Sense from Winston
Newshub reports:
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says Māoridom must address issues of abuse towards children and women instead of accusing Oranga Tamariki of institutional racism.
“Oranga Tamariki is being accused of institutional racism for uplifting Māori children from their parents. Social workers are being harassed and threatened,” he said.
Speaking at a New Zealand First public meeting in Tauranga on Thursday evening, Peters addressed calls for an end to the uplift of Māori children from their families by Oranga Tamariki.
“The children uplifted from these circumstances are being called ‘New Zealand’s own stolen generation’. That is an insult to the Aboriginal Australian experience. An utter and total insult.”
Finally someone calling it straight. Of course any other MP saying this would be denounced as a racist.
But while Peters said “the odd [uplift] went wrong”, Māori children aren’t just randomly pulled from their families.
“The facts are that these children are being uplifted because they face perilous dangerous situations.
“There should be no apologies when Oranga Tamariki uplifts a child from an abusive, dangerous or otherwise neglectful environment,” Peters said to applause from the crowd.
Clap clap.