Recent News

Outrageous ads not so outrageous
The Wellingtonian 2 July 09
An advertising campaign targeted at central Wellington has outraged some, and left others simply speechless. The campaign features billboards and buses promoting TV3's drama/comedy Outrageous Fortune. The advertisements are emblazoned with suggestive, partially-worded slogans. Bob McCoskrie, national director of family advocacy group Family First, said the billboards were offensive and "leave little to the imagination". He said that while the advertisements were not "in your face" offensive, they made it difficult for parents to explain to young children.

TV3 spokesperson Kerry Stubbing said the advertisements were "obviously meant to be in keeping with the risque language and themes used within the show", but were designed to minimise offence. "We were very conscious of making sure we brought these themes across without offending the public," said Stubbing.

...McCoskrie said the words did not need to be specifically spelt out to imply an offence. However, he would not be taking the matter further, because he felt the standards authority was "useless" and "it seems a waste of time to complain". Advertising law expert Dr Selene Mize, of Otago University, said that if there was a complaint, legal issues could arise, depending on where the billboards were located. For example, they could be in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority if they were near a school or kindergarten.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/communities/the-wellingtonian/2555827/Outrageous-ads-not-so-outrageous

Bill to ban liquor ads on radio and TV defeated
TV3 News 02 Jul 09
A bill that would have banned liquor advertising on radio and television was defeated by a conscience vote of 80 to 36 in Parliament tonight. The Green Party bill proposed a total ban, with exceptions covering broadcasts from outside New Zealand or those that might appear in films. MP Metiria Turei said liquor advertising associated it with desirable lifestyle. "It is New Zealand's most widely used psycho-active recreational drug," she said. Ms Turei said the social cost was between $1 billion and $4b a year and it cost the health sector $655 million a year.

Broadcasting Minister Dr Coleman said liquor advertising was already restricted to between 8.30pm and 6am. He said he did not believe the bill would achieve its objective and would seriously affect broadcasters by removing advertising revenue. Dr Coleman said that during the last four years, alcohol advertising on television reduced from $24 million a year to $15.8m, and across all media it went down from $40m to $36m. "This bill ignores the fact that New Zealand is in a global media market," he said. "It's bad for New Zealand companies, bad for advertisers and bad for broadcasters."
http://www.3news.co.nz/News/NationalNews/Bill-to-ban-liquor-ads-on-radio-and-TV-defeated/tabid/423/articleID/110909/cat/64/Default.aspx

Australian family dinners end in arguments
Herald Sun (Aust) July 02, 2009
FOR years families have been told not to eat dinner in front of the television but a survey of mothers shows it may be the least volatile mealtime option. The survey of 16,579 Australian mums found dinnertime for more than 40 per cent of families descends into arguments and acrimony. Asked what they normally did during dinner, 26.22 per cent said they discussed the day's events or talked about topical issues, while 15.59 per cent quietly watched TV.  Almost eight per cent (7.74 per cent) said they told stories, the latest Voice of Aussie Mums survey conducted for Nestle found. However, for 40.45 per cent of families, dinner is an unpleasant experience, with the meal usually ending in an argument.

Despite the friction reported, former netball champion and Nestle spokeswoman Liz Ellis encouraged families to make an effort and try to eat together at the dinner table. More than 76 per cent of mums said sit-down meals strengthened their family's communication, while 47.28 per cent believed it helped foster family traditions.

A total of 61.84 per cent said they usually ate dinner at the dining room table, 17.85 per cent in front of the TV, and 15.41 per cent at the kitchen bench or table. A small percentage, 4.9 per cent, eat on a sofa, reading the news or in other informal ways. But when asked where their kids usually had dinner, the numbers eating at the dinner table dropped dramatically.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25721450-662,00.html

Greens' medicinal cannabis bill voted down
Otago Daily Times 1 Jul 2009
The Green Party's three-year campaign to allow cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes came to grief in Parliament tonight. Their bill failed on its first reading, voted down 86-34 on a conscience vote. Its promoter, Metiria Turei, pleaded with MPs to let it through so it could go to the health select committee which could hear evidence of how cannabis eased the suffering of seriously ill people. "Many people already use it and they live in real fear of the law," she said. "Sick and vulnerable New Zealanders are being jailed ... let MPs hear their stories, let these people have their say."

Under the bill, seriously ill people would be able to apply for a cannabis card, issued on a doctor's authority and registered with the police, which would allow them to grow small amounts of it. Ms Turei said they didn't have to smoke it, they could use it in other ways to help relieve their pain such as making tea with it or using it as oil to rub into their limbs.

National MP Jonathan Coleman, a doctor, said it would bring cannabis into mainstream society. "You can't make out it is a good thing, we need less drugs in society," he said. "We would be sending a signal that it's okay." He said doctors would be swamped with demands for cannabis cards from people insisting they were seriously ill and needed it for pain relief. Dr Coleman, and other MPs, said there were prescription drugs available which used THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/63678/greens039-medicinal-cannabis-bill-voted-down

Child abuse reports increase
The Press 01/07/2009
Reports of child abuse and findings of emotional abuse and neglect have more than doubled in Christchurch over the past five years. Experts say the numbers will continue to rise as communities become more aware of child abuse. There are also fears that cases of neglect and emotional harm will escalate during the recession.

Child, Youth and Family (CYF) figures show the number of children found to be emotionally abused in Christchurch rose from 128 in 2004 to 421 last year an increase of more than 300 per cent. The numbers suffering neglect more than doubled from 211 in 2004 to 454 last year, while the number of children found to be suffering sexual abuse dropped dramatically from 93 to 37. The number of children being physically abused was at its highest in 2008 at 150 cases, compared with 129 five years ago. CYF southern regional director John Henderson said the rise in notifications was due to an increased awareness of child abuse in the community.

Five years ago, 90 per cent of all notifications to CYF required further action. This dropped to 37 per cent last year. Henderson said many of the cases with "no further action" were in fact referred to community groups or other agencies.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2553911/Child-abuse-reports-increase

Smacking lobby offer rejected
The Press 01 July 2009
The Government has rejected a conditional offer from the promoters of the smacking referendum that would have enabled the unpopular ballot to be called off. Kiwi Party leader Larry Baldock wrote to Prime Minister John Key offering to call off the $9 million referendum, which asks: "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

Referendum instigator Sheryl Savill is the only person who can call off the referendum, and it must be done by Friday, before Governor-General Anand Satyanand gives assent for the ballot. Baldock said Savill would do so, but only if the law was amended to again allow reasonable force for the purposes of correction. Key said he would not agree to such a deal, and even if he did he could not guarantee Parliament would back it. "If it wasn't whipped [a party vote], I can't be sure that all National members would vote for a law change," he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2553967/Smacking-lobby-offer-rejected

Kids lose if child abuse team goes, say agencies
NZ Herald Jul 01, 2009
Child advocates say children's lives will be at risk because of a Government decision to close down a specialist team promoting public awareness of what to do about child abuse. Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS) said yesterday that the team of 18 community social workers would be dismantled as part of cuts axing up to 200 jobs in the wider Ministry of Social Development. The staff work with schools, preschools, health services and other agencies dealing with children, CYFS head Ray Smith said the team's public education role would move to "every one of our 3000 staff". The agency's call centre would check frequently with important services partners, such as schools, to ensure they were receiving all the support they need".

But Liz Kinley of the national child abuse prevention network Jigsaw and a former CYFS social worker, said other CYFS staff struggled with urgent caseloads and would not have time for public education.

Mr Doolan, now an academic at Canterbury University, said the teams had gradually dwindled to the present staff of 18 and he supported the decision to hand the work back to frontline social workers. "Now that the protocols have had 10 or 15 years to bed in, we're no longer talking about something that's new, we're talking about the maintenance of those protocols," he said. "I think every social worker has that responsibility and every social worker should be talking with their communities."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10581755

Smacking poll in hands of mother
The Dominion Post 30 June 2009   
The dark-haired, bespectacled woman talking forcefully across an outdoor table laden with scones, cake and drinks on Family First's pro-smacking website does not have a bionic arm and cannot run faster than a speeding car. But Sheryl Savill is New Zealand's $6 million woman. The mother of two and policeman's wife will have the final say this week on whether another $6m is spent on a referendum that Prime Minister John Key says the Government will ignore. That is because the petition calling for a referendum on the anti-smacking law was submitted in her name.

A spokeswoman for the chief electoral officer said yesterday that $700,000 had already been spent preparing for the August referendum and a public information campaign costing $2.2m had also begun. If the referendum goes ahead it will cost another $6m. However, if Ms Savill withdraws her petition before the governor-general issues the writ, the last day for which is Friday, the referendum can be cancelled. Family First director Bob McCoskrie and petition organiser Larry Baldock say that will not happen unless the Government agrees to decriminalise smacking. "The consequences of this law remaining in New Zealand are far too serious and will cost the country far more than the cost of the referendum," Mr Baldock said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/2550600/Smacking-poll-in-hands-of-mother

Woman behind smacking referendum 'concerned' mum
Otago Daily Times 30 June 2009
The one woman with the power to halt the $9 million "anti-smacking" referendum is a "concerned" South Auckland married mother of two.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/63271/woman-behind-smacking-referendum-039concerned039-mum

Poll says $8.9m smacking referendum 'a waste of money'
NZ Herald Jun 28, 2009
Three out of four New Zealanders believe the upcoming "anti-smacking" referendum is a waste of money, a survey has found. The Research New Zealand poll of 481 people found 77 per cent didn't support spending money on the non-binding referendum which will cost $8.9m. Eighteen per cent felt it was a good use of taxpayer dollars, while five per cent were unsure.

Of all the demographic differences in the poll, the only significant difference was between the sexes. Eighty per cent of female respondents believed the referendum was a waste of money, compared with 70 per cent of male respondents.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10581221

Schools hiring debt collectors
The Dominion Post 29 June 2009
Cash-Strapped schools are flouting Education Ministry advice and turning to debt collectors to chase "voluntary" fees from parents. Principals say the tactic shows that schools are under-funded and want the Government to stop "playing games". The Dominion Post has obtained documents under the Official Information Act that reveal cases brought to the attention of the education minister, including a school which published a list of parents' names who had paid the donation. Education Minister Anne Tolley has promised to take a tough approach to schools not following the rules. "I am concerned when I am informed of unacceptable financial practices occurring in our schools. I am not prepared to condone such practices and will instruct ministry officials to address these with schools concerned when they are brought to my attention."

