Hon Tariana Turia

Associate Minister of Social Development and Employment

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Speech

Pehiawari Marae, Glenbervie, Whangarei

'Te Taonga, te mokopuna'

Thank you Mariameno Kapa-Kingi - for your willingness to be part of the journey signalled by this hui - to focus on the well-being of our tamariki, mokopuna - our future.

In coming to this hui today, all of you are joining in a collective aspiration to care for our children, to protect them from harm.

The very fact of your presence at this hui, tells me that you are committed towards creating the expectations which enable our tamariki to explore their world without fear.

>From a tangata whenua world view, the protection, care and support of our children is part of our tribal heritage. We know this because our literature, our waiata, our whakatauaki include constant references to safeguarding our next generations..

In our traditional oriori we have all the guidance available to remind us of the ideals we can live up to, in how we raise our children. All of the evidence encourages us to see children as a treasure, pine pine te kura.

Over time that same message, that our children are precious and should be revered has been passed down. Grandparents have talked to their mokopuna, encouraging them to focus on the duties, the responsibilities and the obligations they have to the children born to them.

One of the wonderful aspects of the knowledge that has been protected through kohanga reo has been the messages left by these traditional oriori - and often translated into contemporary songs.

We only have to think of the words of any of these waiata, to provide us with a basis for this hui today, and I think of this one by Te Manawakore Leach:

Ko te taonga o taku ngäkau ko taku mokopuna e
He mokopuna korikori, hei aha hei aha ra
Ko te mea nui ko te aroha
Kaua e patu i taku mokopuna
Me awhi awhi mai taku mokopuna korikori e

In much the same way as our oriori of old are being written for new times, I love to hear the beautiful tupuna names our mokopuna inherit - they remind us all of the huge wealth inherent in the ancestral knowledge.

Every child that carries the name and spirit of their tupuna has immediate access to a whakapapa which will help them to know the very essence of who they are.

One would think then, that with such a strong cultural context all around us, that no child would ever be hurt, no baby would be harmed, no infant would be hit.

And yet, as endless newspaper articles would suggest, today's reality is far from the ideals of our custom and tradition.

What influence can we attribute to the complex web of alcohol and drug abuse that clouds the mind?

How do we understand the situations in which neighbours and family fail to step up and take responsibility?

What is the basis behind the prevalence of sexual abuse which destroys the very beauty of our children's memories in acts of utter violence?

I do not want to give voice to the statistics which are etched into our very soul. We all know how badly our nation does across most indicators of child health and wellbeing - including particularly in terms of children who die from accident and injury.

In effect, these statistics are part of the reason why I have embarked on a series of hui to respond to the korero across our communities, to protect and care for our children.

But there is another much more positive focus for why this hui is happening today.

I remember a couple of years ago an initiative led by the Amokura project, which was to put up a sign outside of Kaikohe stating the case - "it takes a whole community to keep whanau safe".

That is why we have come together today - to save our kids, to share ideas, to break the cycle.

We have come together as a whole community to brainstorm our priorities as whanau, hapu and iwi - and to work together, collectively, in the interests of our tamariki, mokopuna.

Do we need a programme of education -coping with stress, the success factors for healthy family relationships?

How do our whanau look after each other, take care of their own wellbeing, in order to ensure our children thrive?

What was it that made Matua Whangai so effective in supporting our families? How do we bring our whanau together to address a take that is stripping the very soul and spirit of our families?

I do not come to these hui with any other agenda other than that I want to see the wellbeing of our tamariki as of utmost priority in every home, in every whanau.

But I do come with an open heart and listening ears - to learn from you, to benefit from your wisdom, to be able to hear your ideas, to understand what strategies and solutions have worked for you - how we all work together to achieve tamariki ora, whanau ora.

Finally, yesterday on the radio, I was touched by the story of a little girl in Christchurch called Rosie, who has been walking around her shattered home, singing the words of a song from the classic musical, the Sound of Music.

Her song was succinct in its simplicity - "I have confidence that spring will come again, besides what you see I have confidence in me".

It is a refrain that I would hope all of our mokopuna could sing. It emerges out of the same context as the waiata that all our kohanga babies sing - the waiata which talks about our mokopuna as truly precious, as the treasures of our heart.

Our mokopuna are indeed our future, they deserve all the care and support they require for their development.
We need to act earlier, to support, to become involved as family, as neighbours, as a community to ensure no child suffers from abuse or violence ever again.

I am so appreciative of the wisdom, the expertise and the breadth of vision that our two keynote speakers will bring to this hui - Professor Innes Asher and our kaumatua, Taipari Munroe - and I thank you for your tautoko in being with us today.

Thank you, again, to everyone here - for your determination and your optimism that we can indeed restore our lives to ones in which our tamariki are free to thrive, to grow, to love, to learn, to be the very best that they can be.

And most of all - to live their lives knowing that they are indeed the centre of our universe. There can be no greater cause in my mind than this - and I am proud of the amazing work that so many of you already do, everyday, to make this possibility our reality.

Tena tatou katoa

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