Taxpayer Money Focuses on Children’s Needs First Says Minister
- Oranga Tamariki reviews service provider contracts worth over $500 million this year.
- Minister Karen Chhour demands strict assessment to ensure funds are properly utilised.
- Focus shifts to funding genuine services for the care and protection of children.
After years of financial mismanagement, Oranga Tamariki is finally taking control of its funding for external service providers, according to Children’s Minister Karen Chhour.
“This year I asked Oranga Tamariki to make sure the hundreds of service providers having their contracts reviewed, were properly assessed. Line by line,” stated Minister Chhour. “Their challenge has been to unpick years of complacency and lack of rigour in the way contracts have been managed. These contracts are valued at more than $500 million.”
The minister emphasised the need for diligent oversight. “I have pushed the Oranga Tamariki senior management team to look for every opportunity to focus its funding on the care and protection of the children it is responsible for. For too many years Oranga Tamariki has been the cash cow for community service providers who say they will provide services, and then don’t.”
She assured the public that there has been no reduction in frontline services. “Oranga Tamariki is simply funding those who do the work, and not those who don’t. Oranga Tamariki’s service providers are expected to regularly report back about the work they do, and the children in care they work with.
The funding they provide is for the care and protection of children in state care. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s what New Zealanders want their dollars spent on, and that’s what they are getting, finally.”