Time for 'hard decisions' | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

Sporadic applause broke out several times during a presentation by Children's Commissioner Dr Russell Wills at a YMCA hosted breakfast in Havelock North yesterday.

Dr Wills, a paediatrician with the Hawke's Bay District Heath Board, spoke of New Zealand's "national disgrace" - the country's record of child abuse, neglect and poverty, as he put forward his response to the Government's Green Paper on Vulnerable Children - released last year.

"One in five children in New Zealand live in poverty and we have one of the world's highest rates of children killed by whanau and family."

Dr Wills claimed that "we do know what the solutions are".

"We have an issue with a large number of organisations, some of which are struggling.

"We need to stop delivering services that don't do any good. There is no new money.

"We need to identify and invest in the things that work.

"We need to make some hard decisions."

Research and evaluation will show where funding should be spent, Dr Wills said, suggesting that "small, multi-disciplined teams of senior staff with good collaboration" would prove more effective than the current fragmentation of services.

Other issues he saw as needing to be addressed were information sharing between different agencies; equipping staff with "modern skills" including an awareness of family violence, mental health and addiction; pooling resources and early intervention.

"When prioritising services, for example Housing NZ houses, the policy needs to be vulnerable children first.

"The Act should say children are taonga and they need to be looked after."

Dr Wills encouraged his audience - more than 100 childcare and healthcare practitioners - to make submissions to the Green Paper on Vulnerable Children.

"This is the best opportunity we will have in our lifetime to change Government policy. My experience here in Hawke's Bay is that we can transform the lives of children. But we have to be a bit tough."

To read the Green Paper on Vulnerable Children and to make a submission, visit www.childrensactionplan.govt.nz