The man now in charge of Oranga Tamariki's Ministerial Advisory Board thinks it is "quite possible" the ministry responsible for the well-being of children can change.
Respected Māori leader Tā Mark Solomon was appointed chairman of the board last week. He had been a member of the board since its establishment in early 2021.
The board was created after multiple damning reviews and inquiries into Oranga Tamariki. Former chief executive Grainne Moss resigned in January last year.
The board released its own report in September 2021 and the Government accepted all of its recommendations.
"It's about giving the responsibility back into the community to deal with the issues," Solomon said of the changes, already underway, within Oranga Tamariki.
Solomon reflected he has hope for the Ministry for Children.
"I think one of the major roles is the Crown has to determine what is the actual role of OT. It seems to us that OT has been the catch-all for everything to do with children that if you go back to the Children's Act of 1989 it doesn't mention OT. It mentions all the other Crown agencies. MSD, Police, Corrections, Kāinga Ora," he said.
"The question we put to the minister is where are those other agencies … If you look out your window, I think they're just over there on the edge of the horizon watching back at what OT's doing, but they're actually not doing their role in how we look after our children and they need to step up also and define what is the primary role of OT, not leave it as the catch-all for everything to do with children."
The Government is proposing shifting oversight of Oranga Tamariki from the Children's Commissioner to a commission.
Solomon told Breakfast he likes the concept of monitoring and "keeping the heat on OT on a regular basis".
The Deputy PM says now is the time to reset the system. (Source: Breakfast)
Appearing on Breakfast after Solomon, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson explained the Government's reasoning for the bill.
"We want to make sure we've got a group that's focused and really able to look very clearly at this. The Children's Commissioner has a mixed role. An advocacy role and mixing that up with a monitoring role has been a bit challenging at times," Robertson said.
"But there will be still very strong oversight of the work of OT. They are an organisation charged with looking after our most vulnerable children, so we want to make sure we are there understanding what they're doing. There will still be sound oversight and there's still a role for the Children's Commissioner, but the decision's being made to separate out that advocacy and oversight role."
Robertson added he is not suggesting in any way the Children's Commissioner is responsible for the issues seen with Oranga Tamariki.
"But when we are setting up a body and we're resetting as we are doing with OT, this is the opportunity to say what's the best way to do this. We think having an independent oversight that can look at the whole system, leaving the Children's Commissioner to do that really essential role of advocating for children, actually is a better fit. It's not necessarily saying it's been an abject failure, it's just here's an opportunity to have a real focus on oversight, and I think as I said, we're all aware of the issues that have been there.
"Now's the time for us to move forward positively. We've seen some good changes, a new executive team in there, a new focus on working better with communities, a big reduction in uplifts, I think 75% over the last couple of years, so we're making good progress. Now's the time to reset the system and focus on the needs of those children."
"I think we're all aware of what's gone wrong at OT and the most important thing we can do now is focus on giving communities, particularly Māori communities, a role here. I really admire the work the group's been doing. Having Tā Mark in charge of it now I think will be a powerful step forward," Robertson said of Solomon's appointment to chairman.
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