14 August 2018
Minister not aware of her own Ministry’s failings
Minister for Children Tracey Martin is clearly out of her depth after admitting she’s not aware of high profile cases of
children who are being abused, National’s Children spokesperson Alfred Ngaro says.
“Today in Question Time, I asked the Minister about two cases which featured in the news last week. One of those cases
involved a lawyer calling Oranga Tamariki in February to report a father kicking his son in the head which the Ministry
still has not acted on.
“But Mrs Martin today said she knew nothing about either case in spite of them featuring prominently in the media.
“It beggars belief that the Minister in charge and her office have not had this flagged to them since it was in the news
six days ago. Her job is to protect vulnerable children and she needs to start paying more attention.
“I have contacted the lawyers involved in both cases to clarify the facts and yet the Minister in charge doesn’t even
know that they happened.
“Tracey Martin clearly has no idea what’s going on in her own Ministry and where vulnerable children are at risk, that’s
simply not good enough.
“The Prime Minister said this Government would put children at the centre of everything it does. That hasn’t been the
case for these children.”