Andrew Dickens Afternoons

I hate to bang on about the Oranga Tamariki baby uplift story again but daily I am reminded how one sided the whole debate has become.
By allowing Melanie Reid into the hospital room to film the attempted uplift from Hastings Hospital, the family lifted the secrecy on actions that happen 5 times every week.  Maori and non-Maori.  Understandably it’s unsettling and shocking and difficult.  But it’s the reality in a country whose child abuse statistics are amongst the worst in the world. In that regard the video did a good job of reminding us of this dishonour.
But it did a terrible job of addressing all of the issues and it’s done a dishonour to Oranga Tamariki. Last week I said that we need a look at Oranga Tamariki’s side of the story before we should comment.  But the child agency is constrained from telling their story due to privacy law and concerns. 
That hasn’t stopped Maori elders and social workers have a good crack at the processes even though Oranga Tamariki is powerless to respond publically.
A family lawyer has written an opinion piece this week, though that talks about the agency’s side of the story in general terms.
She reminds us the decision to uplift is never made by one person acting alone, or without professional consultation. It's never made without genuine care and protection concerns.
Children must first come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki via a report of concern – schools, doctors, or people within the community are making these reports, which social workers are tasked with investigating.  Attempts are made to engage with families. But if families refuse to engage, and concerns are substantiated, little choice is left for Oranga Tamariki.
In serious cases, a "without notice" application is made to the Family Court, for a decision on an uplift before the parents have a chance to be heard by the judge. An order without notice has to reach a very high threshold, so many things have to happen before that point. 
Oranga Tamariki don’t just walk into hospitals and take babies just because they’re Maori which is what is being insinuated by activists.
So today I saw the aims of the review of this case which is being done by a representative of Oranga Tamariki and the local iwi.  Firstly it’s being done on whanau time.  In other words the family and iwi will decide the pace of the review. This family seems to be given a lot of sway.
Meanwhile the three objectives of the review are:
- To understand what occurred from the perspective of the mother, father, whānau, Oranga Tamariki staff, iwi and other professionals
- To identify what can be learned from a local and national perspective.
- To strengthen local relationships and ways of working together.
But here’s the kicker.  The decision about whether to make the findings public will be made after consultation with the family and the iwi. I think they forfeited that right when they invited the cameras into the hospital room to film their side of the story.  
The public needs to know ALL the story if confidence in Oranga Tamariki can be restored after this one sided debate.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The moves yesterday to enlarge the marine sanctuary for Maui and Hector’s dolphins comes with a side order of irony.
The Government announced plans to extend the area where set netting and trawl nets are banned to most of the lower west coast of the North Island and the areas around Banks Peninsula.
The move is to protect the two native species of dolphins.  Apparently, there are only 63 Maui dolphins left in the world.  The Hector’s dolphin has better numbers with their population estimated at 15,000.  Currently, it’s thought that commercial fishing kills 40 odd Hector’s dolphins a year as part of the bycatch.
It’s harder to know what’s killing the Maui dolphin because there’s so little of them.  One fisher who phoned my programme yesterday, Curly from New Plymouth, contended that biological factors are a greater factor in the slow demise of the Maui dolphin. 
They like the murky water at the mouth of rivers and it’s estimated that two Maui dolphins die every year from toxoplasmosis that comes from sheep and cats on the mainland which is washed into the sea. He’s not wrong on that, surprising as it seems.  He also said that in all his years at sea he has never seen a Maui dolphin in a net. 
Of course, commercial fishers are up in arms at the move because of the impact on their trade. The environmentalists are unhappy as well because the measures don’t go far enough.  They want the anti-netting zone extended and to include gill nets as well as set nets and trawling.
The side order of irony in all of this is the defunct Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary.  Back in 2015, the National Prime Minister John Key announced the 620,000 square kilometre sanctuary to the UN and the world applauded.
