July 05, 2020
Time up for Oranga Tamariki leadership
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Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says only a change of leadership and a change in focus will save Oranga Tamariki.
The child protection agency is again under scrutiny after Newsroom reported allegations from staff of bullying, a lack of social work expertise at senior levels, and a tokenistic approach to Māori.
Ms Ngarewa-Packer says chief executive Grainne Moss, who is three years into a five-year contract, has failed to bring the transformation promised when the agency change from Child, Youth and Family.
She says there have been multiple critical reviews, but the response from the agency and its minister is lip service about change.
"The culture has to be challenged with a change in the leadership and then replenished with those who are kaupapa focused and committed to connecting our whānau and being able to make sure our tamariki are safe. The modelling has to be replaced with those who are Māori, those that can lead it," she says.
The fact the ministry still has only 20 per cent, Māori staff, despite up to 70 per cent of those it works with being Māori is a sign of deep structural failure.
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