MSD error ‘inexcusable’
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) housed vulnerable families at two motels used to accommodate child sex offenders, despite making assurances it wouldn’t, a Stuff investigation has found.
When the botch-up was discovered, Corrections hired security to stand guard at the motels overnight to keep the families safe until alternative lodgings could be arranged.
MSD and Corrections have been under scrutiny since August when Stuff revealed that a breakdown in communication led to a notorious child sex offender, who was subject to a 10-year extended supervision order (ESO), being housed in a Palmerston North motel alongside 16 vulnerable families with 41 children.
The 66-year-old, who has interim name suppression, was taken into custody on July 26 amid fears he’d abused some of the children in the nearly three months he lived there.
A police investigation found no evidence of criminal offending. Corrections alleges he breached the conditions of his ESO by having unauthorised contact with some of the children.
In the wake of the incident – which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as a ‘‘huge oversight’’ – officials scrambled to ensure there were no other vulnerable families in harm’s way elsewhere in the country.
Corrections national deputy commissioner Andy Milne said that on July 30 the department gave MSD a list of motels it was using to house high-risk offenders.
‘‘We were advised that MSD had instructed their frontline staff, effective immediately, to cease using any motels used by Corrections,’’ Milne said.
However, on the evening of August 14, four days after Stuff revealed details of the Palmerston North incident, officials found vulnerable families living at two of the motels with child sex offenders.
‘‘We carried out visits to both motels and put in place contracted security guards to be present at both properties overnight until the situation was resolved,’’ Milne said.
In response to a question from Stuff about how the families came to be housed in the motels, MSD deputy chief executive Viv Rickard said: ‘‘It was a complex and timeconsuming task to match our client data with the initial list of motels provided by Corrections given the daily movement of our clients.’’
Rickard said updated information supplied by Corrections on August 14 alerted them to the ‘‘presence of the offenders at the two motels’’.
‘‘We took immediate action with Corrections to ensure the safety of our clients. The families did not raise any issues with us about [the child sex offenders] and there is no evidence any offences [were] committed.’’
Rickard said MSD had commissioned KPMG to carry out an independent review following the Palmerston North incident, which would be made public.
Recent changes meant ‘‘we have significantly reduced the risk of a case like this happening again’’.
Stuff’s ongoing investigation has also found that in the week ended July 27, MSD placed a vulnerable family into a motel where it was wrongly funding emergency accommodation for two child sex offenders.
The incident – which Rickard said was ‘‘unacceptable . . . and should not have happened’’ – came to light on August 2.
The case, coupled with the other incidents highlighted by Stuff, raises questions about how many vulnerable families have been housed alongside child sex offenders since the use of motels for emergency housing became common in 2016.
Rickard said there had been
no complaints of historic abuse and MSD would ‘‘not be reviewing past cases’’.
National’s social development spokeswoman Louise Upston said it was ‘‘absolutely inexcusable’’ that vulnerable families were housed in motels after Corrections had flagged they were used to accommodate sex offenders.
She said Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni had ‘‘not provided oversight’’ and needed to ask ‘‘serious questions’’ about how the situation was allowed to happen.
Sepuloni said as soon as she was made aware of the Palmerston North incident she called for a review into what had happened.
Stuff previously reported Corrections placed the sex offender into the Palmerston North motel on April 30. It had received assurances from the owner that there were no families staying there on an ‘‘ongoing basis’’, but it didn’t consult MSD.
However, Stuff revealed the sex offender spoke to an MSD case manager by phone on May 3, inquiring about a Housing NZ home, and mentioned he was staying at the motel. The case manager thought the placement was appropriate because Corrections was involved and didn’t advise anyone else at MSD.
From that date dozens of vulnerable children were placed at the motel until the sex offender was taken into custody.
Sepuloni said the revelation that a MSD case manager had an interaction with the sex offender in Palmerston North, but didn’t tell anyone, was concerning.
The sex offender denies breaching the conditions of his ESO. He appeared in Palmerston North District Court last week and was given name suppression until his next appearance on February 4.