It was all go until Labour and New Zealand First formed their coalition and the price Winston and Shane wanted was dropping the sanctuary, which Labour agreed to much to the Greens disgust. New Zealand First argued it adversely affected commercial iwi fishing which was granted as part of Treaty claims. This despite the fact that Ngati Kuri, the tangata whenua of the Kermadecs, strongly supports the reserve.
So we have a crazy scenario where the Government want to place a sanctuary in our coastal waters but not one in our oceans.
Myself, I believe in the Kermadec Sanctuary.  It will make our fishing sustainable. It will give a zone where numbers can recover. Our commercial fishers have depleted too many species through greed or shoddy management through the years and this would be an insurance policy. So man up Labour and make it happen
Meanwhile, the dolphin policy seems heavy handed.  The current scenario does not fundamentally threaten the Hectors dolphin population. Unfortunately for the Maui dolphin population everything fundamentally threatens it due to their extreme low numbers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An advocacy group has called for a ban on the imports of certain vehicles, and talkback callers have a mixed reaction. 
Older Suzuki Swifts and Toyota Corollas could be banned from entering the country, under suggested changes to vehicle safety rules.
The Government's set to consider a reference group's recommendations which include banning vehicles with fewer than three safety stars from entering the fleet.
These are some of the most popular imported models.
The Motor Trade Association is part of the reference group it says the import ban would create a level playing field for vehicle safety.
The MTA says the number of fatal crashes caused by vehicle faults has been on the rise since 2015.
Other recommendations from the reference group include getting unsafe vehicles off the road quicker, and promoting vehicle features that better protect pedestrians.
Callers to Andrew Dickens made their thoughts very clear on the matter. 
Caller Marie says she doesn’t think this is the right thing to do, but does see the government’s point of wanting to get people into safer cars.
“Making moves to try and educate people about car safety would be a much better strategy. This feels like another smack towards the poor, by telling them you can have that cheaper car, you need a more expensive one which is safer.”
Caller Steve says that there are so many variances between certain car models and individual cars, that this idea is ridiculous. 
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Spice Girls have hinted that their sellout reunion tour will travel to Australia early next year, after Mel B made a surprise announcement during the group's final performance at London's Wembley Stadium Saturday evening.
"We'll see you in February in Australia," Mel B told the crowd. Details of live dates in Australia -- which would be the first time the group has performed in the country -- are yet to be officially announced.
However, in a radio interview with Australia's 2Day FM's Grant, Ed and Ash, Mel B admitted the tour isn't locked in.
"You know me by now," she said. "I always say the Spice Girls are going to continue and continue and tour the whole world.
"My thing is, and I've got a bee in my bonnet about it, is that we need to come to Australia first out the gate. I announced it on stage, yes, without everybody else signing off 100 per cent, but I figured if I put it out there maybe it's going to happen."
Ash London said, "So, you're manifesting it?"
"Exactly," Mel B replied.
The singer known as Scary Spice said her bandmates are "not on board fully, yet," with the idea of an Australian tour. "But I will make sure it actually does it happen," she added.
The announcement came at the end of the 13-stop tour, the first tour from the group since 2008 and their first performances since their appearance at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Mel B's announcement wasn't the only surprise. Geri Horner, aka Ginger Spice, also surprised the crowd Saturday by apologising for quitting the group in 1998.
"I need to say something I should have said a long time ago," she told the 70,000 fans at Wembley.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left. I was just being a brat. It is so good to be back with the girls that I love."

‘I was being a brat’ - Geri apologises for leaving the Spice Girls (in a way that connected with me, at least, more than ever) #spicegirls #spice #geri #icanbeabrattoo pic.twitter.com/0UPnshgC6F
— Jamie Tabberer (@jamietabberer) June 15, 2019
Horner left the group after reportedly suffering from health issues, two years before the whole band went on an indefinite hiatus.
Her emotional announcement came at the end of the Spice Girls' 13-date reunion tour, which also took the group to Dublin, Ireland; Cardiff, Wales; Edinburgh, Scotland; and the English cities of Manchester, Coventry, Sunderland and Bristol.
