Barnardos New Zealand is disappointed that the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People's Commission Bill has not been paused for further consideration, despite opposition to the Bill by the majority of submissions.

The Bill sets out to strengthen the independent monitoring and complaints oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system. The Bill faced strong pushback from the sector and from major political parties, yet the Select Committee is recommending to the House for the Bill to be passed.

“While we welcome some of the recommendations of the report, Barnardos wants to see the Bill paused in its process through the House to allow sufficient time to get it right,” says Barnardos New Zealand General Manager, Child and Family Services, Jo Harrison.

“The Bill lacks consultation from children and young people it is meant to serve and it doesn’t allow for the findings from the Royal Commission of Inquiry to be considered in the Bill,” says Jo Harrison.

Barnardos is pleased to see that the Bill has been amended to allow for the Board Chair of the Children’s Commission to be recognised as the Chief Children’s Commissioner and retain the Commission’s ability to report directly to the Prime Minister.

“However, this was a missed opportunity to ensure that Oranga Tamariki has the strongest possible monitoring system in place to safeguard our most vulnerable tamariki and rangatahi and for their voices to be heard. We need to take the time to get it right, this hasn’t happened.” says Jo Harrison.

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