Baycorp general manager Joe Nel said the agency had about 300 private and state schools on its books, slightly up on last year, with an average debt of $650 for things such as school trips, uniforms and stationery.A number of schools had also asked the agency to collect the donation. "They can be quite sneaky and lump it in with other debt and hope we don't notice." By law, every New Zealand child has the right to a free education from age five to 19. But state schools say they cannot survive on government funding and ask parents for an annual donation on top of compulsory fees for everything from art and cooking supplies, homework books, school camps, sports gear and photocopying.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/2547502/Schools-hiring-debt-collectors

Young women shun Gardasil
NZ Herald Jun 28, 2009
Less than a third of New Zealand schoolgirls have received the controversial cervical cancer vaccine, as health concerns persist around the $177 million programme. The Labour Government launched the Gardasil programme in September last year, with the aim of immunising 300,000 Kiwi schoolgirls over the next two years. Latest figures show 26 per cent of 12 to 16-year-olds and 35 per cent of 17 and 18-year-olds have received the first of three Gardasil doses.

One advocate conceded the numbers are "very low". The introduction of Gardasil has not been without controversy. Some accused the Ministry of Health of rushing an expensive vaccine programme of which the effectiveness had not been proven. Concerns from religious groups have centred on the fact the vaccine protects against a virus that is sexually transmitted. The vaccine is most effective if administered before sexual activity begins, which is why girls as young as 12 are the focus. Some parents fear this will encourage sexual promiscuity. Christy Parker, policy analyst for Women's Health Action, said the trust was concerned that Gardasil had been marketed as "the cervical cancer vaccine" when it doesn't protect against all forms of cervical cancer, and fears it may undermine the importance of three-yearly cervical smears.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10581178

Family in strife after kids left alone in park
Sunday Star Times 28 June 2009
A Christchurch dad who let his nine-year-old son and four-year-old daughter play at a school park unsupervised is furious the government's child welfare agency is now investigating his family. The case highlights the dilemma parents face in striking a balance between protecting their children and risk them becoming bubble-wrapped kids and giving them a taste of the freedom and independence parents themselves enjoyed as youngsters.

Christchurch dad George Kenton, who has raised four other children, believes it is important children are given early opportunities to take on responsibility and says he allowed his young son to take his younger sister to a nearby park only after he had proven himself capable of the task. He was stunned and angry when his wife received a visit from Child, Youth and Family (CYF) social workers who were concerned about the children's safety and wellbeing when it was discovered they were playing alone at the Elmwood School park for up to an hour or two.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2546657/Family-in-strife-after-kids-left-alone-in-park

Parents took 'risk' letting kids play alone
The Press 29 June 2009
Christchurch parents who allowed their nine and four-year-old children to play in a park alone were "taking a risk", the Children's Commissioner says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2547706/Parents-took-risk-letting-kids-play-alone

Court ban over 8-year-old 'stripper'
Sunday News 28/06/2009
A judge has banned a stripper associating with the daughter of her new boyfriend after a complaint the eight-year-old danced nude at her grandparent's Christmas celebrations. But a senior National Party figure has backed the erotic dancer in a family court battle between the girl's parents over custody. The professional stripper who cannot be identified for legal reasons formed a relationship with the father of the eight-year-old last year. The businessman had an informal custody arrangement with the girl's mother, a primary school teacher, which allowed him to see his daughter every second weekend.

But the girl's mother told Sunday News she approached Child Youth and Family after the eight-year-old began exhibiting "bizarre overt sexual behaviour". The matter went to the Family Court, which in March issued an interim parenting order banning the businessman's girlfriend from seeing the girl. The order permitted the father to see his daughter only "on the condition that [the child] is not to be in the company of [the stripper] until further order of the Court". In her affidavit to the family court, the girl's mother said of the eight-year-old's actions at the Christmas party: "She started strip dancing in front of the family.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2546864/Court-ban-over-8-year-old-stripper

Kiwi woman to carry mother's baby
Herald on Sunday Jun 28, 2009
A New Zealand woman will carry and give birth to her own sibling, after being given approval to act as a surrogate for her mother. It was believed to be the first approval by the Ethics Committee for Assisted Reproductive Technology (Ecart) of an application from a daughter to carry her mother's child, although there had been approvals for women to carry their own grandchild, The Sunday Star Times reported today. The surrogate was one of four siblings and had two children of her own.

Fertility New Zealand chief executive Michelle Collyer praised the woman's decision to be a surrogate for her mother, calling her an "admirable daughter". She said the case highlighted the growing problem of "social infertility", assuming the older woman had waited until too long in life to have another baby, possibly with another partner.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10581205

Family back rugby dad who pushed 7-year-old 
NZ Herald Jun 25, 2009
The family of the man convicted of common assault after pushing his 7-year-old son over on a rugby field say the charge was "sheer stupidity". Glenn *******'s fiancee and mother, who are standing by him, toldthe Herald the police charged him based on the complaint of a passerby who saw "one minute of something that went on for 30 minutes".

They said G***** pleaded guilty to the common assault charge only because he could not afford to hire a lawyer to defend it, which they were told could cost thousands. As he and his fiancee both work, they did not qualify for legal aid. Having just bought a home in suburban Lower Hutt, they could not afford the fees.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10580607

Children eager to have say on custody: study
The Age (Australia) June 23, 2009
THEY are the innocent onlookers caught up in their parents' bitter conflict. But research suggests children of separating couples usually want to have some say in post-marital arrangements — they just don't want to be forced to choose between their parents. The extent to which children are involved in making decisions about where they live and how much time they spend with each parent depends to some extent on how much their parents allow it.

But an Australian study suggests that although most children want to be part of the discussion, they concede that it puts them in a "difficult position". They were unwilling or unable to choose between their parents because they were concerned about the consequences of choosing, particularly about being unfair or upsetting one of their parents. Only in cases involving allegations of violence or abuse did children have strong views about choosing between parents. Most parents thought it was reasonable for their children to have a say, but about half thought children were possible victims of manipulation by the other parent or, less commonly, "potential manipulators". Co-author Patrick Parkinson, professor of family law at Sydney University, said it was important to listen to children's voices and understand how they were experiencing the separation. But the ultimate decision should rest with the judge or parents, not the child, he said. The study, published this week in the journal Family Matters, is based on interviews with 90 parents and 47 children and teenagers.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/children-eager-to-have-say-on-custody-study-20090622-ctzp.html

Referendum question 'weird' - Key
Otago Daily Times 22 Jun 2009
Prime Minister John Key has called a referendum on so-called anti-smacking legislation ridiculous as his government looks at ways of tightening up wording of questions in future. Proponents of the upcoming referendum, which asks "should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" today launched a campaign to promote a "no" vote. They want the 2007 law sponsored by Green MP Sue Bradford, which removed the defence of reasonable force in child abuse cases, to be repealed.

Mr Key was scathing today about the $9 million referendum. People who support the status quo might vote no, thinking that was what the question was reflecting, he indicated. Mr Key believes the current law is working and good parents are not being prosecuted for smacking. At his post-Cabinet press conference Mr Key described the referendum question as weird and the situation, where the meaning of answers was unclear, as ridiculous. "You've got a referendum question that could have been written by Dr Zeuss. I mean this isn't green eggs and ham, this is yes means no and no means yes." Mr Key said the point of a referendum was to send a message to government but no one would be any wiser based on the result of this one.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/62191/referendum-question-039weird039-key

Father upset by explicit in-store music 
Otago Daily Times 23 Jun 2009
Farmers department stores are reviewing their music policy after a Dunedin man complained about a song featuring sexually explicit lyrics which he heard while shopping with his 10-year-old daughter. Stuart Johnson (44) was in the toys section of Farmers' George St branch when he heard a song with the repeated lyric "You wanna get in my pants - I don't think so" play over the speaker system. "I wasn't surprised to hear these sort of lyrics, but I was disappointed," said Dr Johnson, a bible teacher and historian.

The father of three daughters said he usually paid no attention to store music, but the volume and lyrical content of the song I Don't Think So, by American singer Kelis, made it difficult to ignore. Dr Johnson said he was unsure if his daughter heard the lyrics but, worried over the increasing sexualisation of children, decided to write to Farmers to express his concerns. Farmers' marketing director Dean Cook said a song with sexually explicit lyrics was "not acceptable" and the music policy would be reviewed. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/62241/father-upset-explicit-store-music

Father pushed 7-year-old over
The Dominion Post 23 June 2009
A case cited by the pro-smacking lobby as it launches its referendum campaign involves a father who repeatedly pushed his seven-year-old son to the ground because he refused to play in a rugby game. Disputing that the so-called "anti-smacking" law is working, Family First director Bob McCoskrie said it had sent the Government "evidence of six prosecutions of good parents for smacks an open hand smack on the leg, on the arm, on the bottom". "I think the evidence is there. We've sent evidence of families being referred to Child Youth and Family and children being removed while investigations are taking place just for smacks. "In fact, there's a case today in Lower Hutt District Court of a father trying to get his son on to the rugby field and giving him a few shoves and he's being prosecuted for common assault."

Glenn Groves, 44, of Wellington, pleaded guilty to assault in Lower Hutt District Court yesterday but will undergo an anger management course in a bid to get discharged without conviction. In May he and his young son were at a rugby game at Lower Hutt's Fraser Park, but when the boy refused to play because he was missing part of his uniform, Groves became "extremely agitated" at his attitude, court documents show. Groves laid a hand on his back to redirect him, but as the boy resisted he fell. He stood up three times and was pushed by his father, falling to the ground each time. After a bystander complained to police, Groves admitted pushing his son. He told police he was "tired and determined that his son would not let the team down".

Mr McCoskrie said the charges laid against Groves and several other parents for lightly smacking their children proved police were taking far too heavy an approach. "I'm amazed they would take a family through the court process which is a traumatic experience when they could have worked with them. If they are happy to accept a discharge without conviction, then why lay charges in the first place?"
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2524902/Father-pushed-7-year-old-over

Rankin's smacking views pass PM's test  
NZ Herald Jun 23, 2009
Prime Minister John Key has stopped short of criticising Christine Rankin for her renewed criticism of the anti-smacking law - but he has made it clear he will not tolerate any "active campaigning" by the families commissioner before the referendum on the law. In an interview published in Investigate magazine, Ms Rankin attacked the anti-smacking law, saying it had traumatised families. She said it was a parent's right to smack as a form of discipline.

