Children are dying needlessly here in NZ

Nevaeh Ager wasonly 2 years oldwhenshe died. I expect she would have been excitedly waiting for the arrival of her baby brother. But she never got to meet him.

Nevaehwas killed while her motherwas in hospital giving birth.

Her little body wasfound in the tidal flats of the Little Waihi estuary in Maketu¯ — killed byher father Aaron Izett, whowashigh in P.

Hewas convicted earlier this monthof her murder.

Her tragic death is the latest in a long line of incredibly sad and unacceptable child deaths innew Zealand.

Andit doesn’t seemto be a problemwe are overcoming.

Anindependentpolice Complaints Authority investigation found police mishandled a 111 call fromnevaeh’s great-grandmother, Niki Sturgess.

She wanted help gettingher great-grandchild out of the house in Maketu because shewasconcerned about Izett’s behaviour.

Shewastold policedid nothave the power to intervene because she and her husband did not have custody of Nevaeh.

Policedid not send anyone to do awelfare check at the house.

Nevaehwasfound dead the next day in the estuary, weighteddown with rocks.

Police say they let Nevaeh and her family down.

But her father also let her down. Hewasthe person she shouldhave been able to relyonforprotection, comfort, and nurturing.

Nevaeh’s death hassome sickening parallels with 6-year-old Coral Burrows, whoin 2003was beaten to death and hidden under a bush by her stepfather, Stephen Williams.

Hewas alsohigh onp at the time. Williams isnowserving a life sentence in prison.

Chris and Cru Kahui, Nia Glassie, JJ Ruhe-lawrence, Jyniah Te Awa, Mokorangitoheriri.

These aresome of thenamesof childrenwhoshould today be growing, living, thriving.

Instead, their lives were cut short by violence or neglect.

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death inchildren (1— 14 years) innewzealand; there are about 8.4 unintentional injuryrelateddeaths per 100,000 children (aged0to 14) annually, according to thenewzealand Medical Journal.

In 2016Nzmereportednew Zealand has the fifth-worst child abuse record out of 31OECD countries and on average a child is killedhere every fiveweeks. It’snow 2020 and what has changed?

It’s time for aroyalcommission of Inquiry. We need tightermore robust systems in place to identify vulnerable children and families.

Theissue is a complicated one— drugs, family violence, poverty are all factors. But it’s onewemust tackle. Lives of vulnerable, innocent children dependon it.