Horner also shared a heartfelt video of herself standing inside the empty stadium following the final show. "This is it. They are taking it down. It's been amazing," she said, while shrugging her shoulders.
She posted another video thanking her bandmates and everyone who attended the concerts. "Thirteen stadiums. Almost 70,000 people, with three amazing women I've shared that stage with," she said.
"I want to say thank you to Melanie, Melanie and Emma and everybody who showed up for us," Horner said, referring to Melanie Brown (Mel B), Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton.
"It has been something that I will never, ever forget. Thank you so much. Big love from Spice World."
A number of high-profile guests attended the concert Saturday, including Grammy award-winning singer Adele.
"Last time I saw the Spice Girls at Wembley was 21 years ago," Adele wrote on Instagram. "Tonight with my nearest and dearest i cried, laughed, screamed, danced, reminisced and fell back in love with my 10 year old self.
"It's no secret how much I love them, how much they inspired me to run for my life and never look back. I finally got to meet Ginger. I got drunk with the girls and quite frankly I can't believe how far I've come."
The Spice Girls launched their reunion tour in May in Dublin, and they performed as a four-piece because Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, declined to take part.

The Spice Girls have hinted that their sellout reunion tour will travel to Australia early next year, after Mel B made a surprise announcement during the group's final performance at London's Wembley Stadium Saturday evening.
"We'll see you in February in Australia," Mel B told the crowd. Details of live dates in Australia -- which would be the first time the group has performed in the country -- are yet to be officially announced.
However, in a radio interview with Australia's 2Day FM's Grant, Ed and Ash, Mel B admitted the tour isn't locked in.
"You know me by now," she said. "I always say the Spice Girls are going to continue and continue and tour the whole world.
"My thing is, and I've got a bee in my bonnet about it, is that we need to come to Australia first out the gate. I announced it on stage, yes, without everybody else signing off 100 per cent, but I figured if I put it out there maybe it's going to happen."
Ash London said, "So, you're manifesting it?"
"Exactly," Mel B replied.
The singer known as Scary Spice said her bandmates are "not on board fully, yet," with the idea of an Australian tour. "But I will make sure it actually does it happen," she added.
The announcement came at the end of the 13-stop tour, the first tour from the group since 2008 and their first performances since their appearance at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Mel B's announcement wasn't the only surprise. Geri Horner, aka Ginger Spice, also surprised the crowd Saturday by apologising for quitting the group in 1998.
"I need to say something I should have said a long time ago," she told the 70,000 fans at Wembley.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left. I was just being a brat. It is so good to be back with the girls that I love."

‘I was being a brat’ - Geri apologises for leaving the Spice Girls (in a way that connected with me, at least, more than ever) #spicegirls #spice #geri #icanbeabrattoo pic.twitter.com/0UPnshgC6F
— Jamie Tabberer (@jamietabberer) June 15, 2019
Horner left the group after reportedly suffering from health issues, two years before the whole band went on an indefinite hiatus.
Her emotional announcement came at the end of the Spice Girls' 13-date reunion tour, which also took the group to Dublin, Ireland; Cardiff, Wales; Edinburgh, Scotland; and the English cities of Manchester, Coventry, Sunderland and Bristol.
Horner also shared a heartfelt video of herself standing inside the empty stadium following the final show. "This is it. They are taking it down. It's been amazing," she said, while shrugging her shoulders.
She posted another video thanking her bandmates and everyone who attended the concerts. "Thirteen stadiums. Almost 70,000 people, with three amazing women I've shared that stage with," she said.
"I want to say thank you to Melanie, Melanie and Emma and everybody who showed up for us," Horner said, referring to Melanie Brown (Mel B), Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton.
"It has been something that I will never, ever forget. Thank you so much. Big love from Spice World."