Mr Key has forbidden Ms Rankin to campaign on the anti-smacking law referendum. She has always opposed the measure, and a trust she heads is campaigning against it. Neither Mr Key nor Social Development Minister Paula Bennett was told of the interview, but yesterday the PM said he did not believe Ms Rankin had contravened his edict. "I don't think it's particularly provocative. I made it clear I wouldn't want to see her campaigning on the 'no' vote, and I think she's honoured that, so I'm pretty relaxed about it."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10580115

Smacking referendum campaign kicks off
Stuff.co.nz 22 June 2009
Opponents of the so-called "anti-smacking" law say the Government would ignore a non-binding referendum on the legislation at its peril. Proponents of the upcoming referendum, which asks "should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand" today launched a campaign to promote a "no" vote. They want the 2007 law sponsored by Green MP Sue Bradford, which removed the defence of reasonable force in child abuse cases, to be repealed. The referendum has been labelled as a $9 million waste of time as Prime Minister John Key and Labour leader Phil Goff both say their parties won't change the current law, and that there is little evidence it was not working. But campaigners for a "no" vote, who included Family First director Bob McCoskrie, Family and Child Trust advocate Bev Adair and referendum sponsor Sheryl Savill, said a strong vote in their favour would send a powerful signal to the Government.

"I think when 300,000-plus people sign a petition and a huge proportion of the country wants a law change, I think politicians don't listen to that at their peril," Mr McCoskrie said. He disputed Mr Key's claim that the bill was working. At the end of last week we sent through evidence of six prosecutions of good parents who had been prosecuted through the courts for smacks - an open hand smack on the leg, on the arm, on the bottom. I think the evidence is there. We've sent evidence of families being referred to Child Youth and Family and children being removed while investigations are taking place just for smacks. In fact, there's a case today in the Lower Hutt District Court of a father trying to get his son on to the rugby field and giving him a few shoves and he's being prosecuted for common assault."

Mr McCoskrie agreed the referendum was a waste of money, but not for the reasons put forward by most critics. Proponents of the referendum would prefer to see the member's bill of ACT MP John Boscawen adopted, which Mr McCoskrie said made clear exactly what was unacceptable while still allowing light smacking. "If the Government adopted that, Sheryl would withdraw the referendum today and we would save the country $9m," Mr McCoskrie said. "They could fix it today and avoid the need for this referendum."

....But criticism of the wording as confusing "is just an insult to 300,000 people plus who knew quite well what they were signing, and who are simply saying the anti-smacking law is misdirected", Mr McCoskrie said. He reaffirmed his view that the law was targeting good parents rather than child abuse. "A smack can become child abuse just as 'time out' can become neglect, the same as withdrawal of privileges can become bribery, the same as a telling off can become degrading and shameful verbal abuse. "It's not the technique that's the problem, it's the person, it's the parent and we need to target rotten parents." Among those campaigning for a "no" vote are radio and television personality Simon Barnett and former What Now presenter Anthony Samuels.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2524159/Smacking-referendum-campaign-kicks-off

Surge in violence during recession
The Press 22 June 2009
 Christchurch women's refuges have seen a huge jump in women asking for help as the recession bites and are also concerned that more children are abusing their parents. Battered Women's Trust manager Lois Herbert said there had been an "extraordinary increase" in the number of community clients women they help who continue to live in the community, rather than going into a safe house. "There's been a 60 per cent increase in a couple of years that's huge," she said. In the year to June, the trust had 360 long-term community clients compared with about 200 in the year to June 2007. Herbert said she believed the jump was due to the the combination of the It's Not OK campaign and the recession.

"With the economic circumstances, maybe people have lost their jobs. There's often a feeling of being insecure financially. There's a lot of stress out there. "We hear about people who lose their jobs and turn to alcohol and drugs." The increasing demand on the trust's services had forced it to open a new community office and double the number of community advocates, while calls to the crisis line had also increased dramatically. Herbert said the trust had also noticed more parents being abused by their children. "The number is not large, but it's definitely increasing. With teenagers, it's both boys and girls, and there are also cases of children who are even younger.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2521715/Surge-in-violence-during-recession

Eat-your-greens fight a lost cause
Herald Sun (Australia) June 17, 2009
CHILDREN really do hate their vegies and parents are apparently hopeless at doing anything about it. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's snapshot of Australian children released today shows the level of disdain children have for their greens. The report, A Picture of Australian Children 2009, citing a 2007 nutrition survey, says: "Only a very small proportion of children met the recommendations for daily serves of vegetables (excluding potatoes) - 3 per cent of 4- to 8-year-olds and 2 per cent of 9- to 13-year-olds.

"Even with the inclusion of potatoes, the proportions remained low (22 per cent and 14per cent respectively). National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines recommend one serve of fruit and two serves of vegetables a day for children aged four to seven, one serve of fruit and three serves of vegetables for those eight to 11, and three serves of fruit and four serves of vegetables for ages 12 to 18. A serve is about half a cup. The report's author, Deanna Eldridge from the AIHW's Children Youth and Families unit, said vegetable consumption was a key concern related to children's health and wellbeing.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25647220-662,00.html

Liquor advertising bill defeated in parliament
TVNZ News 18 June 09
A bill that would have restricted liquor advertising on television to between 10pm and midnight was defeated by 62 votes to 58 in Parliament on Wednesday night. Under current law it is allowed between 8.30pm and midnight. The member's bill that sought to change it was drafted by former Progressive Party MP Matt Robson in 2005 and went through select committee scrutiny before it reached its second reading stage on Wednesday night. It was passed on to Labour when Robson lost his seat and became the responsibility of Christchurch Central MP Brendon Burns. Burns opened the second reading debate with an appeal for support.

"This bill would actively reduce the overall exposure of children and people under 18 to liquor advertising and promotion by changing the watershed when adverts can be first screened from 8.30pm to 10pm," he said. "It confronts what can be done immediately to reduce the harm of alcohol advertising."

..On Wednesday night all MPs had conscience votes but National's opposition to the bill had not changed. Labour suspected a caucus decision had been taken that bound them all to oppose the bill, but National MPs insisted they had made up their own minds about it. The Greens and the Maori Party supported the bill. United Future opposed it and ACT split its votes
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/liquor-advertising-bill-defeated-in-parliament-2788479

Key dragged into centre of smacking debate
TV3 News 18 Jun 2009
Prime Minister John Key has been dragged into the centre of the resurgent smacking debate. As the controversy around the citizens-initiated referendum mounted, one of the organisations backing it last night called for a meeting with Mr Key and said it could produce evidence that parents were being needlessly prosecuted under the 2007 law change.

...In Parliament yesterday Mr Key said he saw no need to change the law. "In my view the current law is working. I've given New Zealand parents a commitment that if the law didn't work I would change it. I stand by that commitment but I've seen no evidence to date that the law is not working," he said. Family First, a strong opponent of the law, said it had the evidence. "We have a number of cases that have been made available to us of parents being prosecuted under the new law," said Family First national director Bob McCoskrie. "These have been independently examined by a senior police officer who believes that they show the law is not working." Mr McCoskrie said he was writing to Mr Key asking for a meeting so he could deliver his evidence.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-dragged-into-centre-of-smacking-debate/tabid/209/articleID/109015/cat/525/Default.aspx

Garth George: Referendum no answer to parental worry
NZ Herald Jun 18, 2009
I received in the letterbox this week official notification of the citizens initiated referendum to be held at the beginning of August and marvelled again at the absolute futility of the whole business. This referendum will cost the country something like $9 million, will tell us nothing we don't already know and, being non-binding on the Government, will end up in a pigeonhole somewhere in Wellington. And such is their contempt for the referendum that Prime Minister John Key and Labour leader Phil Goff won't even vote in it.

The stupidity surrounding the whole business is of even more concern. If the law is an ass, then Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, as amended by Parliament a couple of years ago, is a whole herd of them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10579099&pnum=0

Big two coy on smacking vote 
NZ Herald Jun 17, 2009 By Audrey Young
A national referendum is re-igniting debate on the anti-smacking law two years on, but confusion surrounds the position the two main political parties will take. Prime Minister John Key helped to negotiate the law and says it is working. But he says it would be very difficult to interpret anything from the referendum - which he expects to have a low return - even if there were a large No vote. Labour leader Phil Goff, whose party staunchly supported the law under Helen Clark's leadership, says the law is working. But he says he will probably abstain because the question in the referendum is confusing.

..The referendum was approved after Sheryl Savill, who worked for the Christian group Focus on the Family, got the required 390,000 signatures last year. Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said Mr Key was undermining the process by suggesting that while he would listen to the public, any law change would be subject to what he thought. Mr McCoskrie also criticised Mr Key for saying he expected Families Commissioner Christine Rankin - who opposes the law - would not campaign on the issue.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10578914

Leaders won't vote in smacking poll
Dominion Post 16 June 2009
Neither Prime Minister John Key nor Labour leader Phil Goff will vote in the smacking referendum, they said today. Mr Key said he was 'unlikely' to vote because it was an opportunity for the public to speak to politicians. 'On the basis that I'm one of the politicians they're speaking to I never really thought it made a lot of sense to vote.' Other people should participate in the referendum, he said.

 Labour leader Phil Goff said he would not vote in the referendum because the question was badly worded. It was 'absolutely' the wrong question, he said today. 'The question implies that if you vote 'yes' that you're in favour of criminal sanctions being taken against reasonable parents - actually nobody believes that.' The so-called anti-smacking law was working at it was intended to, he told reporters.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/politics/2505721/Leaders-won-t-vote-in-smacking-poll

MPs slate smacking poll words
The Dominion Post 17 June 2009
A $9-million referendum on smacking is descending into farce, with MPs from across Parliament claiming the wording will not deliver a clear verdict on the law. Prime Minister John Key has indicated the Government could review the rules for referendums after growing criticism of the question in the postal ballot, to be held from July 31 to August 21. The referendum asks: "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" Critics say the question is loaded, implying that people who do not smack are not good parents and that smacking will end up in prosecution. Police have prosecuted only a handful of cases since the defence of reasonable force for smacking was removed in 2007.

Mr Key said the wording was ambiguous and it would "make sense" to look at whether stricter rules for referendums were needed. Labour leader Phil Goff said he would not vote in the ballot because the question did not make sense. "The question implies that if you vote `yes' that you're in favour of criminal sanctions being taken against reasonable parents actually nobody believes that." UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne said the wording was "bewildering". Green MP Sue Bradford, who sponsored the bill that changed the law, said: "It's confused and confusing. We're wasting $9m of taxpayers'

..Family First director Bob McCoskrie, who organised the petition that raised the necessary 10 per cent of voters needed to force the smacking referendum, defended the wording. "The law is that if a good parent raising great kids uses a smack on the bum, that is a criminal activity and they're subject to possible investigation and possibly prosecution. That's a dumb law and people will be voting no." Opponents had been given a chance to challenge the wording but had not bothered because they believed the petition would not get enough support to force a poll, he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2506398/MPs-slate-smacking-poll-words

AUDIO - National Radio Checkpoint 16 June 09 http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/ckpt/2009/06/16/wording_of_smacking_referendum_under_fire

Vote unlikely to bring law change
The Press 16 June 2009
The Government is unlikely to change the child-discipline law regardless of the result of the $9 million referendum, Prime Minister John Key says. The Chief Electoral Office yesterday began the citizens-initiated referendum on Green Party MP Sue Bradford's child-discipline law, which removed the defence of "reasonable force" for parents or guardians who hit their children. The referendum was forced last year when organisers collected more than 300,000 signatures on the question, "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" The referendum will be held by postal ballot from July 31 to August 21. Chief Electoral Officer Robert Peden said the campaign and voting process would cost $8.9m.

