Belinda Himiona: Social Service Providers CEO on the Oranga Tamariki inquest

Oranga Tamariki is having to face up to potential back office blunders. 

The Auditor General has launched an inquiry into the agency’s funding decisions, as earlier in the year there were instances of social service providers having their funding cut with little to no heads up.  

The inquiry will look at the processes, criteria, and planning Oranga Tamariki had in regard to its decisions, the communication involved, as well as other related matters.  

Social Service Providers CEO Belinda Himiona told Mike Hosking that the reason the sector is so concerned is the rapid nature of the decisions. 

She said that there seems to be no plan for the children and communities who are being left without often vital services.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Orders of General is having a look into the
way that Oranga Tamariki's doing its job. Services they fund
and been cut or scale back. As I'm sure you're
well whare as a result of the government review and
their budgets and services. This has upset a lot of
people in the sector. Of course, social service providers. CEO
Blinda Hemiower is with us very good.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Morning, Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Have we got a couple of things here. One the
cutbacks and funding and value for the money argument versus
the way that handle it. They're two separate issues. Is
that fair or not?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
They are interconnected. I think the reason that the Office
of the Orders General has decided to look into this
and then interact concerns which were quite serious, is both
of those issues. So the rapid rate of removal of services,
the lack of transparency, the lack of clear process about
why decisions were being made. In many cases there were

(00:48):
children and families receiving services that were being removed or reduced,
and I think all of this just shows quite a
damaging picture for those out there own communities and the
sector is just very distressed. They can see services are
still needed.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yes indeed, but that's a government decision. Though if the
government of the day, rightly or wrongly says we don't
want to do it this way, that's their right, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah. I mean, there's a very good conversation to be
had about what is needed in these communities, and part
of that is our sector. We are a government funded,
not for profit sector. We work alongside government every day
to help them implement their strategy. So the idea that
government can't change its mind is just, frankly not how
we operate. It's a very resilient sector. I think the

(01:30):
reason that we are just so concerned is the rapid
nature of these decisions seems to be no plan that
we've seen in communities. Children are being left without the
services that they need, and these are really vital services
for sometimes very young children and vulnerable family. See.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I follow this very closely because I'm interested. I can't
and we had some people there's a lot of emotion
in the sector, and I understand it to a degree,
But there was some woman and Nelson the other day
who go who went, children are going to die? And
I went, right, no, they're not mean, come on. And
so current saw, on the other hand, is in Parliament
almost on a weekly basis these days, saying things like

(02:07):
there's money in bank accounts that was never used, so
we don't want to do it that way anymore. Anything
well fair enough, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I think the common issue We've got a lot of
common ground with governments. I think the most important thing
for us is to constructively work through these issues without
undue emotion on any side, because I think the focus
here has to be about giving New Zealand as children
and families the services that they deserve. I think that
when you remove supports, training, access to services, you delay

(02:37):
with ferrals, all of these paint a dangerous picture for
those needing chronic services and communities, and it's important conversation
to have about how unimpacted children are who need the
services that may no longer be provided. I also think
that ministers come in with a vision. It was voted
for by New Zealand. That part of it. And this

(02:58):
is why the Office of the Autogenal, which is an
dependent organization, independent body of Parliament, the reason it is
looking is that things don't look right with what's been
happening with or don't.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
But that's partlind Rustill can't get to the bottom of
is the AG looking at this to go look at
the end of the day, they shouldn't have given you
three days. Notice that that wasn't professional. It's not what
we would have liked. We would have liked a couple
of months. But at the end of the day, they
can do what they want. I mean that, in essence
is what they're likely to come up with, isn't it well.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I think one of the reasons that the RAG has
chosen this situation, in this set of circumstances to look
at and you'll see this if you look at the
terms of reference or the information on the website, is
because the nature of the services means the impact of
that funding is very distressing and not okay. So when
you've got a child, a parent, someone who may have

(03:50):
experienced and violence, sexual violence, child who's been in an
abusive home, when they are receiving services or when they
need to be placed in care, when they do not
have access to those services, they can be an impact
on their safety and well being. And this is why
we should be looking very closely at this matter.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Blinda, you have a good day, Please to appreciate it
very much. Belinda Jimihana, who is with the social services providers.
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