Bennett is the highest-profile National MP to support the members' bill, which her leader opposes. The success or failure of the bill will likely hinge on the amount of National MPs who support it. Read more

They moved to Western Park Village in Ranui, west Auckland, at Christmas as a last resort.

"I hate it here," she said. "I want to move out, I want my own place. There's nowhere for our kids to play."

She had returned to Auckland after living in Whangarei caring for her sick mother but struggled with high rents and a lack of suitable housing.

She said there was nothing else available for her to move into, whereas the park didn't require a bond and the first week's rent was free.

She said hers is not the only family crammed into these one-bedroom boxes. "There's kids in just about every unit in this place, and there's quite a few units," she said.

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says a caravan park in Ranui in west Auckland where some families stay in one-bedroom cabins is up for sale and has hinted the Government may play a part in what happens to it.

"It has really been a problem. He has had it up for sale so there are, I believe, negotiations going on locally that Government is having some involvement with, so we'll see where that ends up."

"There's absolutely no way that people living in garages, people living in cars, people living in overcrowded situations and in caravan parks that are, at times, are quite poorly run is by any means suitable," Bennett said.

Statistics New Zealand defines homelessness as not having shelter, being in temporary accommodation, uninhabitable homes or sharing accommodation without privacy and personal space.

The Salvation Army and the Monte Cecilia Housing Trust say Aucklanders who are struggling to find a place to live are increasingly resorting to living in urban camping grounds and caravan parks.

Waitakere Housing Call to Action's Spotlight on Housing awareness week convener Lee Hickey says that at the moment there's a lot of emphasis on home ownership and very little on the 15,000 people in Auckland who are severely deprived of housing.

Hickey says the Henderson Massey Local Board area has the highest Housing New Zealand waiting list in Auckland.

West Auckland's Monte Cecilia Housing Trust social worker Louise Guy says the average three bedroom rental property out west costs $440 a week - that's $146 a tenant and many individuals and families struggle to afford rent.

‘‘A shortage of houses and rising prices has resulted in a sharp increase in rents.

‘‘Many people have little left to live on after rent is paid,'' she says.

Source

• montececilia.org
• Radio New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Radio New Zealand

Archbishop Dew said the NZCBC would support any similar investigation in New Zealand.

But the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key says he does not see the need for an inquiry into child sex abuse, similar to the one announced in Australia

Key says a lot of work has already been done in New Zealand to prepare a white paper for vulnerable children.

He says the level of child abuse is too high, but programmes are being put in place to address that.

New Zealand's Police Minister, Anne Tolley, says a sex offender register she is proposing would help keep track of offenders.

And Social Development Minister, Paula Bennett, says enough is already being done.

"I think the fact that we have been addressing historical abuse cases in this country, we have been doing it faster than it's ever been done, we've been fronting up to some of the liability around that and settling a number of cases," Ms Bennett said.

That includes the confidential listening and assistance service, through which people can raise allegations of abuse or neglect, or who have concerns relating to their time in state care before 1992.

"I think we've got other things in place that are addressing what, without a doubt, is cases of historical abuse."

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• 9 News
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: NewsTalkZB

In its submission to the Social Services Select Committee the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has expressed very real concerns about the proposal for case managers to offer any woman on any kind of benefit, including married women, as well as the daughters of those on benefits between the ages of 16-19, free long term reversible contraception.

"The Catholic Church teaches a respect for human dignity and many of the proposals will damage that dignity. The key purpose of welfare changes should be to reduce poverty, not to make the vulnerable more vulnerable," says the CEO of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, Julianne Hickey.

"If contraceptive options and incomes become linked, a beneficiary facing a case manager may feel they have little option at all," she says.

"While the Government says that they won't be coerced, we know that coercion can be subtle and when punitive measures are proposed for those who have subsequent children while on welfare it seems there is little option but to take it."

Source

• The Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Image: MSN News

"The focus needs to be on causes of poor family outcomes, not the symptoms such as child abuse. Poor child outcomes reflect the huge financial pressures families are facing, under-resourcing of low decile schools, poor nutrition and hunger, and overcrowded housing," says Mike O'Brien.

Long term planning is needed, but the real need is to immediately move children out of poverty.

Source
Scoop

Photo Credit
Youthtown.org.nz