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Te Pāti Māori list candidate Merepeka Raukawa-Tait says the two recent unprovoked attacks on teenagers in Rotorua must be confronted head-on.
A 13-year-old girl was bashed last Thursday and four days later on Monday a 15-year-old female was also attacked. The two incidents has triggered outrage among the community, community leaders and police.
Raukawa-Tait said a whole of family approach is needed to curb this mini crime wave.
“Try working with the whole family would be my advice,”she says.
“When young people run amuck, as we are seeing now in many towns and cities throughout the country, we must look for ways that can stem their wilful and unlawful behaviour.
“We seem to be sitting around waiting for a miracle to happen and voila the antisocial behaviour will disappear. That’s not going to happen.”
Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell. Photo / NZME
Raukawa-Tait is adamant when teenage girls are being attacked in the Rotorua CBD the community must do more than express horror.
“It’s a time for immediate and swift action,” she said.
“Identify the offenders, their families and lay out the consequences in black and white. You can’t scare them straight, but you must be clear and spell it out.”
Raukawa-Tait puts her money on the Whānau Ora approach from her years as chair and seeing first hand its transformative power with struggling families across the motu.
“Families working with no nonsense service providers can develop the tools to reinforce positive behaviours as the highly likely alternative to not dealing with it is arrest and going to court,” she said.
“Whānau Ora kaimahi, community and iwi social service providers can absolutely achieve the positive results that we all want to see.
“They know the families in their communities who are most at risk of offending. They know the children growing up in circumstances likely to lead to criminal activity.”
Yesterday Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell - a former National Party candidate - called on the Government to provide more police and resources to the country’s tourism capital.
The Rotorua District Council is spending $1.8 million a year for inner-city security, and the mayor says the council is acting beyond its core responsibilities by needing to address crime and ensure community safety.
“Unfortunately, we have been informed that in some instances, children were wearing certain colours, which does lead us to believe that there may have been some gang influence [in the attacks],” Tapsell says.
Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. He was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. Los’e was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Whānau Waipareira.
