August 26, 2022
Oranga Tamariki oversight ignores youth voices says ACT
ACT MP Karen Chhour says the passing of the Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill shows the Government is not listening to young people.
Ms Chhour, who went through care and protection as a teen, says there were 400 submissions against the bill, which takes the monitoring function from the Children’s Commissioner and gives it to a new independent body.
She says many of those submitters were in the gallery watching Labour push the bill through over the votes of all other parties.
“I’m still trying to figure out why they want to push this through quickly and so are the other 400 submitters that came before them. I just felt very. very sad for the young people watching that and realising once again their voice doesn’t matter,” Ms Chhour says.
She says the Bill should have gone back to Select Committee for further consultation and amendment.