Recurring themes: whanau first

A theme that recurs on this blog is recurrence itself. Last week I wrote about the idea of the single benefit and how long it had been around. Yet some media, often too young to know otherwise, regard these ideas as 'new'. Here's another today from Paula Bennett. This was at least prefaced with the description of "re-opening the debate":

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett is reopening the debate on the "whanau first" childcare policy, questioning if it is "doing well" by abused children.

When at risk youngsters can't live with their parents, Child, Youth and Family workers look first to extended whanau or people connected to the family to provide a home.

However, the Kahui twins, whose tragic death in 2006 shocked the nation, were living with their father in the Auckland home of their grandparents. The twins would have turned five tomorrow.

Flashback 11 years to head of Maori Strategy for CYF at that time. Peter Douglas caused waves when he urged removal of at-risk Maori children beyond the whanau. Tariana Turia, then a Labour MP, said, “I am totally opposed to children being raised outside whakapapa links.”

He referred to the tragic case of Lilybing.

“I saw a really interesting example of how whanau gather and support each other and it was centered around a little girl killed in the Wairarapa, and that whanau gathered and supported and hid from the police….So if we are going to talk about whanau let’s talk about all of them.”

I hope that after the 2011 election National are not beholding to the Maori Party because there are areas, and this is one, where Tariana Turia is wrong-headed and will try to stand in the way of her younger, yet senior Minister.