A number of high-profile guests attended the concert Saturday, including Grammy award-winning singer Adele.
"Last time I saw the Spice Girls at Wembley was 21 years ago," Adele wrote on Instagram. "Tonight with my nearest and dearest i cried, laughed, screamed, danced, reminisced and fell back in love with my 10 year old self.
"It's no secret how much I love them, how much they inspired me to run for my life and never look back. I finally got to meet Ginger. I got drunk with the girls and quite frankly I can't believe how far I've come."
The Spice Girls launched their reunion tour in May in Dublin, and they performed as a four-piece because Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, declined to take part.

The uplifting of the baby from Hastings Hospital by Oranga Tamariki is being investigated from a number of angles.
This is the uplift which was documented by journalist Melanie Reid shocked many who saw it last week. Oranga Tamariki workers tried to execute a court order multiple times but were thwarted by a large number of whanau in the room. 
Eventually the whanau were excluded from the room while the agency pressured the mother to give up the child. Attempts went on until the early hours of the morning before it was decided that baby could stay with Mum in a facility while further decisions were made.
I think it’s worth reminding you that the mother was 18, the father was 17, the father had issues which are unknown to us, and the couple had already had a child taken from their care. And the social workers and police were just following the instructions of a court order.  The whanau were resisting the court.
Now, the Minister of Children Tracey Martin is investigating the case, while the Children’s commissioner Andrew Becroft is looking into the taking of Maori babies in particular.
Remember the Hastings iwi has now vowed not to let any more of their whanau’s babies be taken into care and in fact, since the uplifted documented by the Newsroom five weeks ago, they’ve intervened five more times.
Can I just remind you about the scale of this issue. 
According to the boss of Oranga Tamariki the agency got 90,000 reports of concern for 64,000 children in the last year. Of those 64,000 children, the agency is working with 30,000 of them and 1750 were bought into care. That's less than three percent. Maori children taken into care numbered just over 270. So around 80 per cent of the children taken into state care are not Maori
But it’s the uplifting of babies that is at the heart of this latest review of Oranga Tamariki.  About 280 babies were uplifted in the past year.
The agency says Māori babies taken into state care within three months of birth increased from 129 in the year to June 2016 to 160 in each of the two years to last June.
Babies of all other ethnicities taken into state care increased only slightly in the same period, from 118 to 121.
So Maori babies make up about 56 per cent of the babies taken each year.  Three Maori babies uplifted a week compared to two non-Maori babies a week.
My question is why the Children’s Commissioner in particular seems so concerned with Maori children being taken into state care when so many children and families from other ethnicities are facing the same issues?
And what do Maori think about the issues for the 44 per cent of babies taken who aren’t Maori? Or the 80 per cent of children taken into state care who are not Maori.
If the iwi want the role of dealing with the families with babies who need to be uplifted are they prepared to do it for babies who are not Maori?
The uplifting of babies and the placing of children into state care is the last part of a terrible process regarding the safety and care of our children.  While you can understand why iwi object to the taking of babies from their Mums, I think it’s worth reminding them that the real problem is that the care and support of these Mums need to be there at the beginning of the process and not after the horse has bolted and the state has been forced to get involved. 
Because nobody ever wants to take a baby from their Mum.  And Oranga Tamariki is damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

The uplifting of the baby from Hastings Hospital by Oranga Tamariki is being investigated from a number of angles.
This is the uplift which was documented by journalist Melanie Reid shocked many who saw it last week. Oranga Tamariki workers tried to execute a court order multiple times but were thwarted by a large number of whanau in the room. 
Eventually the whanau were excluded from the room while the agency pressured the mother to give up the child. Attempts went on until the early hours of the morning before it was decided that baby could stay with Mum in a facility while further decisions were made.
I think it’s worth reminding you that the mother was 18, the father was 17, the father had issues which are unknown to us, and the couple had already had a child taken from their care. And the social workers and police were just following the instructions of a court order.  The whanau were resisting the court.
