Greens ignore child abuse realities

Not that it matters because the legislation doesn't need their vote, but the Greens are withdrawing their support from the Vulnerable Children Bill. From the report of the select committee their position is based on increased state powers to remove children at birth:

The single most critical factor in how children survive exposure to domestic violence is the presence of at least one loving and supportive adult in their life. For many children the loving and supportive adult is their mother

who repeatedly does her best to provide her children a normal life even where she is being abused

This seems a continuation of the article of faith amongst feminists who uphold the rights of women first and foremost - even over children's. Yet there is no rational reason to put mothers on an untouchable pedestal.

83 percent of child abuse takes place in the child's home. Most happens in benefit-dependent homes. And most welfare dependence in families with children is amongst female single parents.

But let's see what an unbiased expert says

University of Otago Professor David Fergusson, an expert on domestic violence, said the public perception that men were the perpetrators of most domestic violence was the result of biased publicity.
"The proper message is that both gender groups have a capacity for domestic violence [and] women probably perpetrate more assaults on children then men do," Mr Fergusson said.

Additionally the Greens are using the bill to once again politic about child poverty. They say that they can't support measures to reduce child abuse if the government won't address what they see as the major cause. Child poverty.

You have to wonder, as I frequently do, whose interests the Greens really serve.

(Labour, to their credit, are continuing to support the bill).