4. Children, Abused—Prime Ministers Statement

4. Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement at question time last week that Members on this side of the House care about abused kids.?

Hon JOHN KEY (Prime Minister) : Absolutely.

Hon Annette King: Does the Prime Minister stand by his statement made last week: We are going to do something about abused kids,; if so, why did he allow the termination of the community liaison social worker role, a role that is front-line in educating others to recognise child abuse, raising awareness and promoting early detection of child abuse?

Hon JOHN KEY: Yes. I think it would help if I explained some facts to the member. Child, Youth and Family is closing—

Hon David Cunliffe: His nose is growing again.

Hon JOHN KEY: It looks as if the problem is spreading, actually, across the front benches, but that is OK—diseases often can. Child, Youth and Family is closing 12 administrative service centres, which affects 80 positions. The majority of those administration, support, or management roles will be absorbed into four existing Child, Youth and Family regional offices. The other positions are the 18 community liaison social workers, which the member mentioned, whose work involves promoting awareness of child abuse. The chief executive has decided that this educational role should be performed by a wider range of staff from across all 60 Child, Youth and Family offices, and that the priority for qualified social workers should be front-line social work. Savings from these positions are to fund extra front-line social workers, on top of the 90 front-line social workers that Child, Youth and Family is currently looking to hire. In other words, some people who were employed to promote awareness are being replaced by a much greater number employed to promote prevention.

Hon Annette King: Does the Prime Minister agree with Christine Rankin, the newly appointed Families Commissioner whom he described as having an incredible record in the area of child abuse, who said last week that the children and young persons service is already too busy and cannot respond for 6 weeks; if so, can he guarantee that the already busy social workers who are required to pick up the extra work will not end up facing rising numbers of unallocated cases?

Hon JOHN KEY: I do on this occasion find myself agreeing with Christine Rankin, which is exactly why the Government is putting 90 extra people into front-line services. This is what this Government is all about: increasing the front line and reducing the back office.

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• John Key
• Annette King
• David Cunliffe