Both sides of the debate are lining up for a rehash of arguments expressed when the law was passed two years ago. Child advocates have begun the call for a "yes" vote on the referendum, saying the new law is working as intended and parents are not being criminalised for smacking their children. Family First national director Bob McCoskrie, who helped organise the petition, said the law was "confusing" and the confusion was "causing huge harm".
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2503061/Vote-unlikely-to-bring-law-change

Campaign begins for referendum on child discipline
National Radio 15 June 2009
The Electoral Enrollment Centre begins a campaign on Monday to remind voters to check they are enrolled for a referendum on child discipline. The referendum in July, which is not binding on the Government, has been initiated by opponents of a law passed by Parliament in 2007. The law removed the defence of reasonable force for anyone accused of assaulting a child. Voters will be asked whether a smack as part of good parental correction should be a criminal offence in New Zealand.

Larry Baldock organised the petition which triggered the referendum and says he hopes to see the law changed again to allow the defence of reasonable force. But a spokesperson for the Yes Vote Coalition, Deborah Morris-Travers, says her group has launched a campaign to protect the law as it stands. Ms Morris-Travers says the law is working and provides increased protection for children.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/06/15/1245b5f9ae1a
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/mnr/2009/06/15/new_smacking_referendum_galvanises_campaigners

'Shambolic' B4 School scheme faces axe
Otago Daily Times 15 Jun 2009
Health Minister Tony Ryall is questioning the future of the B4 School Check programme, saying its delivery has been patchy and its implementation almost "shambolic". By early May, only about 5500 (11%) of eligible children had received checks which were supposed to identify health, behavioural, social and developmental issues in 4-year-olds which might affect their ability to learn, Mr Ryall said. About 17% of those checked were referred for services or further assessment.

In a blunt letter to all district health board chairmen, which will be tabled at the Otago and Southland community and public health advisory committee meeting tomorrow, Mr Ryall says he will make a decision on the future of the programme after evaluating its delivery to the end of this year. "It is clear that the implementation of this programme across the country was rushed - to the point were it could almost be described as shambolic."
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/61136/039shambolic039-b4-school-scheme-faces-axe

Nine-year-olds to learn about sex
The Press 15 June 2009
Nine-year-old children are being targeted for more detailed sex education in schools. In Christchurch today, Family Planning is launching a new resource for teachers of late-primary and intermediate-age children. The launch has upset the conservative lobby group Family First, which is urging Family Planning to "butt out" and leave sex education to parents. The resource, called The Sexuality Road, is aimed at younger children because research shows that they are now entering puberty earlier. "Young people have a right to understand what is happening to their bodies and their emotions," Family Planning director of health promotion Frances Bird said. "Sexuality education that works starts early, before young people reach puberty, and before they have developed established patterns of behaviour." The Sexuality Road provides teachers with a programme of 10 lessons and evaluations per year. Each year comes with lesson plans, activity worksheets, and resources. Year 5 and 6 (nine and 10-year-old) pupils look at pubertal change, friendships, gender, families, menstruation, fertility, conception and personal support. Year 7 and 8 pupils focus more on changing feelings and emotions and their effects on relationships, sexual attraction, decision-making around sexual attraction, conception and birth, contraception and support agencies.

..Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said children should be taught sex education by their parents when they were ready. "The simple message to Family Planning is `butt out and leave it to parents'," McCoskrie said. "Parents know their kids the best. They know their emotional and moral development best and have their own values. Family Planning should not be interacting with kids of that age." McCoskrie said schools had become "one-stop shops" for dealing with social problems in the community. Some parents felt overawed by "the sex talk" with their children, so resources should be put in to helping them better understand what was required, McCoskrie said. "It needs to be values-based and we think parents are the ones who determine the values."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2499996/Nine-year-olds-to-learn-about-sex

Some schools wary of sex education for young The Press 16 June 09 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2503038/Some-schools-wary-of-sex-education-for-young

Wooden spoon for kids' baking treat
Herald on Sunday Jun 14, 2009
It is a highlight of childhood - clamouring around the kitchen to lick the spoon or mixing bowl while baking. But the agency charged with protecting the safety of food in New Zealand has now told parents that this childhood treat should not be risked. The New Zealand Food Safety Authority warned in this month's edition of its Foodfocus newsletter that licking the spoon or mixing bowl had a "nasty bite".

"It may be a traditional treat to lick the bowl and spoon when baking, but the New Zealand Food Safety Authority is advising against it after an outbreak of salmonellosis was linked to some brands of flour." A salmonella outbreak last year led to about 50 people falling ill. Investigations traced the outbreak to a batch of flour, and a number of children falling ill after baking. The advice has been scoffed at by those contacted by the Herald on Sunday - and even seems to be ignored by the expert arranged by the FSA to speak on the subject.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10578323

Family fury as 8-year-old finds porn on hotel TV
The Dominion Post 13 June 2009
A Wanganui family say their eight-year-old son "lost a part of his innocence" when he stumbled across hardcore pornography while they stayed in a Wellington hotel. The Ander family are criticising the hospitality industry for what they call the ready availability of porn. But an industry spokesman says pornography is hard to access without intention and the complaint is a first.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/central-north-island/2496891/Family-fury-as-8-year-old-finds-porn-on-hotel-TV

Commissioner backs anti-smacking law
NZ Herald June 10, 2009
New Zealand's new Children's Commissioner, John Angus, says he occasionally smacked his sons on the hand - but supports the new law that would have stopped him smacking them for "correction". Dr Angus, 60, a former top bureaucrat at the Ministry of Social Development, has been given the commissioner's job for six months after anti-child abuse campaigner Christine Rankin turned down the job because she didn't want to move to Wellington. Ms Rankin, who was then made a part-time Families Commissioner instead, helped to organise the campaign for next month's citizen-initiated referendum seeking to overturn the controversial 2007 law that bans parents from using force against their children "for the purpose of correction".

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, who voted for the law as part of a last-minute deal between Labour and National, indicated personal sympathy for the referendum on a radio talkback show last week. Asked for her view on the referendum question, "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" she said, "No, I don't, I believe that actually good parenting should be left to do that in their different ways in their different homes and I don't have an interest in going into people's homes and telling them how to parent." But Dr Angus said Ms Bennett had not given him any "riding instructions" on what to say about the referendum, to be held by postal ballot between July 31 and August 21, and he supported the new law. "It's up to the Government to determine how they respond to the outcome of the referendum, but it won't change my advice to the Government and my statements that I think the law as it currently stands is satisfactory and is a good piece of law for the children of New Zealand."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10577501

Mental health linked to dietary habits
Sydney Morning Herald June 9, 2009
CHILDREN who have a poor diet are more likely to have a mental health problem as an adolescent, research has found. Wendy Oddy, of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Western Australia, found the typical Western dietary pattern increased a child's chance of developing emotional and behavioural problems. Dr Oddy studied 1600 14-year-olds and identified two distinct dietary patterns that influenced the wellbeing of an individual.

She associated a Western dietary pattern with burgers, pies, sausage rolls, confectionary, red meat, refined grains, full-fat dairy food, dressings and sauces. A healthy dietary pattern was linked with red, yellow and leafy-green vegetables, fresh fruit and legumes, wholegrains and fish. "We then adjusted the analysis to take into account things you would expect to be associated with mental health, like family functioning, family income, single mothers, biological fathers not living at home, parents who smoke and parents' education," Dr Oddy said. The Western dietary pattern was found to increase the likelihood of an individual being withdrawn, depressed, anxious, aggressive and delinquent. It also contributed to the "obesity explosion".
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/mental-health-linked-to-dietary-habits-20090608-c0ts.html

Schools call in police drug dogs
The Dominion Post 08 June 2009
Wellington schools have called in police sniffer dogs to search for drugs in a "desperate" move to tackle a growing problem that is "destroying" lives. One school principal has admitted pupils are smoking cannabis at school then turning up to class, and in some cases parents have supplied them with drugs. But using sniffer dogs has been criticised by the Drug Foundation, which described the move as a "blunt tactic" that created a climate of fear. After requests from schools, police have searched at least three schools in the past two weeks Wainuiomata High School, Tawa College and Taita College. Visits to other schools are understood to be planned.

Seven police officers and one dog went through eight classrooms at the Wainuiomata school on Thursday. Pupils were led from the classrooms, leaving their bags and cellphones behind so they could not alert friends. Although drugs were not found, principal Rob Mill was not surprised because he had decided to warn pupils about the visit.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2480519/Schools-call-in-police-drug-dogs

Gender test spurs abortion fears
NZ Herald Jun 08, 2009
A new test to reveal the gender of a fetus in early pregnancy has sparked a row over whether it will lead to sex-selection abortions. The American-designed IntelliGender test kit, which can be used from eight weeks after conception, went on sale in Australia last month. Its Australian distributor hopes to launch it in New Zealand within a fortnight. David Portnoy, managing director of Melbourne-based Early Image, said yesterday that he was negotiating with health products companies Douglas Pharmaceuticals and API to supply the kits to New Zealand pharmacies. He expected they would sell for about $125. They do not test pregnancy, so do not require state approval under the Medicines Act, unlike pregnancy tests. To use the new test, a pregnant woman mixes her urine with the kit's chemicals in the supplied container. If it turns green or black, the fetus is a boy; orange or yellow indicate a girl. The kits are claimed to be 90 per cent accurate, but because patents have not yet been issued, the maker will not reveal the supporting data or the science of how they work.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is worried about what the test might lead to. "The concern we would have is that people would then terminate pregnancies on the grounds of sex selection," said college president Dr Ted Weaver. Anti-abortion group Voice for Life echoes this concern. Spokesman Bernard Moran said abortions for sex selection were a problem overseas and the test would facilitate this in New Zealand. "Certain ethnic minorities here might be more prone to use it."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10577091

Home best for babies says doctor
Sunday Star Times 07 June 2009
A leading neonatal paediatrician is warning parents to do all they can to avoid putting their young children in daycare, saying it could permanently harm their developing brains. Dr Simon Rowley, who works at Auckland's National Women's Hospital and in private practice, will tell 900 nurses and volunteers at a Plunket conference in Rotorua tomorrow that they should encourage parents "to actually be parents - not absentee parents".

