November 26, 2023
Karen Chhour from CYPS survivor to Minister for Children
ACT member of parliament Karen Chhour takes over the controversial role of Minister for Children from Labour’s Kelvin Davis.
She is also the new Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, a portfolio created by Greens co-leader Marama Davidson.
Karen Chhour who is from Ngā Puhi entered Parliament in 2020 and was singled out by ACT leader David Seymour when Ministerial roles were announced on Friday morning.
Seymour says her extraordinary journey from a victim of CYPS to now the Minister for Children with the power and authority to make the disfunctional organisation work for some of our most vulnerable people in our society.
While in opposition she continuously raised questions in the House about the troubled Oranga Tamariki facilities which put her off-side with former Minister Kelvin Davis.
His response to her barrage of questions, for which he later apologised included telling her to cross “into the Māori world” and that it was no good looking through a “vanilla lens”.
Chhour’s two portfolio sit outside cabinet raising a few eyebrows on the lack of importance these issues have with the coalition Government.