Auckland Airport donates abandoned car to women's refuge charity

Auckland Airport has found a new home for one of the many abandoned cars that ended up in its carpark this year.

Instead of its usual process of selling off the good condition dumped Toyota, it has partnered with a women's refuge coordinator to help a lady in need.

Jackie Clark, founder of The Aunties charity, was brought to tears when the airport officially handed over the keys to the car, which now belongs to a south Auckland woman.

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Victim of Shortland Street actor Lee Rene Naufahu 'abused and betrayed'

A victim of well-known New Zealand actor Lee Rene Naufahu says she was subjected to a "gross abuse of power" and will no longer let the television star consume "any more of my mental space".

Naufahu, 47, changed his plea to admit six indecent assault charges before Judge Evangelos Thomas in Auckland District Court yesterday. The Crown dropped 13 other charges against Naufahu.

The former Shortland Street star had initially denied the charges and was due to go to trial next week.

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Calls for New Zealand doctors to screen patients for domestic violence

With one in three New Zealand women saying they've experienced physical or sexual violence in a relationship, is enough being done to spot the warning signs of domestic abuse? Currently, Kiwi doctors have no mandate to respond to evidence of family or domestic violence. So should GPs now start acting on the symptoms, asks Michelle Duff.

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Pull your weight: If there’s two of you, you both need to parent

Jai Breitnauer talks about shared parenting in the 21st Century when you’re a one mother, one father family.

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Ministry accused of breaching abuse claimants' privacy

The Ministry of Social Development is being accused of a mass breach of privacy after it sent details to police about children abused in state care, despite some victims saying they didn't want a criminal prosecution.

Three complainants who say they were abused while in state care are about to lodge a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner.

The complainants' lawyer, Amanda Hill of Wellington firm Cooper Legal, said it was likely hundreds of other cases had also been passed on to police.

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Bruce Mouat had taken a protection order out against the woman who would kill him

Five years before Bruce Mouat's wife pushed him down concrete steps leading to his death he had taken a protection order out against her.

Mouat died in July 2011 of a blunt force head injury after falling down steps outside the front door of his South Taranaki home and hitting his head on a concrete paver at the bottom.

For five years it was thought his death was accidental but in 2016 his wife Susan Elizabeth Mouat, 52, admitted pushing him and on Monday plead guilty to his manslaughter in the High Court at New Plymouth. 

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Give young voters a voice: Break the cycle of mutual neglect

A recent U-Report poll revealed some fairly worrying results about how young people perceive politicians. When asked “how committed are politicians to addressing the issues young people care about?”, 64 per cent said “not that committed” and 20 per cent answered “not at all committed”.

These results mirror earlier surveys on the same topic. Given that young people have such unfavourable views of politicians, is really surprising that youth voter turnout is low?

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Footage emerges of people high on synthetic cannabis in children's playground in West Auckland

Two synthetic cannabis users have been caught on camera high on the drug at a children's playground.

Dlar Murrie was walking his dog on Alan Reserve in Henderson, west Auckland, when he spotted two people high on synthetic cannabis.

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Brian Rudman: Meth war lost but fight carries on

In their first war against methamphetamine, back in 2009, the National Government cracked down on the nation's most popular common cold decongestant. Those with a blocked nose were told to dig out the old hankies and blow for the greater good.

It was "prong one" of Prime Minister John Key's multi-faceted campaign, targeting the precursor chemicals from which P was derived, which were found in popular cold and flu medication.

Eight years on, and this ban on runny nose medication a spectacular failure, Key's successor is trying another line of attack. Instead of targeting everyone with a red nose, Bill English is "giving police new power to search the cars and houses of the most serious criminal gang members at any time to ensure they don't have firearms".

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Police handcuff children as number of 111 calls from schools rise

A principal who's had to call police to deal with violent kids says children need better access to mental health support. 

The intermediate school head, who asked to remain anonymous to protect the school community, said police had been called to her school to deal with violent children "four or five times" in the past two years. 

Once, a child was threatening another with scissors; in two cases, police had to handcuff children to keep them under control. 

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Prisoner found guilty of raping three cellmates

A prisoner accused of raping three of his cellmates has been found guilty on all 14 charges.

William Katipa stood quietly as the jurors delivered their guilty verdicts on the charges, including sexual violation and threatening to kill.

The rapes happened inside Katipa's cell during lockdown.

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The Auckland Foundation works to establish a women's fund

The Auckland Foundation is hunting more than 100 female philanthropists prepared to dip into their pockets for its new Women's Fund, which would help bankroll a range of community-orientated initiatives.

The foundation says female donors are more likely to donate more often and more generously.

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Category: News Media