His controversial message will again stir up the daycare debate - opponents say some parents can't afford to stay home and that daycare is a chance for children to learn social skills, as well as a sanity break and valuable learning experience for parents. But Rowley says one parent or family member should try to stay home with the child, at least for the first two years. The second best option is to hire a nanny or other "single person" carer. And if parents do need to resort to daycare, they should choose a centre with plenty of staff and flexible routines. "When people ask me, to be politically correct I say: 'Well, if you choose your daycare well, that's good.' But if you have a choice you should always go for staying home a bit longer."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/2480013/Home-best-for-babies-says-doctor

'Smacking law' needs fixing - Op Ed
Otago Daily Times 5 Jun 2009
- Richard Dawson is Pastor of St Stephens/Leith Valley Presbyterian Church.
Richard Dawson argues that rather than encouraging good parenting the "smacking law" undermines self-confidence and is actually "a form of violence against ordinary parents". ..As the saying goes, "Give people responsibility and they will constantly amaze you". Which is why I believe we've made a grave mistake with the so-called "Smacking Law". It seems that so far it has not reduced high-end abuse but I suspect it will discourage ordinary parents from taking responsibility. In doing so, it will encourage the very worst behaviour amongst today's parents, which is simply to absent themselves from the task.

..Parenting is perhaps one of the most important tasks anyone can take on. Our society provides virtually no training for it and very little material encouragement to parents. Now we have a law which makes a criminal out of a parent who has tried to stay in the game even though they might be getting it a bit wrong. I can't think of anything more discouraging to young parents who already lack confidence and knowledge. The law has become a form of violence against ordinary parents who are trying to do the job, even if badly at times. We need to fix this law and find a more positive approach to parents and parenting.
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/59755/039smacking-law039-needs-fixing

Political apathy 'killing kids'
The Dominion Post 04 June 2009
Kiwi kids are dying in accidents and from abuse and Third World diseases due to political apathy, doctors and child welfare experts say. MPs were told yesterday by the Paediatric Society that New Zealand has the worst rates of death and injury from preventable causes in the developed world and much more is needed to reverse the trend. And in a report due out today, the children's commissioner calls for extra funding to educate parents about the dangers of shaking babies, as it reveals why about 45 children under five are seriously injured and five killed each year at the hands of carers.

..The children's commissioner's report out today looks at common risk factors for death and injury from abuse in New Zealand and worldwide. It suggests very young babies are most at risk of abuse. "It only takes a small slap to the head or a short shake of a baby to do real harm," commissioner John Angus said. He said there was a particular risk when babies were left in the care of young men who were not biological fathers who were often unprepared for the stresses of a crying baby and could have problems with anger or alcohol abuse. He urged the Government to fund the Shaken Baby Prevention Programme being looked at by Auckland DHB to be piloted in Auckland and rolled out nationally.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/2470308/Political-apathy-killing-kids

Is TV delaying child development? 
BBC News 2 June 09
New research suggests having the TV on may impair young children's development by reducing the amount of conversation between infant and adult. So how bad is the box for young minds? A US team recorded more than 300 children aged between two months and four years on several days every month over two years. They found that when the TV was audible - either on in the background or being watched - the number of words spoken and sounds made by either adult or child reduced considerably. It is the latest study to imply that delays in language development may be the fault of TV, a medium blamed for a host of other modern ills, from bullying to obesity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8078763.stm

Parent mentor honoured
East And Bays Courier 03 June 2009
Parents Inc founder Ian Grant has been recognised in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to youth and parenting. Parenting, youth and marriage gurus Ian and Mary Grant are an inspiration in the eyes of many. But Ian has other ideas. "We’re just two beggars telling other beggars how to beg for bread. When people hear that we struggle with stuff too, they link with us." Ian, a renowned author, advocate and public speaker, was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order in Monday’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

"Because I’ve worked with thousands of volunteers, this award is really all about them," the Orakei resident says. "I just happen to be the guy who thought about doing Summer Harvest – a camp for teens in the Bay of Islands." Ian, 70, has a long-held passion for public speaking – despite the fact that he stutters. "The big defining thing in my life is that I stutter. People said to me, ‘don’t make it a handicap’." He didn’t. The committed Christian went on to appear on live television and radio and speak to youth and adults at conferences.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/east-bays-courier/2465555/Parent-mentor-honoured

Kiwi kids keeping net-safe
The Southland Times 3 June 09 
New Zealand adults are responsible parents when it comes to keeping tabs on their children on the internet but are addicted to texting, a new survey shows. Internet security firm Symantec's Online Living Report looked at the online habits of adults and children in 12 countries, and an additional report was done on New Zealand. It showed 78 per cent of New Zealand parents surveyed had spoken to their child or children about safe online habits. Fifty per cent of parents had also set parental controls on their family computer, well above the global average of 33 per cent. Symantec consumer business unit for Asia, Pacific and Japan vice-president David Freer said the survey showed signs of positive progress between parents, kids and online safety.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/2466459/Kiwi-kids-keeping-net-safe

NZ College Herald 2 June 2009

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Call to PM to change child discipline law
The Family First lobby group has published an open letter to the Prime Minister citing evidence of families being prosecuted and children removed under the child discipline law. National director Bob McCoskrie says a promise by John Key to change the law if good parents are criminalised should now be acted on. The advertisement appears in two Sunday papers. It lists four cases which the lobby group says shows evidence of what it calls the "anti-smacking law" in action. One example tells of two parents separated from their children for two nights. They were interviewed for five hours by police after admitting they sometimes smack their children.

A law change in 2007 removed the defence of "reasonable force" for adults accused of assaulting a child. Mr McCoskrie says Mr Key needs to follow-up on his previous promise to make changes if the law harmed good parents. He says a Royal Commission should also be established to tackle the real causes of child abuse. Mr McCoskrie says changing the law now could prevent what he calls "a costly and time consuming" referendum on the issue, which is due to take place later this year.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/05/31/1245b0f888a8
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2461414/Call-to-veto-anti-smacking-law

WATCH TVNZ7 News at 8 31 May 09

Divorce hurting boys' education; experts
Otago Daily Times 30 May 2009
The educational achievements of New Zealand boys may be falling victim to the soaring divorce rate, according to experts. The connection has been made as a new report confirms that boys are lagging behind girls at secondary school, with the gap greater in New Zealand than any other developed country. The findings come in a report by the 30-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which compared achievement by 15-year-old boys and girls in 40 countries. "There are significant gender differences in educational outcomes, and these appear as students grow older," the report said. Last year's National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results, released this month, showed girls outperforming boys by wider margins as pupils got older.

St Bede's College rector Justin Boyle pointed to boys' education suffering when parents divorced. "Invariably, we find if mum and dad have split they (boys) have not had the male role model in their lives to encourage them in a holistic way about how they get educated." Divorce statistics released this month showed about one-third of New Zealanders who married in 1983 had divorced before their 25th wedding anniversary. Education consultant Joseph Driessen said children who came from broken homes were typically 25 per cent behind other children in achievement. "Boys are affected by divorce very deeply because 85 per cent of custody goes to the mother and guys just disappear. That needs to change," he told The Press.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/58801/divorce-hurting-boys039-education-experts

Mother fits teenage son with GPS tracking device on gap year
Telegraph (UK) 27 May 2009
A mother has fitted her teenage son with a GPS tracking device so she can monitor his every move during his gap-year travels. Rachel Wilder, 53, has ordered her 19-year-old son Harry to carry a credit-card sized tracker while he travels across Australia, Thailand and South Africa in his gap year. She can track him to within 15ft of his exact location and the system can even send her a text message alert if he goes anywhere he shouldn't.

Mrs Wilder keeps tabs on his movements by logging on to a website at the family home in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, every day. Mrs Wilder, an inventory clerk, said: "It is fantastic to be able to keep an eye on Harry and track his journey. "I can tell which street he is in so I can make sure he doesn't wander into any dangerous areas. I feel like I am sort of with Harry on his travels which gives me peace of mind and means he doesn't have to check in with a phone call. I have no way of knowing if a street in Australia is dangerous but if he was in Bangkok, for example, I could see if he walks in an area which might not be safe and ring or text him. The point of a gap year is to go away and not be hounded by your parents but equally as parents, it's quite nice to know where they are without constantly ringing up."

..Surprisingly Harry, whose father John, 56, is a school bursar, says he is happy to carry the tracker as protection against the dangers of backpacking. Speaking from the Brisbane, Australia, he said: "It's not so much of a concern here, but in somewhere like Thailand, if you were to get kidnapped or driven off into the jungle, people would be able to find you from the signal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5393421/Mother-fits-teenage-son-with-GPS-tracking-device-on-gap-year.html

Concern after teen sex revelations
The Press 26 May 2009
 Half of 16-year-old Kiwis say they have been in love and more than a third have already had sex, a new study reveals. Results from the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) longitudinal study of 500 young people have led to calls for better sex education in schools and more parenting programmes. The new study also reveals 84 per cent of 16-year-olds had drunk alcohol in the previous year and 51 per cent had done something they regretted while drunk.

"Sixteen is still young," Family Planning Association chief executive Jackie Edmond said. "This shows how important it is for parents to talk to their children around sexual health and sexuality." Family Planning had "huge concerns" about sexual education in New Zealand schools and homes. "The reality is that sexuality education and sexual health education in New Zealand is incredibly inconsistently applied across schools," Edmond said. "We feel strongly that young people need the information so that they can make the decisions and there is no research that supports that telling young people more means that they will have sex earlier; in fact, it does seem to be the opposite." The new results from the NZCER study, which started following the 500 young people from the greater Wellington region in 1993, also showed a fifth of the study's participants had got into trouble with the police.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2441748/Concern-after-teen-sex-revelations

Kids want to hear more bedtime stories
Reuters May 22, 2009
Almost two-thirds of children want their parents to spend more time reading to them before bed, and most prefer Mum's storytelling to Dad's, researchers said on Friday. They conducted a study that showed younger children aged 3-4 were most hungry for more stories, with over three-quarters saying they wished their parents read to them more often. More than half of all children aged 3-8 said story time was their favorite pastime with their parents.

