A new parliamentary bill that creates a new offense with a maximum of 10 years in jail for failing to protect a child or vulnerable adult from serious harm by a member of the same household as the victim has passed its first reading.
Speaking to the Bill Simon Power said “We need legislation that gives a clear message to those people that they are not narks; they are people who are protecting those who most need their protection – young, small and vulnerable members of our society who cannot speak for themselves.
“We know them only when the media portrays them and when their photographs are on the front pages of newspapers and leading television bulletins when it is too late after the fact.
“We sit in our cosy homes watching the faces of these children, innocent children, being beamed into our living rooms and we have somehow, over a long period of time, developed a legal system that has enabled people who were close to those incidents to remain silent.”
The Bill has been referred to The Social Services Committee which must report finally to the House on or before 18 August 2011.
In his column Pat Booth provides more about what National, Labour and Greens representatives said.
Read: “How MPs’ faced the abuse facts'” in North Waikato News
Image: North Waikato News