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Weekly Media Roundup

April 12, 2019 at 1:04 PM

NZ Herald: Home truths: what hurts and helps Kiwi kids' development

Pre-school kids exposed to their parents' drug abuse or domestic violence are more likely to struggle with basic reading, writing and maths later on, new findings show.

But even in the face of poverty, some children are able to beat the odds and do well – something researchers have partly put down to their parents having healthy relationships.

Two new reports released by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) drew on data from 5500 children from the longitudinal Growing Up in New Zealand study.

One of the studies, published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal, found that, by the age of 4-1/2, more than half of the children experienced some type of adversity.

Stuff: Early trauma at home can hurt a child's readiness for school - study

NZ Herald: 20 years on from one of NZ's worst child abuse cases: 'Nothing's changed'

The 20th anniversary of one of Hawke's Bay and New Zealand's most notorious cases of child abuse passed this week. So how far New Zealand has come in resolving issues driving domestic violence? Doug Laing reports.

RNZ: Calls for a Māori Children's Commissioner to give voice and advocacy tamariki

There are growing calls to establish a Māori Children's Commissioner, as tamariki Māori remain over-represented in state care, state abuse and youth detention.

Māori children make up 59 percent of children in state care, and of the 220 children abused in state care last year - 70.1 percent of them were Māori.

Māori Council executive director Matthew Tukaki has launched a call for a new role to be established.

"We need an independent, stand alone Māori Children's Commissioner - to provide some kind of oversight and some sort of independent voice and advocacy on behalf of Māori children and their whānau," he said.

Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft supported the idea and said there were gaps in the current structure of the commission.

Stuff: Becroft supports call for Māori children's commissioner; PM plays down chances

Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft supports calls for the establishment of a new role of a commissioner specifically for Māori children, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is cooling expectations.

The New Zealand Māori Council has called for a Māori children's commissioner to be appointed, as an independent advocate and guardian of Māori children. The council has launched a campaign to highlight the number of Māori children in state care and increasing numbers being abused.

Becroft indicated support for a specific Māori voice on The AM Show on Tuesday.

Stuff: Action demanded after deaths of three Bay of Plenty children this year

An 'unapologetic attitude' to reporting violence against children is needed if New Zealand is ever to curb the high rate of child deaths, the Childrens' Commissioner says.

His message comes after yet another Bay of Plenty child was admitted to hospital with serious injures.

Of the six children killed already this year, three of them are from Bay of Plenty towns.

Stuff: Police investigate after child seriously injured in Tauranga

Police are investigating after a child was admitted to Tauranga Hospital with serious injuries.

The child was hospitalised on Wednesday afternoon and has since been transferred to Starship Hospital.

Police were door knocking residents of Welcome Bay on Monday, Sunlive reported.

A spokesperson said the cause of the child's injuries are being investigated.

It comes during active investigations into two toddler's deaths.

Stuff Circuit: Seeking an abortion

It’s such a ridiculously innocuous, unobtrusive looking thing, this piece of plastic with a felt-like tip. Years later when you want them, those two blue lines will make you smile.

But this is not then. This is too soon. Too terrifying.

I’m 21, fresh out of journalism school, starting my first job - a junior reporter in a radio newsroom in a small New Zealand town, still wearing my university op-shop clothes, earning less than $20,000 a year but eager, excited for what my career might hold.

Two unwelcome blue lines. They make me feel physically sick, more than I am already.

Watch the documentary

NZ Herald: Sexual assault 'normalised' at Dunedin's Knox college, former students allege

A prestigious University of Otago hall says it is trying to address its issues in a transparent way, after former students came forward alleging sexual assaults and rape went under the radar at the 110-year-old hall of residence.

Knox College, which was established in 1909, was the main feature in Critic Te Arohi student magazine recently, and has since made national headlines.

The magazine reported four female students saying they were victimised while at the college between 2015 and 2017, and their cases either were not properly dealt with - or they did not feel comfortable coming forward.

The article, which also describes a wider culture of sexism, has proved divisive: some students have praised it and others strongly criticised it, saying there was no pattern of trying to minimise assault in the college.

Sex assaults part of university 'entitlement' culture

Stuff: Otago University calls hui after sexual assault claims

Stuff: Ongoing issues with the inquiry into state care risk its very survival

ANALYSIS: When state care abuse survivor Toni Jarvis rings, he sounds exhausted. He hasn't been sleeping very well lately, he tells me.

Fighting for justice takes it's toll. Jarvis was six years old when he was first taken into state care, and what followed was a journey no-one should ever have to take. His childhood was punctuated by the clanging doors of institutions, where he suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse. It has affected his whole life.

Stuff: Minister refuses state abuse inquiry chair's resignation amid conflict criticism

Sir Anand Satyanand offered to withdraw as head of the country's largest ever state inquiry amid worries about a perceived conflict of interest because of his Catholic faith.

Documents obtained by Stuff show Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin rejected the former Governor General's offer, instead asking him for a plan to combat any risk to the integrity of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and Care in Faith-Based Institutions.

Child abuse survivors are calling for Satyanand's resignation offer to be accepted. They say his position risks tainting the inquiry's credibility - already mired in setbacks.

