Maori child abuse statistics a disgrace, says Tamihere

2.00pm

More than half of all reported child neglect and abuse cases last year involved Maori children - a statistic Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere says is a tragedy and a disgrace.

"Too many whanau in New Zealand are dysfunctional," he said in a speech today in his Tamaki-Makaurau electorate.

"Rather than reaping the rewards that a whanau should give them, too many Maori children live among whanau where the lessons they learn are the lessons of violence, neglect, drug and alcohol abuse, lack of aspiration and responsibility, and welfare dependency."

Mr Tamihere said it was time to look at how whanau was defined, and asked where the " caring and supportive fathers" were in the mix.

"Not that I am trying to put the boot into solo mothers, but I am saying that what we want whanau to be, and what is actually (happening) in reality, are often pretty far apart."

Mr Tamihere said that for many Maori, whanau was a myth.

"More than half of all reported child neglect and abuse cases in the last year were Maori children. That is a tragedy and a disgrace," he said.

"We need to work with the current reality, not the myth. By doing that, maybe the reality will start to look ... more like the myth that we aspire to."

Mr Tamihere referred to a photo he saw in the Gisborne Herald of 200 patched Black Power members performing a haka at the graveside of a fellow gang member allegedly slain by Mongrel Mob rivals.

"If that's pride in our Maori culture, then you can keep it," he said.

"If it wasn't such a tragedy, it would be a joke."

- NZPA