"The results of our research confirm the traditional activity of storytelling continues to be a powerful learning and emotional resource in children's lives," said child psychologist Richard Woolfson, who led the study commissioned by Disney/Pixar World of Cars. Storytelling ranked higher than television or video games among pastimes for kids, and 82 percent said reading a story with their parents helped them sleep better, according the survey of 500 children aged 3-8 in Britain. The best storytellers were mothers who used funny voices to illustrate different characters or made their own special sound effects to keep the story moving, researchers said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE54L2QW20090522

Trust slashes violence in at-risk families
The Press 25 May 2009
Early intervention with at-risk Canterbury families is saving children from being beaten by their mothers, a new report shows. The Christchurch-based Family Help Trust runs early-intervention programmes that deal with children at the highest risk of extreme child abuse. Trust chairwoman Annabel Taylor said carefully targeted investment in socially deprived families would generate a substantial payback for society. "There are around 64,000 babies born in New Zealand each year, of which 2 per cent, or approximately 1200, are in families with the greatest levels of dysfunction and therefore the most extreme risk of child abuse."

In a report officially released today, the trust says its work over two years has helped substantially lower violence rates in at-risk Canterbury families. The trust's report said of 59 families involved with the trust, nearly 15 per cent of children were initially struck or shaken by their mothers. More than a quarter of the mothers were assaulted by their partners, 13.6 per cent of partners were imprisoned, and over 5 per cent of the mother's partners assaulted the children. Two years after the trust's intervention, no mothers were striking or shaking their children, 6.8 per cent of mothers were being assaulted by partners, and 3.6 per cent of mothers said their partners were in prison.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2437200/Trust-slashes-violence-in-at-risk-families

Abortion: all agree the law is an ass
NZ Herald May 23, 2009
There were 18,380 abortions in New Zealand in 2007. The rate (20.1 abortions per 1000 women in the 15-44 age group) is high compared to other countries, putting us on a par with Australia, the United States and Sweden. Unlike those countries, we have what has been described as "one of the most restrictive pieces of abortion legislation in the Western world" - contained in the Crimes Act and the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act passed in 1977. Yet despite our draconian law - abortion is a crime unless it is authorised by two certifying consultants - we have one of the highest abortion rates in the world. What gives?

On June 9 2008, High Court Justice Forrest Miller gave voice to what some had suspected for some time - there is "reason to doubt the lawfulness of many abortions authorised by certifying consultants" in New Zealand. While Justice Miller's judgment in the long running Right to Life New Zealand versus The Abortion Supervisory Committee sounds like a bombshell, it's actually more of a damp squib.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10574023&pnum=0

Many deaths linked to sharing bed
The Press 23 May 2009
More than half of cot-death babies were sharing a bed when they died, new research shows. The Otago University research, soon to be published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, has prompted calls for parents to get unequivocal information that sleeping with a baby is dangerous. However, some Maori, midwives and researchers say the practice is positive for breast-feeding and bonding.

A senior paediatric lecturer with Otago University's Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr Dawn Elder, was one of the lead researchers on the investigation. Her research showed bed-sharing was associated with almost 54 per cent of cot deaths, known as sudden infant deaths (SIDs) or sudden unexpected deaths in infants, in Wellington between 1997 and 2006. There was a significant association between bed-sharing and babies being found dead on a Sunday morning, the research showed. Alcohol consumption could be a factor in this, Elder said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2434659/Many-deaths-linked-to-sharing-bed

Teens want more time with parents -study
NZ Herald May 23, 2009
It may be uncool to admit it, but more than half of New Zealand teenagers want to spend more time with their parents. Details of a survey of almost 10,000 students at 96 secondary schools, published to mark the start of Youth Week today, show that 54 per cent of students "sometimes" or "hardly ever" get enough time with their mothers. And 61 per cent, sometimes or hardly ever get enough time with their dads. Auckland University researcher Simon Denny, who led the project, said the results shattered the myth that teenagers hate their parents. "This is big stuff, much bigger than it sounds," he said. "Having a close relationship with a parent is one of the most important predictors of good health and wellbeing for young people."

The survey found that only 73 per cent of students in 2007 lived in their main home with two "parents", including step-parents. A further 22 per cent lived with one parent, 3 per cent with grandparents or other relatives and 2 per cent in foster care or independent flats. Twenty-nine per cent of students said they lived in more than one home, usually spending part of the time with each parent. Ninety per cent lived with their mothers in their main homes, 76 per cent with their fathers and 8 per cent also with a parent's partner or step-parent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10574038&pnum=0

Latta slams families funds waste
The Timaru Herald 21 May 2009
The Families Commission is a colossal waste of time and money, and its $9 million budget could be far better spent elsewhere. That's according to clinical psychologist Nigel Latta, who spoke on violence at two meetings in Timaru yesterday. Mr Latta waded into the commission during his hour-long talk, mocking the "startling and amazing" revelations from its research, and saying he would have probably "wasted" that $9 million on things like 6000 hours of teacher aid, 9000 laptops in schools, half a million library books or doubling or tripling the size of Women's Refuge.

"It is a colossal waste of time and money in a country where we can't afford it." Mr Latta said there was enough money available to save the children in New Zealand - it just needed to be diverted from all the "stupid stuff".
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/2428458/Latta-slams-families-funds-waste

Fairer child deal sought
The Press 21 May 2009
Child-support payments may be changed to reflect the income of a parent's new partner. The proposal is part of Revenue Minister Peter Dunne's call for a review of the child-support scheme. Dunne said yesterday that he wanted to make the scheme "as even-handed as possible". He said current payments did not take into account the financial situation of the new partner of the parent usually the mother with custody of the children. Payments were based on a percentage of the liable parent's income.

"At the moment we take into account the non-custodial parent's income but we don't take into account the changed circumstances of the custodial parent, so if they've married a millionaire, for instance, we don't take that into account," Dunne said. "If on one side of the ledger everyone's standard of living has significantly improved, then that clearly impacts what the non-custodial parent should be paying by way of support. You take a poor, struggling guy in the suburbs with three kids whose partner has run off with a millionaire. You can certainly say it's a bit anomalous in a way for him to be paying a high level of child support to kids where the money is being used to pay for the upkeep of the kids' ponies."

While any changes would primarily affect men, there was a growing number of women who were non-custodial parents, he said. The Union of Fathers group said Dunne's proposals did not go far enough. "Equal shared custody is the answer where everything to do with the child is shared equally time with them, contact with schools, financial support to provide for the child," spokesman Darrell Carlin said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2428220/Fairer-child-deal-sought

Garth George: Rankin's file is the right CV for families  
NZ Herald May 21, 2009
The appointment of Christine Rankin to the Families Commission is inspired. As was the appointment of Paula Bennett as Minister of Social Development, who was instrumental in Ms Rankin's appointment. We now have a four-times-married serial monogamist sitting on the Families Commission; and a West Auckland solo mum, whose unwed daughter presented her with a grandchild fathered by a gang-banger, running our vast social welfare edifice. And that is as it should be in this modern age of everything-goes and a Parliament and bureaucracy cluttered with politically correct, namby-pamby politicians and civil servants.

It is to be hoped that Ms Rankin's appointment is only the first of many such to be made to government boards, commissions and so on who will neutralise the stultifying effects of the lefty liberals who so appealed to Labour and the Greens.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573495

School reports will tell it how it is
NZ Herald May 21, 2009
Parents could be warned their children are performing well below expectations in a proposed move to "plain language" on school reports. This week the Ministry of Education opened its proposed set of national standards for consultation, setting national standards for numeracy and literacy achievement and the way students' progress should be reported. In the past parents have been confused by the language in school reports but the ministry is advocating "plain language reporting" - telling parents whether a child is achieving at the standard they should be, or whether they are just below, well below, just above or well above the national standard.

President of Auckland Primary Principals' Association Marilyn Gwilliam said parents needed to be told, in plain and simple language, how their child was doing. When they understood the areas in which their son or daughter struggled, they could work more constructively alongside the school to lift the child's achievement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573581

Longer hospital stays to help new mothers cope
NZ Herald May 20, 2009
Many women will be able to spend up to four days in hospital after giving birth under an expansion of maternity services to be introduced by the Government. Maternity and medical groups welcomed Health Minister Tony Ryall's announcement yesterday, which fulfils an election promise with a $103.5 million increase for maternity services, spread over four years. This will provide for longer post-natal stays, extra meetings with health workers for at-risk women during pregnancy and obstetric training for GPs. A 24-hour Plunketline telephone service will also be given full funding, as previously announced. Mr Ryall said: "We have heard from too many new mothers who have felt pressured into going home before they are ready, and those who could benefit from extra support."

Longer stays would help new mothers establish breast-feeding and gain confidence in caring for their babies, he said. A survey of maternity service users published last year found that 13 per cent of those who gave birth in a hospital or birthing unit went home before they felt ready. They said they needed more rest first, had problems with breast-feeding, were in pain, felt anxious and felt pressured to leave. The rate of exclusive breast-feeding in the first four weeks had declined by 3 percentage points to 74 per cent since the previous survey five years earlier.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573298

'Ear-flick' father guilty of assault
NZ Herald May 20, 2009
A Christchurch father has been found guilty of assaulting his 4-year-old son after a two-day trial seen as a test of the anti-smacking laws. After more than nine hours of deliberation, the Christchurch District Court jury last night found James Louis Mason not guilty of assault for lifting the bicycles his two sons were sitting on and slamming them back down. But the third count - which accused him of pulling the 4-year-old's ear and punching him in the face - brought a guilty verdict. Mason denied all charges, but said he pulled the child's hair and flicked his ear to stop him going back into a dangerous situation on his bike on the Bridge of Remembrance ramp in central Christchurch where his 2-year-old had fallen and hurt his head. Witnesses at the trial did not see the incident on the ramp. But they told of hearing Mason afterwards, swearing and shouting at the boys.

...Family First director Bob McCoskrie said last night the conviction was appropriate if it was for punching a child. But there was a concern that Mason may have been found guilty for only the ear-pull, as the actions of punching, and pulling the ear, were wrapped up in the same police charge. "If that's the case, then it's a decision that does concerns us. We would like that clarified to understand how the law is being interpreted by the police and the courts." The anti-smacking legislation was passed by Parliament in May 2007, removing from the Crimes Acts the defence of reasonable force for parents who physically punish children. Family First is campaigning for the repeal of the law and in March issued survey findings showing many parents were still confused about the law change. As the law stands a light smack would not always be illegal. But 55 per cent of the 1000 people surveyed thought smacking was always illegal, 31 per cent thought it was not, and 14 per cent did not know.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573340

Parents hesitant about cervical cancer vaccination
The Press 18 May 2009
 Some Canterbury parents are hesitating to get their daughters vaccinated against cervical cancer because they fear it will make the teenagers sexually active. A third of Canterbury girls eligible for the free vaccination have had the jab since the programme started last September. In Canterbury, the Gardasil vaccine is administered by GPs, while girls in other parts of the country can get the injection at school. The Canterbury District Health Board's project manager for the Gardasil vaccine, Alison Young, said the board was pleased with the number of girls who had been vaccinated.

