Categories

Tags

Archive

October 06, 2016 at 5:44 PM

Frontline workers back call to cut child poverty

Prime Minister John Key is being told setting a target to eradicate child poverty is not as complicated as he makes out.

The Children's Commissioner has challenged the government and opposition parties to work together to cut child poverty rates by 10 percent by the end of next year.

But yesterday Mr Key told Morning Report that getting a definitive measure of child poverty was more difficult than other government targets, such as getting rid of rats and possums.

Read more...

Child poverty: Are we there yet? Without targets, we're lost

Opinion - Anyone planning their summer holiday will already be thinking about the logistics - the plane tickets, the car hire, the hotel bookings, and so on.

But before they get onto those things, they'll have decided on one key point: where they're actually going for their holiday, and when.

The same point applies to government policy, and the currently hot topic of tackling child poverty. The first thing is to know where you're going: how much you want to reduce child poverty, and by what date.

So we need to properly measure child poverty, and set targets for reducing it. Fortunately - and in contrast to what the Prime Minister thinks - this isn't difficult.

Read more...

Prime Minister John Key on the wrong side of the child poverty debate

OPINION: You have to wonder what went through the Prime Minister's mind when he thought it was a good idea to say it's easier to count rodents than kids in poverty.

John Key might have been asked to compare the Government's target of making New Zealand predator-free by 2050 to their reluctance to target the number of children living in poverty but there was nothing stopping him from saying it was an unrealistic comparison.

But no, Key went right ahead, saying on RNZ "it's more binary in terms of whether there's a rat, a stoat or a possum there or whether there isn't because you can understand that".

Translation: "We can count rodents easily - neglected, abused or sick children living in cold, damp houses not so much".

Read more...

The Uncountables: NZ can’t set a target on child poverty, unlike just about everything else

“It sounds airy-fairy but it’s the advice we get.”

That was the prime minister this morning on RNZ Morning Report, in response to questions from Guyon Espiner over the government refusal to set a target for reducing child poverty. Unlike the predator-free New Zealand or smoke-free targets, said John Key, the issue of child poverty was not so “binary” and therefore not so objectively measurable, something-something, advice they get, something-something.

Read more...

Parents slapped, kicked and used skipping rope to discipline kids

Years of excessive discipline - so obvious the neighbours noticed - have landed a Hamilton couple on home detention.

The mother kicked one of the kids, making him fall, and the father was known to use a skipping rope or belt on them.

Judge Philip Connell sentenced the pair to seven months of home detention, each, when they appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday morning.

Read more...

Drug addiction trapping victims in violent relationships

Dangerous synthetic drugs are adding to a spike in domestic abuse cases where victims fear losing their drug supply more than their life, police say.  

Detective Sergeant Dave Beattie, Taranaki family harm prevention manager, said he was concerned victims of family violence were getting lost in the dark hole associated with drug abuse.

Read more...

Hammer assault: Auckland husband who beat wife was allowed to walk free

An Auckland man who beat his wife with a hammer because she complained they weren't holding hands while watching a movie together was allowed to walk free from court.

Judge Philippa Cunningham ruled the consequences of convictions for Yasir Mohib, who pleaded guilty to three violence charges, were out of proportion to the gravity of the offending and discharged him without conviction.

But her decision was later overturned by the High Court and labelled "plainly wrong" - the third time Judge Cunningham has granted a discharge without conviction and been successfully appealed.

Read more...

Dame Tariana Turia: Institutional racism - The evil whose time is up

I left Parliament in September 2014 with few regrets. But there was one - the failure of any government to address the systematic damage incurred by decades of institutional racism.

Read more...

Spate of violent youth offending 'hugely concerning'

A spate of violent offences carried out by young people recently is extremely concerning, police say.

This week a 62-year-old woman suffered a serious head injury during a carjacking.

The police have arrested and charged a 14-year-old boy with the attack.

Read more...

New abuse programme helps Samoa's 'nofo tane'

A group in Samoa says new work it's doing is helping to empower women married into other villages and who are the main sufferers of domestic abuse.

The women are known in Samoan as nofo tane and the Samoa Victim Support Group says they make up at least half of those knocking on its doors.

Read more...

Vanuatu victim of violence wants to move on with her life

A Vanuatu woman who was abducted from her place of work and savagely assaulted in March this year says she just wants to move on with her life.

Florence Lengkon's comment comes after the Supreme Court in Vanuatu sentenced four men to prison for kidnapping and assaulting her.

Read more...