November 05, 2020
No time for tinkering in Oranga Tamariki oversight
One of the claimants against Oranga Tamariki’s uplifts of Māori babies says new Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis should give up on the agency.
Merepeka Raukawa Tait is welcoming Mr Davis coming into the role, and says he is familiar with the wide range of challenges facing Māori whānau.
She says there will be big expectations on the new minister, but it’s time for fearless leadership and new solutions.
"Do you waste time tinkering around with an organisation that's had so many reports on their failures in the past or do you look at what is the ideal? If we've got an opportunity to put something else in place where we know that the outcomes will be so different then why don't we do that rather than tinkering around and trying to fix something around the edges. I don't think that will serve us very well at all," Ms Raukawa-Tait says.
As chair of the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency she believes the focus must be on early intervention, prevention, education, and getting the right support in place.
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