Categories


Tags

LegalEducationSexual ViolenceMenYouthDisabilityChildrenEthnicCounsellingElderCoordinationFamilyMaoriCrisisWomenParenting


Archive

Weekly Media Roundup

April 13, 2018 at 11:00 AM

Gaps found in domestic violence programme

A pilot programme aimed at tackling domestic violence is unable to say how many victims and perpetrators have been helped.

The police said Integrated Safety Response (ISR) was for the first time identifying gaps in services - but it was not funded to address them.

"The ISR pilot was set up as a crisis response and is identifying (for the first time) families' needs and where there are service gaps," police said in a statement.

Read more...

 

Whānau Ora to undergo review

Māori health initiative Whānau Ora will undergo a review by an independent panel to see how the model can be grown and improved.

Whānau Ora minister Peeni Henare made the annoucement today to see how the model can be applied across government and the social sector.

Read more...

 

Justice Minister Andrew Little concerned about access to justice in Family CourtLabour’s budget rules are holding it back

The Government has ordered the third review into the Family Court in under a decade, as it aims to fix a system "in crisis".

Justice Minister Andrew Little said the terms of reference of the planned review into the Family Court would be announced in the next few weeks.

Family Court reforms were brought in under the former National government in 2014, but Little said he was concerned about what he was hearing about how the courts were running, and the impact that was having on families and children.

Meanwhile, family lawyer Liz Lewes, who had been practising family law for 20 years, said the court was "in crisis".

Read more...

 

Campaigner marches to Parliament to protest children being taken from families

A former Hawke's Bay woman is at Parliament today protesting against what she says is the unjustified separation of children from families in the crackdown against domestic violence.

Ellie Hini, a trained nurse now living in the Waikato region, has been battling to have children returned within her own family.

She was back in Hawke's Bay on Wednesday en route to the Beehive, where she has been allocated an appointment, although she was still unaware who it would be with.

Her Hikoi for Justice Aotearoa is being supported by Auckland-based Families for Justice, with worries particularly about an apparent lowering of thresholds at which children are being removed, with the advent of the Oranga Tamariki "vulnerable children" service.

Read more...

 

Bryce Edwards' Political Roundup: Why this isn't a 'transformational government'

Jacinda Ardern's promise to lead a "transformational government" is looking fairly hollow at the moment. That's because it's insisting on running the same sort of economic regime as the previous government, while somehow expecting a different result.

Ardern's administration continues to commit itself to many core National Party fiscal policies – including running budget surpluses, keeping the size of the state small, and paying down debt in a hurry. This self-imposed commitment to broadly retain National's tax and spending policies will severely restrict the ability of the new Government to make big enough changes in areas of urgent concern such as housing, poverty, health, and education.

Increasingly, commentators are pointing out that in order to run budget surpluses, Labour is essentially running austerity economic policy. That means it will continue to underfund areas like health and education, as well as leaving major infrastructure problems in Auckland unfixed.

Read more...

 

Children's Convention Monitoring Group releases report to better child wellbeing

A new report has laid out the way forward for our children.

The Children's Convention Monitoring Group released a report this morning called Getting It Right: Building Blocks, highlighting where New Zealand is making progress and where action is needed.

The key recommendations comprised taking children and their views into account when new policies are developed, supporting children's participation in decisions that affect them, ensuring children's privacy and best interests are considered when collecting their information and using the Children's Convention to develop a plan for children and their wellbeing.

Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft said the Government promised 25 years ago to do better for all children when it signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Now New Zealand needed to walk towards that goal.

Read more...

 

'NZ is out of step with international standards' - PM on UN child wellbeing report

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has reacted to a UN report on child wellbeing in New Zealand by saying it has "reinforced the government's sense of urgency" to put children at the heart of everything it does.

Read more...

 

Hoon's threat to captive girlfriend: 'Watch this - I'm going straight into that house'

With his pregnant girlfriend screaming for help in the back seat of his car, a drunk and angry Jamie Scott roared through the streets of Thames at speeds of up to 140kmh.

"I'm going to f...ing kill you," he yelled at her as he sped up Mackay St.

"Watch this ... I'm going straight into that house."

The house in his sights was 300 Grey St. True to his word, he flew over a concrete traffic island, through a wooden "one way" sign, and directly into the house.

It was the end of a short but terrifying ride for his passenger, unrestrained in the back seat, who had been pleading with Scott to stop and frantically texting a friend in a bid to get help.

Read more...

