DR Hone Kaa, chairman of Te Kahui Mana Ririki, a children's organisation, was reported to be shocked and saddened by a report from the Children's Commissioner (ODT, 6.6.09).
The report found that Maori boys under 5 years were six times more likely to be assaulted than non-Maori children, Maori girls three times more likely.
Dr Kaa said, "This is one of the first times [sic] I have seen a report make a direct connection between being Maori and child abuse."
By the way, it was also mentioned in this news report that New Zealand had the worst rates of child death and injury from preventable causes in the developed world.
The only surprise here is that New Zealand has leapt from third place to the top of child-killer league. If Dr Kaa is even mildly surprised by this information then one wonders where he has been this last decade or two.
I remember Dr Kaa from the time he was on a prime-time television current affairs programme with Sharon Crosby. The fact that it was a hard-hitting current affairs programme at prime time gives an indication how many years ago that was.
So he has been around a long time. Long enough to know that it has become obvious to every other New Zealander that there is a serious problem of child-abuse in the Maori community. It is a little late for him to say, "I urge every whanau in the country to become actively involved in the battle against child abuse."
I have no doubt Hone Kaa's sterling work for many years has achieved much for Maori people. So why am I picking on him for an isolated comment? Because that comment epitomises the maddening New Zealand response to child abuse.
We howl with shock, we pontificate with outrage. It is all a well rehearsed sickening, sanctimonious act. How else explain rejecting mandatory reporting because we are all a bit shy about dobbing people in? And why did we allow our Government to half-starve Plunket?
Things have become worse for Maori children since Dr Kaa vigorously advocated for his people all those years ago on television. But some things have improved. I remember Rob Muldoon and Tipeni O'Regan being interviewed on television in yet another serious, prime-time slot.
Oh for the good old days! Sir Robert, as was his wont when he was losing an argument, told Sir Tipeni he wasn't a proper Maori anyway, he was a half-caste. Sir Tipeni was either too shocked or too polite to respond. Remarkably, I don't recall any media discussion of this gross insult.
No doubt there would be now. That particular phrase is no longer used in New Zealand. Even the term part-Maori has fallen from official usage. Probably at the behest of Maori because it tends to question their ethnic identity.
However, Maori standing in the community has suffered because the term part-Maori is no longer commonly used. The truth is that many Maori child abusers and child killers are part-Maori. They are also, often to a substantial degree, part-Pakeha.
- Christopher Horan is a former probation officer. He lives at Lake Hawea.
