Former Children's Minister Tracey Martin. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A former Children's Minister has spoken out against the government's plans to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act.
Parliament's Social Services and Community Committee has been hearing submissions on the legislation to repeal Section 7AA, which binds Oranga Tamariki to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The government's reasoning for the repeal, which is part of National's coalition agreement with ACT, is that Oranga Tamariki was prioritising cultural factors over the safety of children.
Speaking to the select committee on Monday, former New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin implored the government her former party is now part of to keep Section 7AA, saying it was the best chance to turn Oranga Tamariki into a true child protection agency.
"We do not have a child protection service in this country. We have a child crisis service. As a nation, we wait until there is damage done to a child, either emotionally, physically, or spiritually, before we take any action. 7AA is the key to making this change to become a country that supports child protection," she said.
Martin told the committee Māori had moved children between living arrangements for centuries.
"Whāngai has existed longer than Europeans have been here in New Zealand, and is still practiced today," she said.
"Whāngai is where others raise you as their own, it is not translatable into adoption or fostering in the European sense, because connection with birth families and birth parents are not curtailed in the same way that the European experience suggests."
Martin explained that when she was minister, she signed at least five 7AA relationships, which had allowed Oranga Tamariki to work with iwi to place a child with whānau, which in turn gave Oranga Tamariki confidence the child was safe.
She appreciated that government MPs may not have had the full picture while in opposition, but now they had access to data which would tell them the repeal was wrong.
"We are paid and we are elected in these positions to be the leaders that can have the grace and dignity to say 'I've got more information, I've found out something different, I'm not going to go down that path anymore because actually I was wrong, to start with.'"
Martin, pointing out it was a National government that first introduced Section 7AA, encouraged National MPs on the committee to agree to disagree with ACT, and vote against the repeal at the next reading.
The Prime Minister, however, indicated National would do no such thing.
"We've talked about that consistently, that we place the wellbeing of the child above anything and everything else. That is very, very, important, and I think that we've explained that position. I appreciate there may be differences of opinion about that, but we are putting the child at the heart of protection," Christopher Luxon said.
The committee sat all afternoon on Monday, with submitter after submitter telling the government to keep 7AA in place.
"With the scrapping of 7AA, we believe more harm will come to our mokopuna. It has the potential for more Royal Commissions well, well into the future," said Rahui Papa, representing the National Iwi Chairs Forum.
The Māori Law Society told the committee 7AA was a crucial accountability mechanism for Oranga Tamariki.
"This repeal will cause harm. There are significant breaches to te Tiriti, the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga over kāinga, the principles of partnership and active protection," said barrister Corin Merrick.
The submissions were heard on the same day Ngāpuhi took its protest against the repeal to Parliament.
Last week, Ngāpuhi walked out of an Iwi Chairs Forum meeting with the Prime Minister and other government ministers, in protest of policies like the repeal.
Making a submission of his own, Ngāpuhi chair Mane Tahere challenged MPs that were part of the government whether they could guarantee the repeal would keep children safer.
"You tell me, how do you know our babies won't continue to be abused in state care? How do you know what's best for Ngāpuhi whānau, marae, hapū, and iwi? How do you know that Oranga Tamariki will keep their word, and care properly for our mokopuna when they have never ever done so?" he said.
Tahere said Ngāpuhi felt backed into a corner by the repeal and other government policies.
"What happens when our people are backed into a corner? You'll figure it out for yourself. Our people are hōhā, sick of attack after attack on Ngāpuhi and iwi Māori."
Luxon insisted the meeting with iwi chairs was productive and positive, despite the walkout by Ngāpuhi.
"We found it very constructive. Yes, we came away with some good challenge and provocation, as you would expect. But we also came away with some good areas of positivity and constructiveness, in terms of how do we work out housing for Māori, how do we improve educational outcomes for Māori, how do we improve health outcomes for Māori?" Luxon said.
"Those were very robust and good conversations, and actually very aligned conversations."
But Labour leader Chris Hipkins was not surprised at the walkout, saying the government was denigrating Māori.
"The government aren't explaining what they're doing in terms of repeals of various pieces of legislation and the underlying reason for that. Their dog-whistling before the election isn't translating into good, robust policy post-election because it isn't good policy," he said.
More submissions on the 7AA repeal will be heard on Wednesday.