However, there were concerns and misconceptions that meant parents were not getting their daughters immunised, she said. "Some parents are delaying due to their daughter not being sexually active, and that 12 years is too young," Young said. "Research has shown that the vaccination is more effective in girls nine to 15 than older age groups."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2418433/Parents-hesitant-about-cervical-cancer-vaccination

Illegal brothels using high-end apartments
NZ Herald May 17, 2009
Property managers at high-end Auckland apartment buildings are going to desperate lengths to evict illegal brothels. One said prostitutes were openly soliciting other residents, but she couldn't evict them until they fell behind with their rent. Others have resorted to shaming clients and calling in police to "muscle out" prostitutes. Property managers Jacqui Cheal and Larry Dickie, who manage about 80 central city apartments, said it took five months to remove a brothel from an expensive property in the Viaduct Harbour. The tenant denied running the business, even though the brothel was advertised on a late-model Audi parked in the apartment's carpark.

The property managers complained to police and spoke three times to council officers. The council said two complaints were received and an investigation found no evidence of a brothel. But Cheal said officers never contacted them to gain access to the apartment, and never reported back with the result of the investigation. "We realised by then we weren't going to get any help." The tenant was served notices for being in breach of the tenancy agreement by running a business, and acting in a way that could be offensive to other tenants. When the agreement was eventually terminated at a Tenancy Tribunal hearing, it was only on the basis of rent arrears. "What do landlords and property managers do?" Cheal said. "It will get to the point where somebody will get hurt because they're trying to manhandle them out or evict them."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10572779

Murdered boy endured final weeks of torture
NZ Herald May 16, 2009
The full story behind the sickening abuse and murder of a 7-year-old boy has been revealed for the first time in court documents. One expert has called the killing of Duwayne Pailegutu by his stepfather, Johnny Pukerua Joachim, "systematic torture" comparable to that suffered by Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie. For the seven days before Duwayne Pailegutu died, he was kept inside his mother and stepfather's small flat in Nelson - so no one could see he had been beaten so badly he was paralysed, incontinent, and slowly suffocating on his own blood.

...Duwayne, whose family members in Mangere say was a happy and energetic child before he moved to Nelson with his mother and stepfather in December 2007, was hit, kicked, thrown at walls and struck repeatedly on the soles of his feet with a cricket wicket by Joachim, 37, in what was to be the most violent assault of many he suffered, one week before he died. Duwayne's mother Mary Joachim, 28, was sentenced in the Auckland District Court on Thursday to three years in prison for failing to provide her son with the necessaries of life for watching the assaults and not getting medical attention. She is appealing against her sentence. Johnny Joachim is serving an 18-year, non-parole sentence after admitting Duwayne's murder.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10572666

Families Commission anti-smacking: head
Stuff.co.nz 12/05/2009
Families Commission head Jan Pryor is highlighting her organisation's support of anti-smacking legislation after the Government appointed high-profile opponent Christine Rankin to the Crown agency. Ms Rankin was outspoken in her opposition to Green Party MP Sue Bradford's member's bill to remove the defence of reasonable force in child assault cases. The legislation was passed by Parliament in May 2007 with support which included both National and Labour. Ms Bradford, among others, was unhappy today with Ms Rankin's appointment as one of seven Families Commissioners. Ms Rankin was spokeswoman of For The Sake Of Our Children Trust.

..Ms Pryor said she and other commissioners looked forward to hearing Ms Rankin's views on reducing family violence. "The commission's reasons for supporting the law have not changed," she said in a statement. "We based our position on research which shows very clearly that positive parenting strategies (such as rewarding good behaviour and distracting young children and ignoring minor unwanted behaviour) are far more effective and safer than physical punishment." Research also showed that most child abuse cases began as physical punishment.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2405576/Commission-is-anti-smacking-head

Rankin defiant over new job as family advocate
NZ Herald May 13, 2009
Christine Rankin says she has learned from her three failed marriages and will use her new role as a Families Commissioner to promote the value of "Mum, Dad and the kids". Ms Rankin, 55, fought a legal battle against the former Labour Government when she was not reappointed as head of Work and Income NZ nine years ago after staging a conference costing $235,000. Now she is back in a key role, effectively charged by the new National Government with changing the direction of the $8 million-a-year Families Commission, which was a prime advocate of the 2007 "anti-smacking" law. Ms Rankin's For the Sake of Our Children Trust helped organise a petition which forced a citizen-initiated referendum on the issue to be held this August.

..Labour leader Phil Goff said he was astounded at the choice. He said her opposition to the anti-smacking law was contrary to the formal position of the National Party and she was closely involved with conservative groups such as Families (sic) First. "She's attacked groups like Barnardos and others that she'll now be required to work with."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10571959

Cabinet argues role for Rankin
The Press 12 May 2009
Controversial former public sector boss Christine Rankin has been appointed as a Families Commissioner. Social Development Minister Paula Bennett announced the appointment of Ms Rankin and Bruce Pilbrow to the commission, saying they were strong advocates for children and families. Mr Pilbrow is chief executive of the advice service Parents Inc. The Press flagged the appointment of Ms Rankin this morning saying it had been hotly debated amongst ministers. The Crown agency was set up to promote better understanding of families issues as part of a support deal between United Future and Labour following the 2002 election.

In the past National has mocked the commission and talked about closing it down or cutting it back, but agreed to its continuing existence as part of its support deal with United Future leader Peter Dunne. Commissioners are responsible for speaking out for families to promote better understanding of family issues, the autonomous Crown agency's mission statement says. They are also expected to oppose any change to the so-called "anti-smacking" law despite Rankin recently campaigning for a referendum on the issue.

Lobby group Family First NZ welcomed the appointments. "Both Christine and Bruce will bring the Commission 'down to earth' and rather than being blinded by ideology, it will hopefully start listening to the voice of families and advocating for them in a relevant way," said Bob McCoskrie, national director of Family First.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2402725/Cabinet-argues-role-for-Rankin

Ruling on scan offer before abortions
Dominion Post 7 May 2009
Women should be offered the opportunity to view the ultrasound scan of their baby before they decide to abort it, the Health and Disability Commissioner says. Anti-abortion group Right to Life complained to the commissioner after finding four district health boards Auckland, Waikato, Wairarapa and Canterbury did not offer women the chance to view the scan before going ahead with an abortion. Waikato DHB said it was an "infringement of the patient's rights" to offer it.

Commissioner Ron Paterson said any pregnant woman should be told of their right to view an ultrasound, and it was up to them whether they did or not.It is a debate that is raging in the United States, where a number of states are considering passing laws that would force women to view an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion. Some want them to listen to a fetal heartbeat as well. Critics have labelled the proposals "emotional blackmail". New Zealand's abortion rates are high, with more than one in five known pregnancies in New Zealand aborted. In 2007 the most recent statistics available 18,380 abortions were done.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2390236/Ruling-on-scan-offer-before-abortions

Children who watch adult television have sexual intercourse earlier
Telegraph (UK) 05 May 2009
Children who watch adult television programme shows are a third more likely to become sexually active in their early teens, according to a study. The younger they are exposed to screen content meant for their parents, the sooner they lose their virginity during adolescence, the research showed. It found that for every hour the youngest group of children watched adult programmes over the two sample days, their chances of having sex during early adolescence increased by 33 percent.

Dr Hernan Delgado, who carried out the study, said: "Television and movies are among the leading sources of information about sex and relationships for adolescents. His team, the Children's Hospital Boston, tracked 754 girls and boys, between the ages of six and eighteen, and recorded their viewing habits over a sample weekday and weekend day.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5278897/Children-who-watch-adult-television-have-sexual-intercourse-earlier.html

More Kiwis opting for marriage
Stuff.co.nz 05 May 2009
More Kiwis are getting hitched and marriages appear to be lasting longer, according to new data released today. Statistics New Zealand figures show there were 21,900 marriages registered to Kiwi residents in 2008, compared with 21,500 in 2007. Government Statistician Geoff Bascand said the increase was due to more first marriages - up from 14,400 to 14,800. The number of remarriages remained at 7,100, the same as in 2007.

Analysis of the department's divorce and marriage statistics also showed one-third of New Zealanders who married in 1983 had divorced before their silver wedding anniversary. Around 9,700 divorces were granted by the Family Court in 2008 - slightly below the annual average of 10,000 for the last decade. Half of marriages dissolved in 2008 lasted 13.4 years or more, compared with 12.6 years for marriages dissolved in 1998. The median age at divorce in 2008 was 44.5 years for men and 41.9 years for women.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/2386580/More-Kiwis-opting-for-marriage

Fathers' depression 'harms young'
BBC News 3 May 09
Children whose fathers have mental health disorders are likely to have psychiatric or behavioural disorders themselves, researchers warn. University of Oxford experts reviewed existing evidence and said, in the Lancet, there had been too much focus on mothers' mental health issues. They said boys in particular could be affected if their father had depression or was an alcoholic. Mental health campaigners said men often had problems seeking help.

The Oxford team said it was not surprising much of researchers' emphasis had focused on mothers as, in most societies, it is mothers who provide the majority of childcare - particularly when children are very young. But they said the role of men had been "underemphasised" and that they had more influence on their children's development than previously thought. In addition, the peak age for men to be affected by psychiatric disorders is the same as the peak age for becoming a father - between 18 and 35.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8028452.stm

Toddlers might be better with Big Macs
Sydney Morning Herald May 5, 2009
CHEESEBURGERS, Big Macs and chocolate biscuits are healthier than some foods designed for babies and toddlers, many of which contain more sugar, salt or fat than similar products marketed to adults. A examination of foods marketed for babies and toddlers up to the age of three found that many foods contained more saturated fat, sugar or salt than Big Macs, cheeseburgers and Tim Tam biscuits. Kraft and Heinz products were among the worst offenders, with Heinz Little Kids Muesli Fingers containing 8.1g of saturated fat and 42g of sugar, compared to Be Natural trail bars nut and fruit aimed at adults with 1.5g of saturated fat and 20.4g of sugar.

