Maori Party MP for Waiariki Te Ururoa Flavell

'An Act of Violence against a Maori child is an act of violence against all Maori' says Flavell

Monday 30 July 2007

Te Ururoa Flavell, MP for Waiariki, today spoke of his distress at the most recent cases of horrific child abuse which have emerged out of Rotorua.

“Our city of Rotorua is promoted internationally with the concept – Manaakitanga; feel the spirit” said Flavell. “The horrific injuries that media have reported over the last few days couldn’t be further away from that spirit”.

“It is absolutely intolerable that any child - indeed any human - should be subjected to the levels of abuse that we are witnessing in Aotearoa” said Flavell. “And ‘witnessing’ is the key word – for hope to bloom in these times of despair, we must all move out of our ‘observor’ roles, and start taking action”.

“There can be no excuses made; and nor should we revert to blaming and shaming as being the solution to what the medical specialists are calling a 'national scandal'” (Dr Liz Segedin, Auckland Starship Children’s Hospital).

“The greatest power lies in our extended whanau” said Flavell. “All the inquiries in the world will come to nothing, if the basic connections are not being made at a whanau and community level”.

“Too many of the people who come to my office are unaware that there may be helping agencies, or government departments with information and resources that could be used to support them out of a crisis state” said Flavell.

“The Maori Party has consistently spoken out that the care and protection of our tamariki is our greatest challenge” said Flavell. “”And we have been working hard with many community groups, learning from and listening to the solutions that whanau, hapu, iwi and community are already working on”.

“We believe that our community has the solutions to stop this scandal in its tracks” said Flavell.

“We need to become responsible family members, to challenge negative and violent actions, we need to become good neighbours by intervening when we see negative and violent actions or reporting such incidents. We all need to take responsibility - perhaps we should all become our brothers, sisters and children's keepers".

“We know that there are amazing examples of Maori providers and community workers doing this mahi now” said Flavell. “It is about standing alongside of each other, taking responsibility and care for each other, and teaching each other how to survive and how to live life to the fullest”.

ENDS

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