‘Reports of concern' rose 60 percent after Govt cut child safety contracts

Children's Minister Karen Chhour is defending higher reporting of possible harm against children in the months after her cost-cutting directives led to Oranga Tamariki dropping community agencies.
The 11th-hour withdrawal of contracts a year ago, with only hours of notice over Matariki weekend, left the agencies having to try to find other providers to care for children in trouble, and led to a damning report from the Auditor-General.
At a Scrutiny Week select committee hearing on Wednesday, Chhour faced questioning from opposition MPs over the impact of those cuts.
Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter highlighted Oranga Tamariki's own numbers from a report before the social services committee that showed 'reports of concern' about children to the ministry rose by 58.7 percent for the second half of 2024 against numbers for the same period a year earlier.
'This occurred after your government cut or 'reprioritised' $120m from frontline community providers and $41.2m from Oranga Tamariki's back office in 2023-24, involving 403 job losses at OT.'
Carter quizzed Chhour, from the Act Party, on further plans in the 2025-26 Budget to cut more in the back office and prevention.
'How can you justify continuing to hollow out a system in the face of such a dramatic surge in need under your watch,' she asked.
Carter said the 58.7 percent increase was from 34,719 reports of concern in the second half of 2023 to 55,171 in the same period last year.
Chhour's response? 'There are people within our communities and other government agencies that are concerned about our young people, making reports of concern – and I encourage that to continue because that's how we get oversight of our young people.
'Every report of concern is not necessarily something that Oranga Tamariki has to intervene in. We need to make sure that when that report of concern happens, if not by Oranga Tamariki it is addressed by other agencies.'
She said the goal was to have the 'right people in the right places' to help, but not necessarily OT.
Chhour hit out at Carter's questioning. 'To make the big assumption that reports of concern are caused by the Government – I find that quite concering. A report of concern means that a child has been put in a situation where someone believes that child is in a dangerous environment that needs support.'
The rushed changes in mid-2024 to which agencies would have OT contracts to provide services for tamariki and rangatahi were the subject of one of the Auditor-General's harshest reports in years.
It pointd to a cluster of poor practice, bad execution and near non-existent communication from the children's ministry in cutting around $60m in its contract spend, cancelling around 30 agencies' funding for 2024/25 and trying to strong arm others by not paying its bills on time.
The 64-page inquiry report says Oranga Tamariki decision makers did not adequately establish what the changes would mean for the children needing care.
Worse, the agency simultaneously moved last year to accentuate a policy of grabbing back from some providers all money it said they underspent and had instead put into their reserves.
'Previously, Oranga Tamariki had generally allowed providers to retain funding even if they had not achieved 100 percent of all contracted measures,' the Auditor-General's office said. 'For example, providers could move funding from under-utilised services to over-utilised services to meet demand.'
The select committee hearing on Wednesday saw Labour's Willow-Jean Prime press Chhour over further cuts to community service providers.
The minister told her the Auditor-General had a right to say what he said, but she believed the contracting process needed accountability.
'I do not accept what was happening previously and it could not continue … Contracts are not guaranteed. I do not apologise for making sure our contracts are meeting the needs of our young people … we need to make sure that money has been spent well.'
Chhour faced questioning over her commitment to Māori children's needs, with MPs pointing out rangatahi make up 70 percent of those in care but just 30 percent of funding goes to Māori providers.
'I accept I'm responsible for every child. It does not matter what ethnicity.'
Te Pāti Māori MP Mariemo Kapa-Kingi interjected: 'It has to matter.'
Chhour: 'I'm responsible for all children who need help in care, all children who need help wrapped around them, not by their ethnicity … I'm not going to box a child …'
Kapa-Kingi: 'Culture is a box minister?'
The committee chair Joseph Mooney intervened, stopping the questioning.
Kahurangi Carter told Chhour an Independent Children's Monitor report found Māori were over-represented and the system was still letting them down.
Chhour said she did accept that report and OT shared the concerns about over-representation not only in children's protection statistics but in education and health.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

RNZ News

11 hours ago

• RNZ News

Pacific Waves for 21 June 2025

Kapa haka group celebrate Matariki in NZ's Northland; NZ's pause on funding is 'patronising' - Cook Islands PM; New faces eager to enter Samoa politics; Experts brought in after cyber attack on Tonga health database. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.