 

Lawyer: I will not be silenced

Under inquiry by the Law Society for criticising a male judge's comments on a domestic violence case, Catriona MacLennan wonders when the targeting of women in the law will ever stop.

Read more...

 

Woman doused with diesel was fearing for life

A woman doused in diesel by her irate partner, threw a lighter on to the roof of their house in a desperate bid to stop him setting them both alight, Gisborne District Court was told.

The couple’s 10-week-old baby was screaming throughout the ordeal and an hour-long exchange of abuse that preceded it.

Read more...

 

Gender attitudes: Why can't girls study physics and boys play with dolls?

A national survey conducted by the National Council of Women, released on Monday, has found traditional ideas of what people of all genders should do at home and in the workplace are beginning to change - but that damaging stereotypes still exist.

The Gender Attitudes Survey asked 1251 New Zealanders, including 640 men, to answer questions ranging from what household chores were more suited to women to whether boys should be able to play with dolls. It also explored ideas around consent, rape, and gender identity.

While 79 per cent of respondents thought gender equality was a human right, ideas around gender roles were still very entrenched, National Council of Women chief executive Gill Greer said.

Read more...

 

Man with history of violently targeting women to serve sentence at mother's address

A judge rejected police concerns about risks of further family violence when he sentenced a repeat abuser to serve home detention at his mother's address.

William James Meston appeared for sentencing in the Hāwera District Court on 10 charges, including injures with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure and threats to kill.

He previously pleaded guilty to the offending.

Judge Chris Sygrove sentenced a man on serious violence charges to home detention at a Putaruru address, despite police objections.

The victims of his offending were primarily women, including his partner whom he punched, put into a headlock and bit on the shoulder during a drunken tirade.

Read more...

 

Northland teacher acquitted of indecent assault says police bungled the investigation

A Northland high school teacher who spent nearly $100,000 clearing his name against indecent assault charges says police bungled the investigation.

The man, who cannot be named due to court suppressions, said he was not angry at the four girls, whose accusations nearly ended his 25-year teaching career.

"I've lived my life long enough to know some people do have malice in them, but my feeling of this is more it was a total botch up of a kid who had some mental health needs."

The teacher was acquitted following a criminal trial and has now lodged a formal complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).

Read more...

 

Man charged with murder after 27-year-old woman found dead in Christchurch residence

A man's been charged with murder after the body of a 27-year-old woman was found by a member of the public in the Christchurch suburb of Merivale yesterday morning.

A 54-year-old man has been charged who is acquainted with the victim after a robbery "gone wrong" in a Merivale yesterday.

Detective inspector Darryl Sweeney spoke to the press following the death of a 27-year-old woman at a Merivale property yesterday.

The 54-year-old man's been charged with murder and aggravated robbery.

Police have yet to release the victim's name, but say the pair knew each other, but were not in a relationship.

Read more...

 

Fifth teenager arrested in relation to Flaxmere homicide

A fifth teenager is before the courts after being arrested and charged in relation to the death of former Opotiki man Kelly Alex Donner, who died outside a Flaxmere pub last month.

The 40-year-old was found in the Flax Bar and Eatery carpark on Swansea Rd on March 4, prompting a homicide investigation in which police appealed to the local community for information about the death.

On March 16 four youths aged between 14 and 16 were arrested and charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Police said at the time they were seeking a fifth youth in relation to the matter.

Read more...

 

Police seek help from public after woman sexually assaulted and daughter assaulted in Hamilton home intrusion

A women who was sexually assaulted, and her young daughter physically assaulted, in Hamilton this weekend has prompted police to seek help from the public.

The incident happened on Saturday 7th April around 7.00am in St Andrews.

An unknown man entered a residential address on Croall Crescent and sexually assaulted the woman and physically assaulted her young daughter.

Read more...

 

Child raper who targeted girl jailed for 11 years

Peter Charles Brown used his position of trust and good standing in the Hamilton community to all but destroy the life of the young girl he selected as his victim.

Brown, 68, of Enderley, was jailed for 11 years when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Monday, after being found guilty by a jury in November of six charges, including rape of a female under 16, sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, and doing an indecent act on a girl under 12.

Read more...

 

Auckland pastor jailed for sexually abusing two girls, one while her mother was dying

A pastor sexually abused a young girl while her mother was dying of cancer.

Auckland man Neil Rischbieter​ also abused another young girl. Both victims cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Rischbieter​ was jailed for two years and two months when he was sentenced at the Waitākere District Court on Wednesday by Judge Kevin Glubb, who also lifted his name suppression.

Read more...



Category: News Media