RNZ: Questions on conflict of interest in abuse inquiry 'shut down'

Newshub: Winston Peters defends Sir Anand Satyanand over sex abuse inquiry criticism

Newshub: Pets important for domestic abuse victims that don't trust humans - expert

Dogs and other pets play a huge role in helping victims of domestic abuse recover, according to a new book.

Companion Animals and Domestic Violence - Rescuing You Rescuing Me co-author Nik Taylor told Newshub the animals are a source of comfort.

"They are emotionally safe, so the women who may not trust other humans can have an emotional bond with these animals in a way that feels very safe and secure to them."

Stuff: Region's police welcome safety order changes

Changes to police safety orders can't come soon enough for South Canterbury police who are being called to up to 40 family harm incidents a week.

South Canterbury family harm co-ordinator senior constable Paul Hampton, of Timaru, said police safety orders (PSOs) will be extended to up to 10 days from July 1. At the moment PSOs are enforced for up to five days.

He said public holidays, such as Easter, at the end of next week, can be a particularly difficult time for those dealing with family harm incidents. At the weekend police dealt with 12 family harm incidents.

Stuff: Prime Minister announces free driving lessons and tests for young people on benefits or in care

Young people on benefits or in care will be able to obtain free driving lessons and tests under a new $5m plan unveiled by the Prime Minister.

Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday said the initiative will improve the employment chances of 2500 disadvantaged youths, and it is hoped the scheme will also reduce road deaths, as 165 fatal or serious crashes in the past five years involved young drivers who did not hold a driving licence.

RNZ: Websites to be fined over 'online harms' under UK govt proposals

Internet sites could be fined or blocked if they fail to tackle "online harms" such as terrorist propaganda and child abuse, under UK government plans.

Britain's Department for Culture, Media and Sport has proposed an independent watchdog and a code of practice that tech companies would have to follow.

Senior managers would be held liable for breaches, with a possible levy on the industry to fund the regulator.

RNZ: Increase in sexual violence complaints in Defence Force

More women within the male-dominated New Zealand Defence Force are choosing to come forward and complain about sexual violence.

A briefing updating on the military's Operation Respect programme has been released to RNZ under the Official Information Act.

Operation Respect was launched in 2016 in an attempt to reduce sexual offending within the armed forces.

A report into the Air Force in 2015 highlighted "a culture of sexism" and "long-held and widespread" sexist attitudes.

Stuff: Woman found dead in Whanganui, man charged with murder

A man has been charged with murder following the discovery of a woman's body in Whanganui.

The victim, a 41-year-old woman, was found at a home on Liverpool Street after a concerned person alerted police.

A 50-year-old man has been charged with her murder and will appear in Whanganui District Court today.

Stuff: Violent man 'not violent enough' for anti-violence course

A Hamilton man subjected his partner to the first of a series of beatings because she was taking too long to get to McDonald's and he was hungry.

Cruz Jackson Enoka, 21, was jailed for 18 months when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday, on two charges of injuring with intent to injure and one of assault with intent to injure.

It was in the words of Judge Kim Saunders "controlling, manipulative and violent" offending that took place on October 20, 22 and 23 last year - the victim on each occasion being Enoka's partner of four years.

Stuff: Woman who stabbed partner in the neck jailed for five years - with no chance of parole

A woman who killed her partner during a drunken argument by stabbing him in the neck with a butcher's knife has been jailed for five years.

Teneshiah Puhinahina Patangata, 26, of Newstead, has to serve the entirety of her incarceration with no chance of early parole, as it is her "second strike" under the three strikes law for serious violent offenders.

Patangata stood trial in the High Court in Hamilton last month, charged with murdering Peter Haimona Savage, 26, on New Year's Day 2018.

Stuff: Man jailed for horrific and degrading assault on pregnant partner

When Tasman Hadfield's pregnant partner feared he would harm their unborn baby, she tried to call police.

But she was punished so severely she was left with a swollen face, chest and shoulder in a violent attack that ended with a bucket of vomit poured over her.

Hadfield was jailed in 2017 for beating the same woman, and on Monday in the Palmerston North District Court he was sentenced to return to prison for another 20 months.

Stuff: Canterbury teenager Heath Morris jailed for 13 years, 6 months years for Oliver Johnston's murder

Heath Eric Morris has been jailed for a non-parole term of 13 years and 6 months for murdering Oliver Johnston in his sleep.

Morris, 19, who admitted the murder of Johnson, 20, was sentenced in the High Court at Christchurch on Friday.

In June 2018, Morris bludgeoned Johnston to death as he slept and left his body in a paddock at a North Canterbury property. The body remained undiscovered for a week.

Stuff: Man 'betrayed' his female friends by posting fake porn images of them online

A man who made fake pornographic images of three women and posted them on the internet will not have his name suppressed by the courts, after a judge ruled it would be "unjust" to do when his victims had been publicly embarrassed.

Thomas Martin Wilson, 23, who works as a chef, had pleaded guilty to three representative charges of causing harm under the Harmful Digital Communications Act and one of distributing indecent material.

His three victims were in the Wellington District Court on Thursday to tell him of the betrayal they felt after discovering they knew him and considered him a friend.