Otago Daily Times

13 hours ago

• Otago Daily Times

MPs scrutinise the cream cheese latte, among other things

Another Scrutiny Week is done and dusted, although some ministers and ministries came under more scrutiny than others. Take Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson, for example. Under the benign and avuncular chairmanship of Waitaki National MP Miles Anderson, the biggest tension of Mr Patterson's appearance before the primary production select committee came even before proceedings began, from the revelation there was such a thing as a cream cheese latte. It would be fair to say this discovery divided MPs' opinions as much as the likes of the Treaty Principles Bill — and not down party lines either. The Taieri New Zealand First list MP's appearance was primarily with his Minister for Rural Communities hat on, although no appearance anywhere by Mr Patterson would be complete without a mention or two of wool. Of which, more shortly. Mr Patterson's opening remarks emphasised rural communities is not a Cinderella enterprise set up to keep a backbencher busy: last year it reviewed more than 120 Cabinet papers to advise how decisions might impact country folk, as well as engaging directly and regularly with 12 other ministries. Mr Patterson — a farmer himself — said the four main issues he had focused his team on were health, education, connectivity and law and order. Now, it can be argued they are almost everyone's four main areas, but not everyone lives up the road from a school, down the road from a medical centre, has ultra-fast broadband or is within minutes of a police station. "Rural communities is not all about agriculture, it is about the needs of about 860,000 people," Mr Patterson said. Wellbeing — in particular mental wellbeing — was a focus of Mr Patterson's presentation. In the recent Budget the Rural Wellbeing Fund received an extra $2 million to double its funding over the next four years, and the government also committed $3m to Rural Support Trusts. "They have proven their worth, not just during adverse events but also managing farmers facing mental health issues ... there is a real issue with isolation and the issues that come with that," Mr Patterson said. "The trusts have credibility and are well led, we have confidence in them ... a lot of this is driven by volunteers, it is genuine peer-to-peer, farmers talking to farmers. That's their secret sauce and it is us leaning into that and saying you have something here that works, what can we do to help it?" The previous week Mr Patterson, along with almost every MP, had been at the annual Field Days event in Hamilton. There he got to push many things, not the least of which was wool — he and Finance Minister Nicola Willis were there as the not at all coincidental announcement was made by Kainga Ora that it had signed a deal for wool carpets to be supplied to state houses. A week later, Mr Patterson was keen to stress this was likely to be only the start — which was music to the ears of committee members like Mr Anderson, who until entering politics was a sheep farmer. "There are 130 procurement arms in government so there is significant ability to be able to leverage government procurement to assist the wool industry," Mr Patterson said. Scrutiny Week is an innovation of this Parliament and in the run-up to last week's hearings each select committee released a report as to how members thought it was going. The primary production committee noted it had spent eight hours on estimates hearings in 2024-25, and under the previous regime it heard from the relevant ministers and officials for just four hours. Even more impressive was the amount of time spent on annual reviews — up from four hours to 13-14. "Our committee has enjoyed the opportunity Scrutiny Weeks provide to dedicate time to hearing from ministers or entities, with that being the only focus for the week," the report said. "It has meant that we get to drill down on particular matters of concern, current issues, and spending without having to squeeze this in around normal business. Being able to focus on scrutiny, and take our time with hearings, has made the process less challenging than the previous approach of scheduling scrutiny hearings within normal meeting times." So far so good, but not everyone was happy. Opposition MPs — some of whom seem to feel that scrutiny was invented just for them — have complained (and not just on primary production) that they are not getting enough time for supplementary questions. Although not endorsing the idea, the committee suggested consideration be given to having an Opposition MP become its chairperson for scrutiny hearings could help avoid that perception. The social services and community committee (chaired by National Southland MP Joseph Mooney) reported in a similar vein, saying it had also increased its time on scrutiny, but warning its workload was already considerable so it had not been feasible to double that allocation of time. The report also noted that while Mr Mooney had allocated the majority of questions to non-government MPs, "some of us consider that a culture shift is still needed to honour the Opposition's role in leading scrutiny of the executive". The committee resolved to "continue to reflect on this over the parliamentary term," although good luck coming up with a definitive answer. The general tenor of all the reports was in similar vein: great concept but needs some tweaking, which seems a fair call. Anything that obliges the government to fully explain what it is up, to to the people who put them there, is welcome accountability — but it only means something if the level of questioning actually makes someone accountable. In the meantime, cream cheese latte anyone?