Now, the Minister of Children Tracey Martin is investigating the case, while the Children’s commissioner Andrew Becroft is looking into the taking of Maori babies in particular.
Remember the Hastings iwi has now vowed not to let any more of their whanau’s babies be taken into care and in fact, since the uplifted documented by the Newsroom five weeks ago, they’ve intervened five more times.
Can I just remind you about the scale of this issue. 
According to the boss of Oranga Tamariki the agency got 90,000 reports of concern for 64,000 children in the last year. Of those 64,000 children, the agency is working with 30,000 of them and 1750 were bought into care. That's less than three percent. Maori children taken into care numbered just over 270. So around 80 per cent of the children taken into state care are not Maori
But it’s the uplifting of babies that is at the heart of this latest review of Oranga Tamariki.  About 280 babies were uplifted in the past year.
The agency says Māori babies taken into state care within three months of birth increased from 129 in the year to June 2016 to 160 in each of the two years to last June.
Babies of all other ethnicities taken into state care increased only slightly in the same period, from 118 to 121.
So Maori babies make up about 56 per cent of the babies taken each year.  Three Maori babies uplifted a week compared to two non-Maori babies a week.
My question is why the Children’s Commissioner in particular seems so concerned with Maori children being taken into state care when so many children and families from other ethnicities are facing the same issues?
And what do Maori think about the issues for the 44 per cent of babies taken who aren’t Maori? Or the 80 per cent of children taken into state care who are not Maori.
If the iwi want the role of dealing with the families with babies who need to be uplifted are they prepared to do it for babies who are not Maori?
The uplifting of babies and the placing of children into state care is the last part of a terrible process regarding the safety and care of our children.  While you can understand why iwi object to the taking of babies from their Mums, I think it’s worth reminding them that the real problem is that the care and support of these Mums need to be there at the beginning of the process and not after the horse has bolted and the state has been forced to get involved. 
Because nobody ever wants to take a baby from their Mum.  And Oranga Tamariki is damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Last night I chose to watch Melanie Reid’s 40 minute documentary of the uplifting of a baby from her parents by Oranga Tamariki at Hawkes Bay hospital.
It is a very tough watch.
There were at least three attempts by the child welfare agency to take the baby from her 18-year-old mother who was cuddling the baby in her hospital bed. 
The attempts went on until the early hours of the morning.  The room was full of the baby's whānau, midwives, iwi leaders and the Melanie Reid.  Everyone was filming with their phones.  The baby’s 17-year-old father was there throughout quietly sitting.
The case workers from Oranga Tamariki were in and out of the room constantly calling back to their own lawyers.  The whanau were also getting legal advice.
Eventually, Oranga Tamariki gave up and instead the mother was allowed to go with her baby to a care facility while the matter was further discussed ahead of a new Family Court hearing next week.
It was traumatic and dramatic but it is important to watch to understand what families and children and social workers go through when the state steps in.  These sorts of uplifts happen three times a week.
This is the scale of the issue.  According to the boss of Oranga Tamariki, the agency got 90,000 reports of concern for 64,000 children in the last year. Of those 64,000 children, the agency is working with 30,000 of them and 1750 were bought into care.
That's less than three percent, but that’s still a big number.
But I’d warn that in my opinion the video is very one sided. 
Oranga Tamariki’s side is not represented at all.  The piece doubts the veracity of the court order because the child was so young but that’s their opinion, the court order had been granted.  Oranga Tamariki are unable to defend themselves due to privacy concerns that it appears the documentary makers aren’t subject to.
It was briefly mentioned that the 18-year-old mother and the 17-year-old father had already had another child who had earlier been uplifted and placed with an English couple.  The reason for that was never explained.
The fact that this extremely young couple had created another child when they hadn’t regained custody of their first child is concerning.
It was mentioned that the 17-year-old father has issues but it was claimed that he was getting on top of them but we don’t know what those issues are.
