Rally at Park
School students from the Porirua basin’s five colleges and the Teenage Parents School made their feelings known about child abuse at a rally last week.
More than 100 people turned out at Te Rauparaha Park in their lunchtime on February 27 to implore their peers and elders to speak out on the Government’s Green Paper for Vulnerable Children.
It was organised by the Cannons Creek Fanau Centre with the slogan ‘‘Break the cycle – not us’’, with representatives from the schools speaking.
While parents had a responsibility to look after children, providing a stable environment for them to grow, the onus was on the school-age generation to discuss it and decide priorities for the future, the student speakers said.
New government spending towards children, better access to services and legislation tying into the UN’S Human Rights Convention and Treaty of Waitangi were promoted.
The old adage about it taking a village to raise a child had plenty of heads nodding.
Rally organiser Liz Kelly says it was ‘‘amazing’’ to hear young people speak and was confident the points would come across in any considerations for the Green Paper.
More than 1000 green balloons were released over the park following a minute’s silence held to remember those hurt or killed by child abuse every year in New Zealand. Submissions on the Green Paper closed last week.