Every time Anne Tolley and Bill English talk about the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children, or oppose an inquiry into the historical abuse of children in state care, it sticks like a knife in my guts. I am Ngāti Porou through my mother, and I’m Weira — Welsh — through my father. After spending 14 Read more
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said she was looking forward to receiving recommendations from the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, after a “comprehensive” session in Geneva. Mrs Tolley and a delegation of officials were questioned by the committee as part of its five-yearly report. They talked at length about the new Ministry Read more
The Ministry of Social Development handed out 80,202 sanctions to clients between July 2013 and September 2014, mainly for people not turning up to appointments. Other reasons for sanctions leading to cuts or cancellation of benefits are failing to attend seminars or not providing proof of a job search. Minister of Social Development Anne Tolley Read more
Human rights must apply to everybody – even to those who have abused others’ rights. This is the uncomfortable underpinning of the Police Minister’s proposed register for the close monitoring of sex offenders in the community. Anne Tolley has, however, struck the right balance in, first, piloting the monitoring system with about 300 convicted child Read more
Archbishop John Dew, the Archbishop of Wellington New Zealand, and President of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference says he supports the Royal Commission into institutionalised child abuse by priests announced in Australia. Archbishop Dew said the NZCBC would support any similar investigation in New Zealand. But the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key says he Read more
It has taken four years for a car crushing to be carried out under boy racer laws but last week the Minister of Police, Anne Tolley, pressed the button to begin the the first car crushing. She then posed for the large media contingent in attendance, standing on top of the finished product. An editorial Read more
A disagreement over the right of integrated schools to charge parents for the cost of collecting money from them is heading to court. Education officials are clamping down on charging practices at taxpayer-funded integrated schools, with at least one school told to return a bond parents have been required to pay. This coming term $4000-a-year Read more