Aunt: Toddler’s birth and death taxpayer funded
NZ Herald 22 Feb 2012 A coronial inquest into the death of Hail-Sage McClutchie ended this morning with a heart-felt plea from her aunty for communities to protect not only vulnerable children but “vulnerable parents”…. Coroner Peter Ryan grilled Child, Youth and Family’s chief social worker Paul Nixon on its information sharing with other government [...]
Lesbian parents ‘betrayed’ by gay father demanding to see his son
Telegraph (UK) 6 Feb 2012 A two-year-old boy with “three parents” – his lesbian mother, her partner and a gay father – is at the centre of an Appeal Court test case on the status of “alternative” families. The mother says she made a pact with the father during a restaurant meeting before the boy [...]
Sex shop moving near school shocks locals
Bay of Plenty Times 20 Feb 2012 Residents in the Tauranga suburb of Greerton are upset they’ll soon be sharing their “family suburb” with an adult entertainment shop. A former police youth aid officer has hit back at the critics, who have condemned him for setting up Aristocrat Adult Boutique, on Chadwick Rd near Greerton [...]
Steady decline in NZ abortions
3 News 22 Feb 2012 The number of abortions in New Zealand has been steadily dropping since 2007, a new report says. The Abortion Supervisory Committee has presented its report to parliament and it shows there were 16,630 abortions in 2010, 17,550 in 2009, 17,940 in 2008 and a recent peak of 18,382 in 2007. [...]
Growing number of kids opt for sex changes
NZ Herald 21 Feb 2012 A small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting support from parents and from doctors who give them sex-changing treatments, according to reports in the medical journal Pediatrics. It’s an issue that raises ethical questions, and some experts [...]
Women at greater danger from pokies
The Age (Australia) 18 Feb 2012 THE number of women gambling is increasing and ease of access to poker machines is a key factor in producing problem gambling in women, new government funded research has found. The new report by the Responsible Gambling Advocacy Centre, Women and Gambling: Issues of Difference found women are likely [...]
Brothel scares and stresses neighbourhood
Christchurch Press 18 Feb 2012 A Christchurch brothel has angered nearby residents, who claim “audible noises of climax” can be heard from the business in the evening. The Capri Lounge, on Papanui Rd, Merivale, also faces legal proceedings from a rival bordello with a similar name. The Christchurch City Council is investigating the Capri Lounge, [...]
Restorative justice goes to schools
Dominion Post 18 Feb 2012 Detention could soon be a relic of the past, with schools increasingly dropping the punishment in favour of “restorative chats” and other rehabilitative measures. St Patrick’s College Silverstream is the latest Wellington high school to adopt the restorative justice principles, with a no-detention approach for even the worst troublemakers. The [...]
The folly of being slaves to the pokie lobby
Tim Costello CEO World Vision Australia Sydney Morning Herald 15 Feb 2012 Like slavery in the time of Wilberforce, there is no politician that likes pokies. Indeed, most politicians on both sides tell me they hate them. But in the next breath they say reform is too hard because we are dependent on pokies. They [...]
Loan sharks cruising poorest areas – report
Stuff.co.nz 16 Feb 2012 Low-income families’ struggles with debt are not due simply to bad decisions – they are often victims of an environment filled with exploitative lenders, a report says. The Families Commission report confirms that areas of high deprivation often have a high presence of alcohol shops, finance companies, fringe lenders, mobile truck [...]