The fact that the European couple who had the first child and would have looked after the second  prompted calls that this was similar to the Australian stolen generation. That seems disingenuous considering the Oranga Tamariki social workers attempting the uplift were both Maori themselves.
A kaumatua who was in the room and in the documentary says Oranga Tamariki goes too far.  He says it’s about Maori whānau, Maori, Maori solutions, a Maori way.  He says Oranga Tamariki have occupied this space for too long and not brought the outcomes Māori seek and he wants the agency to cede it’s responsibility to Maori.
While it was impressive to see the number of whanau in the room supporting the baby and the mum and resisting the uplift you can’t help but wonder where that whanau were as this 18-year-old and 17-year-old brought two children into the world and they’ve already lost one.
What this all says to me is that Oranga Tamariki are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. It says that uplifting children into state care is very difficult.  It says that many people criticise Oranga Tamariki either for uplifting or not uplifting in any particular case and they just can’t win.
It also says to me that I hope Melanie Reid documents a different uplift but this time from Oranga Tamariki’s point of view so we get a proper picture of the issues.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With all the positives and negatives that come attached with it, intergenerational living is fast becoming the new norm for many Kiwi families.
Intergenerational living is when family members of all ages - from grandparents to young children - are living together under one roof. 
A TVNZ investigation for What's Next has examined how medical advances and longer life expectancy has influenced this, but other factors such as the rising cost of living and housing unaffordability has seen this impact multiple families.
Andrew Dickens put the message out to his listeners, and several came back with their own experiences, from German-inspired living to boarding with grandmothers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday in talkback I asked the question “What’s going on with our Maternity Services?”
It seemed to me that there has been a rash of stories that suggest babies and Mums are being gambled with for the sake of meeting budgets.
The closure of the Lumsden Maternity Unit is one such story. Formerly a primary birthing unit with facilities and staff it’s been turned into what DHBs call a maternity hub. No staff and apparently no facilities either.
The baby born on the roadside in an ambulance was born there because the mid wife decided that the ambulance was better equipped than the maternity hub.  They go to the hub and found the lights off, the place was cold and there was not oxygen available for baby and Mum.  It was less a maternity hub and more an office owned by a DHB. 
Unsurprisingly, oxygen has now been re-installed in the hub. Who uninstalled is the question I’d ask. It all smacks of money.
Then there was the Wanaka baby born in a midwives office.  That made headlines and today the Southern DHB has decided to lease a better facility in Wanaka for birthing.  Pity it isn’t in the medical centre which is where the helipad is if you have to get Mum and Baby to Dunedin hospital. Maybe the rent’s less
While that was happening in rural Lumsden and Wanaka, there’s also issues in Christchurch where the hospital has no primary birthing unit for three years now and seems to have no plans for one any time soon. A primary birthing unit is a step down from a hospital and it’s for babies and mums who are deemed not to be at risk pregnancies and births. 
But if something goes wrong you need to get to a hospital quick or get a doctor to mum. That’s why 80 per cent of Canterbury mums are choosing to go to the hospital to give birth.  Now hospital births are for at risk pregnancies and have limited beds, and that’s why Canterbury mMums are regularly thrown out just hours after birth.
Then we hear that almost 90 per cent of maternity wards in New Zealand hospitals have no senior doctors or consultants on site at night or in the weekends. The revelations raise questions about patient safety in the event of traumatic or complex births that occur after-hours and require urgent specialist care.
And today we learn the total DHB deficit has jumped $40 million in the last month. The 20 DHBs have a deficit of $264 million overall, with only South Canterbury in the black. So under financial pressure, the DHBs are gambling with their rationing.
I think the DHBs are playing Russian roulette with babies and mums. It seems to me they’re underfunding the services assigned to babies that are not deemed to be at risk. Hoping that nothing goes wrong. Well, in the past fortnight, three births came close to going wrong because of funding decisions. 
There will be hell to pay when luck is not on the DHB’s side.