Pacific Islanders told of ‘daybreak’

Press, 16 August 1989, Page 48

Pacific Islanders told of ‘daybreak’

MARITA VANDENBERG

By

“Daybreak” has come for Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand, the director-general of the, Social Welfare Department, Mr John Grant, told a meeting of more than 200 Pacific Islanders in Christchurch on Monday evening. Pacific Islanders from as far as Bluff and Nelson heard Mr Grant outline the Children, Young Persons and Family Act, named Puao-te-ata-tu

(daybreak), which will. come into effect from November I. Mr Grant said the act was indeed the light of a new day because it was the first law passed in New Zealand that’ formally recognised the extended family, the cultural values, and the expertise of Maori and Pacific Island people. The senior cultural adviser of the Department of Social Welfare, Mrs Anae Sianaua Ostler, said the act was of great his-

torical importance because it was the first time the authority of the extended family had been formally recognised in New Zealand law. “Gathering family together is the normal process for people in the Pacific, but foreign means have taken over our responsibility,” she said. “Now we can go back to the old way of caring and protecting our young people and looking after the lost young members of our society.”