Head2Head

Dr Claire Achmad became Aotearoa /New Zealand’s Chief Children's Commissioner and Chair of the Commission in November 2023, a role she will hold for 5 years.

She holds a doctorate in international children’s rights law from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and has published internationally on a range of children's rights issues.

She also holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Auckland and has worked for children’s NGOs and international organisations in Aotearoa, Australia and Europe, held a senior role within Te Kāhui Tika Tangata the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, and practised as in-house legal counsel in the New Zealand government. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2007.

How does she see her job as Chief Children’s Commissioner? What have children been telling her about their lives? And what are some of the issues facing our mokopuna and rangatahi?

New Zealand has an estimated 150,000 children living households with incomes below the poverty line (think the entire combined populations of Nelson, New Plymouth and Invercargill) with 64,000 of those children living in extreme hardship. 

In this episode of Head2Head Susan unravels for me some of the complexities of the Working For Families benefit and reveals the wired in unfairness that discriminates against children living in our poorest homes.

Duration: 26m 12s

Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government.To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.

My guest today is Selwyn Manning- investigative political journalist and founder of Multimedia Investments Ltd

He provides analysis, assessment, and evaluation of the political environment specific to New Zealand, Australia, the economies and island states of the Asia-Pacific region with a specialisation in the analysis of geopolitics, cyber-security, and, intelligence issues.

He was also a former New Zealand Government press secretary and spokesperson for the Minister of Police, Internal Affairs, Ethnic Affairs, and Civil Defence Emergency Management. He holds MCS (Hons.) and BCS (Hons.) university degrees.

To support my public journalism work, please share on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $5 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus the comment and chat facility. To those of you who are already paid subscribers - thank you for helping me to keep going.