Bill needs ‘more Maori input’

Press, 10 April 1987, Page 5

Bill needs ‘more Maori input’

The commission said the bill needed to be reviewed with the benefit of increased Maori input.

There were constructive proposals from a “professional” perspective but there was also a strong ground swell of concern it did not address or meet the need of minority cultures, especially Maori. Maori people involved in the renaissance of their culture and in the care of young people wished to accept responsibility for their own children and young people, the commission said.

They did, however, need a fair and proportionate share of the re-

sources to do that, and to be given the authority to do this in their own way. Support for that was not perceived to permeate the bill, the Human Rights Commission said.

Recent steps to recognise and remedy monoculturalism with the Social Welfare Department — the department not being the only one subject to the criticism that it was mono-cultural — did not appear to be properly reflected in the bill. The commission said consideration needed to be given to the appointment of a children and young person’s Ombudsman, so that any sugges-

tion of the abuse of children’s rights, or any administrative decisions about the care or custody of children, could be reviewed quickly. The bill proposed independent review panels. The commission did not consider these would achieve the sort of review that had been proposed previously by the commission.

There ought to be a summary of children’s rights as an appendix to the legislation, the Human Rights Commission said. That would help those acting on behalf of children and young people,

and would also help any reviewing authority. Children and young people, specially those likely to be affected by the bill, were a group

substantially more in need of protection and assistance than adults — simply because of their lack of knowledge, experience, or any power base.