9. KATHERINE RICH (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
Does he stand by statements made on his behalf in the House yesterday regarding the actions of the Ministry of Education after being made aware of sexual abuse allegations against the principal of Hato Pāora College: “I am most certain that the Ministry of Education has done its darnedest to ensure that this matter gets to a better place.”; if so, why?
Madam SPEAKER
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Education) Link to this
Yes. This is the third time this week that questions have been raised about whether correct procedures were followed at Hato Pāora College over sex abuse allegations against the principal. I want to believe that the member is raising these questions to try to ensure that the systems dealing with such allegations are the best possible that we could have. To my knowledge, in this case they were. The member alleges that the police became involved in the case only through media inquiries. That is not correct. I am advised by the officer in charge of the case that police were informed of the situation by Child, Youth and Family on 3 August, which is the same day that the school board informed the Ministry of Education of the issues. Such notification is exactly in line with the protocols in dealing with child abuse allegations between the police, Child, Youth and Family, the School Trustees Association, and the Ministry of Education, which were signed in 1996. I remind the House that attempts to get a cheap headline out of this issue are having a very negative impact on pupils, staff, and parents of the school involved.
Why does the Minister pretend that there was a formal and planned notification to Child, Youth and Family and the police as part of an inter-agency protocol, when the only reason Child, Youth and Family found out about the case was not through a formal notification, and when police were contacted by local media in Palmerston North they had no idea about anything to do with the allegations?
The member was clearly not listening to my initial answer. I have been advised by the officer in charge of the case that the police were informed of the situation by Child, Youth and Family on 3 August, which is the same day that the school board informed the ministry about the issue.
Lesley SoperWhat reports has the Minister received about the effect that this continued publicity around these sexual abuse allegations at Hato Pāora College is having?
I have received reports that the chairperson of the board of trustees has knowledge of students receiving hostile text messages about their personal safety following the publicity generated by Katherine Rich. I am sure the parents are very distressed about the potential impact on their sons’ education and on the reputation of their school.
Gerry BrownleeI raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I ask you to think about what the Minister has just said. That is a most outrageous allegation. I think you need to ask him to confine himself to answers that are within the bounds of the question that has been asked. He cannot possibly have even the slightest bit of evidence for the outrageous assertion he has just made.
Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker, I point out that I would not make such an allegation without carefully checking it. That is an allegation that the chairperson of the board of trustees has made to my ministry, and that allegation was made today.
If the Minister is 100 percent sure that the police found out about these allegations from the school at exactly the time that the school started its investigation, has he had it explained to him why the police only started their investigation some time after the board had completed its own internal investigation, and after they found out from the local media?
Clearly the member did not listen to the answer I gave earlier in the week. When she asked that very question, I explained to her and to this House that the investigation done by the board cleared the principal. Further evidence was taken to the police by one of the children who had complained. This was new evidence, and it was on that basis that the charges were laid. The police themselves have said that on the evidence presented to the board the inquiry was carried out correctly, and that it had to come to the conclusion that it did. New evidence was presented to the police subsequent to the investigation by the board.
Why does the Minister keep repeating misleading statements in the House regarding my interaction with the board, when my office was told by the chair of the board, when she phoned my office: “It’s great that Katherine is taking an interest, and we are glad that she is raising this issue publicly.”?
What an interesting question from the member. Exactly the opposite has been told to my staff by the chairperson of the board of trustees, who has condemned the member for her actions in publicising the issue, and who has told my office that students at the school are receiving text messages from their friends asking whether they are safe. She told us that she has personally told the member that she is putting enormous stress on the school just as National Certificate of Educational Achievement exams are about to begin. She told my office that she has personally told the member to desist from ruining the reputation of the school.
If his ministry is contacted tomorrow by a school that is dealing with serious allegations of sexual abuse, will his ministry advise the school to take those allegations to the police for investigation, as was suggested by the former Minister Steve Maharey when contacted about these allegations, when he told the paper that if schools became aware of allegations of criminal activity they would be obliged to alert the police; and why will his ministry not tell schools to do that?
Once again, the member is distorting the facts. The facts of the matter are that the board of trustees is obliged to notify Child, Youth and Family when such allegations are made. Under the inter-agency protocol that I will attempt to table in a moment, Child, Youth and Family is required to notify the police, and vice versa. So what the member is asking for is actually happening, and in this case it did happen.
If Steve Maharey knew what to do when the ministry was faced with serious sexual allegations against a school principal, why does the Minister not know what to do, and why does he not just tell his ministry that in the event that this happens again it should offer the common-sense advice, which is to take these allegations to the police so that they can be investigated properly?
Listeners and viewers of Parliament today must be mystified as to why the member cannot get it. The facts are that schools are obliged to notify Child, Youth and Family; Child, Youth and Family is obliged to notify the police. In this case it happened. So what is Ms Rich’s problem here? What is her question?