Housing crisis, Covid misinformation, racism: Problems flagged to new ministers
The Government has published all the ministers briefings on their portfolios. Photo / Supplied
Housing crisis, Covid misinformation, racism: Problems flagged to new ministers Wed, 16 Dec 2020, 4:19PM
Racism in health, extremism in prisons, light rail in Auckland, coronavirus misinformation and an ongoing housing crisis are among the priorities outlined to incoming ministers in hundreds of pages of documents released this morning.
The Briefings to Incoming Ministers (BIM) were released on the Beehive website at 10am.
The briefings are from officials on important and developing issues in their respective portfolios as well as previous work in key policy areas.
Stuff. They include force-feeding of children, withholding drink bottles from non-favourites, a child being told to “shut the f - up”, restraining children through force, and making children cry themselves to sleep as punishment.
MONIQUE FORD/Stuff
Weeds are growing at what was the Hutt Hospital Childcare Centre, which shut down after complaints of mistreatment came to light in 2018. There were also allegations of a child being left in a soiled nappy for seven hours, one forced to stand in the corner for two hours, and another thrown over a toilet door. One mother, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said the past two years had been “hell”.
The teacher being investigated remains fully certified and holds a senior position at a major North Island co-ed secondary school. The woman who laid the complaint with the council says she’s horrified it has not suspended the teacher while it investigates and believes the safety of female students and teachers is not being taken seriously. The woman alleges she was raped by the man in an empty classroom in 2014. Police charged the man, but months later she was told they weren t confident of a conviction and the charges would be dropped. The man went to trial for allegedly raping another woman in 2016, but the trial was abandoned by the Crown due to concerns for the complainant s mental wellbeing.