1News

21 hours ago

• 1News

Matariki celebrated across NZ with ceremony and reflection

New Zealanders right around the country have been celebrating Matariki, with many of them up well before dawn to watch the rising of the star cluster which heralds the start of the Māori New Year. It became an official public holiday only in 2022, but it's already become one of our most meaningful days and the first holiday to recognise Te Ao Māori. It was the first new public holiday since Waitangi Day became a public holiday in 1974. The date of Matariki changes from year to year, but it will always fall in June or July. A public holiday is held for Matariki on June 20, 2025. (Source: Ngāti Rangi hosted this year's national Matariki ceremony at Tirorangi Marae at the base of Mount Ruapehu. ADVERTISEMENT Iwi spokesperson Che Wilson told 1News it was a "huge honour" to be the first marae to host the national holiday ceremony. "It's truly a privilege to welcome everyone here," he said. "It means a great deal to us." Wilson explained that the Matariki celebrations would include offering karakia to specific stars in alignment with their Puanga traditions. "In our Puanga narrative, we'll offer them to four atua – Tāne, Rongo, Tangaroa, and Maru [the gods of forest, cultivated food, the sea, and war]." The Māori Queen, politicians, and dignitaries attended the national ceremony. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said having events across the country was a "real kotahitanga moment". "To bring it to national presence and international presence is something that connects us to the universe, and that's really important for us, that we see our tikanga as a way of life, as a daily platform for kotahitanga. And for me, it also connects to many, many other people from throughout the world." ADVERTISEMENT It was also a poignant moment for European Union ambassador to New Zealand Lawrence Meredith, who lost his father when he was young. "This whole transition for the ancestors is a really powerful message, the idea that ancestors become stars," he said. Hautapu ceremony at Auckland's Bastion Point this morning. (Source: 1News) Hundreds gathered at Auckland's Bastion Point to ring in the Māori New Year this morning with a hautapu ceremony. Food and steam were offered to the stars of Matariki as an offering of thanks from the umu or hāngī. The kai that is prepared for the hautapu connects to four different whetū (stars) in the Matariki cluster: Seafood with the star Waitā; freshwater kai with the star Waitī; kai from above the ground with the star Tupuārangi; and kai from the earth with the star Tupuānuku. Many were up well before dawn to watch the rising of the star cluster. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Kingi Makoare (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei) said it was awesome to see the eagerness from people to learn about Māori culture. "It's heartwarming to see people really interested in us." Fiona Smith (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei) added that it was a "great reflection of what New Zealand really should be". "Together, collaborative right from the beginning, standing shoulder to shoulder, doing things together, holding hands together." A maumaharatanga ceremony on Mauao/Mount Maunganui. (Source: 1News) In Tauranga, people of all ages summitted Mauao / Mount Maunganui before dawn for a remembrance of loved ones who had died in the past year. Te Puna I Rangiriri trust chairman Jack Thatcher led the maumaharatanga ceremony and said it was a "very emotional" morning. ADVERTISEMENT Maumaharatanga translates to memorial, memory or recollection. Grieving families and friends were invited to place their hands on the monument Te Tapuātea o Mauao and call out the names of their loved ones. "We have people bringing a lot of hurt. To call out the names of the loved ones that they're missing gives them a chance to heal and carry on," Thatcher said.