A dietitian and researcher Therese O'Sullivan, based at the nutrition and development research team at the Telethon Institute for Child Research, said the average energy daily intake for a two- to three-year-old was 17g of saturated fats and 79g of sugar. There was no reason why children's foods should be higher in fat than similar products for adults. She said parents should choose less processed foods for their children and encourage a healthy diet because childhood food preferences flowed into adulthood. http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/toddlers-might-be-better-with-big-macs-20090504-asn5.html

Brain development affected by early experiences - study
TVNZ 05 May 2009
The environment in which children are raised has a great impact in developing their brains to acquire social and moral skills, according to a new study. Love and security, or lack of it, offered by parents and caregivers was a critical factor in how children coped as adults with issues as diverse as family violence, crime, social and educational success, and mental health, the authors found. The report - Healthy Families, Young Minds and Developing Brains - was compiled for the Families Commission. It brings together research from a range of sources, both here and overseas, and puts it in a New Zealand context.

Authors Charles and Kasia Waldegrave found that the environment in which children grew up had an impact on their developing brains which, in turn, affected how well they picked up everything from language and writing to important social and moral skills, such as knowing how to control their emotions and desires, and have empathy for others. "In loving, nurturing environments the child's brain will develop normally, said Charles Waldegrave, a well-published researcher based at The Family Centre. But recent developments in neuroscience and child development show that ongoing experiences of neglect, abuse or violence can seriously damage development in children, leading to long-term impairment of their intellectual, emotional and social functioning."
http://www.3news.co.nz/News/NationalNews/Brain-development-affected-by-early-experiences---study/tabid/423/articleID/102550/cat/64/Default.aspx

Schools refuse cancer vaccine
The Dominion Post 04 May 2009
 Dozens of schools have opted out of a mass immunisation programme to protect girls against cervical cancer. Girls as young as 12 started receiving the vaccinations at schools in February. Fifty adverse reactions have been reported so far this year, with 10 reports of fainting and one case of an allergic reaction. The previous government said the death rate from cervical cancer would be halved in future decades by the $177 million programme over five years to provide free immunisation.

Each year there are 180 diagnoses of cervical cancer and about 60 women die from it. Greg Simmons, the Health Ministry's chief adviser for population health, confirmed 78 schools had declined to take part in the programme about 5 per cent of those eligible. The number could include schools that chose not to take part for logistical reasons, such as small rural schools, he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/2381061/Schools-refuse-cancer-vaccine

Internet not safe for children
The Press 04 May 2009
 Leaving children unsupervised on the internet is like giving them the keys to a Porsche and letting them loose on the motorway, Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff says. Privacy Awareness Week began yesterday, with events focused on two privacy hotspots: the security of official information and internet awareness for young people. Shroff said cases like that of Kaiapoi man Malcolm Spark who last week was jailed for 2 1/2 years for offences that stemmed from his prowling through internet chatrooms and enticing underage girls into discussions about sex highlighted the dangers the internet posed.

"Children need to realise it's not a safe, secret playground," Shroff said. "Young people don't particularly understand the reasons for the road code, so why should they understand the need for discretion and care and privacy on the internet? They are going to have to learn this. "We are going through an explosive phase in technology and global information, and we have hardly started yet in knowing how to make sure that gets done according to normal human rules, human rights and social considerations." People were not thinking through the ramifications of what they posted online, Shroff said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/2381278/Internet-not-safe-for-children

Outrage over brothel at National MP's house
Herald on Sunday May 03, 2009
Kanwal Bakshi, a first-term list MP who stood in Manukau East, said he gave notice to the tenants to move out last month after angry neighbours complained. His property manager investigated and issued a warning notice to tenants. Bakshi acknowledged that he had not told his boss, Prime Minister John Key, that a brothel was operating out of one of his properties. Key, who has said he expects his MPs to disclose private problems to him, last night refused to comment.

But Auckland Mayor John Banks, whose office received complaints from neighbours and from Labour's Phil Goff, said such brothels had become a "growth industry" that was expensive to monitor and police. The council was receiving complaints about unlicensed brothels from neighbourhoods across the city, Banks said. "I would like the Government to stop sending down their bad decisions on local authorities to administer and fund." There are 16 licensed brothels in Auckland City but there are no figures on the number of small, unlicensed brothels operating out of private homes. One unlicensed brothel in Puriri Ave, Greenlane, has been given notice to stop operating by May 8 following complaints from residents.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10570077&pnum=0

Newstalk ZB includes comments from Family First http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=156610
AUDIO

Manukau rejects govt streetworker report
TVNZ May 01, 2009 
Manukau City Council says it is "very disappointed" at a government report on its street prostitution problems and wants a law change to make street work illegal. The council, businesses and residents near Hunters Corner, in Papatoetoe, and in Manurewa have had problems associated with street sex workers. They have faced offensive behaviour, abuse, sex in public, and rubbish, including used condoms, syringes, bottles and human waste. The council said the problems have escalated since prostitution was legalised in 2003. This week it unanimously approved the recommendation of its policy and activities committee to seek an amendment to the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 to make street prostitution illegal. But the Ministry of Justice's Review of Street-based Prostitution in Manukau City, released on Thursday, said localised approaches are likely to be more effective for localised problems. It said eradication of street-based prostitution has not been proved to be achievable and simply banning and moving on could have a negative impact. Measures should also focus on the safety of sex workers.

...And Bob McCoskrie, the national director of Family First NZ described the ministry's report as "farcical". It places the onus on the local businesses and residents to provide rubbish bins for condoms and syringes, improve the cleaning of private car parking facilities, and have 24-hour toilets. The report "seems to stumble on the concept of supporting the wishes of the local community and council, and banning street prostitution in these areas", he said. McCoskrie said the National Party's position during the legalisation debate was that councils should have the right to control the business of prostitution and keep it off the street if they wanted to. "It's time that National as government delivered on that pledge and respected the Manukau City Council's wish that street prostitution be made illegal."
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/manukau-rejects-govt-streetworker-report-2695238

G-rated games for your kids

Child behaviour 'linked to sleep'
BBC News 27 Apr 09
A good night's sleep could reduce hyperactivity and bad behaviour among children, a Finnish study reports. It has been suggested that some children who lack sleep do not appear tired, but instead behave badly. Of the 280 examined in the Pediatrics study, those who slept for fewer than eight hours were the most hyperactive.  Experts said adequate sleep could improve behaviour in healthy children and reduce symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8016531.stm

Younger brains 'tricked' by alcohol
Sydney Morning Herald April 29, 2009
Teenagers who drink heavily can associate bad experiences such as vomiting and car accidents with pleasure, according to a US expert on alcohol abuse. Aaron White, a health administrator with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said neurological processes, that were originally designed to ensure human survival, were put off course by alcohol. Dr White, a psychologist, was speaking yesterday at a conference organised by Drinkwise, a research group funded by the Australian Government and the liquor industry.

Alcohol, along with other drugs, induced the release of the neuro-transmitter dopamine. The younger the consumer of alcohol, the more likely the habit of drinking would become entrenched, he said. Experiences while drinking, such as vomiting and car accidents, can be associated with the pleasurable feeling that dopamine induced. "The brain is tricked into thinking those things are positive because it felt good & Pleasure increases the odds that this rewarded behaviour will be repeated." Dr White said a review of research at the University of California, San Diego, had found heavy alcohol use among adolescents led to a decrease in the size of the frontal lobes, the part of the brain associated with planning, inhibition and emotion regulation.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/younger-brains-tricked-by-alcohol-20090428-am1h.html

Brothel ordered out of school neighbourhood
NZ Herald Apr 27, 2009
Auckland City Council has kicked out a brothel operating in an inner-city suburb. The brothel in Greenlane's Puriri Ave just one street from Cornwall Park School had been operating under the guise of a massage parlour. Residents became suspicious when they saw taxis arriving at all hours and began contacting the council in January when they noticed one of the homes had its curtains drawn all day and a red light in the bathroom. One resident had a customer knock on their door looking for the brothel. Auckland Mayor John Banks has served an abatement notice and asked residents to monitor any further activity. The owners have been told they must cease operating by May 8.

..Family First New Zealand national director Bob McCoskrie said the Government could not continue to ignore the public outcry over the prostitution law. Opposition to this brothel and another in Greenlane, as well as brothels in Albany and Wellington, and opposition to street prostitution in South Auckland and Dannevirke showed communities were not accepting the liberal law. "The decriminalisation of prostitution has been a community disaster," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10568848

Cancer vaccine drive not trusted
Parents cautious of new drug
Manawatu Standard 25 April 2009
The slow uptake of the HPV vaccination among New Zealand schoolgirls is stunning and shows an "absolute distrust" of the way it's been marketed, says Women's Health Action policy analyst Christy Parker. Preliminary figures from the Health Ministry show only 8 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds have had the first of three injections although not all of the figures are in. MidCentral Health had vaccinated 14 per cent of the district's eligible Year 9 to 13 girls at the end of March. Altogether, 1854 girls from Year 8 to 13 had had the first of three shots. The uptake has been higher for 18 and 19-year-olds 18,000 women nationally, or 27 per cent of those eligible. The local figure is 30 per cent.

The Health Ministry's chief advisor for population health Greg Simmons has put the slow uptake down to parents' caution about something new. "We are pleased with uptake so far which has been slowly and steadily climbing over the last eight months. "We recognise that this is a new immunisation for New Zealand and understand some parents may take a wait-and-see approach."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/2363268/Cancer-vaccine-drive-not-trusted

How safe are our schools? New report reveals playground safety fears
Sunday Star Times 26 April 2009
 ONE-THIRD OF secondary school teachers have felt unsafe in the school playground, and one in seven primary school teachers have felt unsafe inside the classroom, a major new report reveals. The report by the New Zealand Centre for Education Research (NZCER) surveyed 666 schools, and its findings about bad behaviour, bullying and teacher safety have education leaders calling for change. The report comes hot on the heels of two high-profile attacks on teachers by students a stabbing in Auckland and an assault in Taranaki as well as reports of weapons being seized in our schools. Early last month a 17-year-old Auckland student stabbed a teacher in the back as he wrote on a whiteboard, and in December a 15-year-old Taranaki girl was suspended after her principal said she shoved a teacher to the ground and "thumped" her.

Last month Kate Gainsford, head of secondary teachers' union the PPTA, revealed that one "very, very ordinary" New Zealand school had confiscated replica guns from its students. Other weapons picked up at the same school included nunchucks, a machete, knives, an iron bar and a baseball bat. She is sick of talking about these kinds of problems and wants the government to take action. The PPTA has already called for better pay for teachers at problem schools and for schools to be classified on a secret register as to how many violent and disruptive students they have. Gainsford fears nothing will come from the government's school violence hui held in Wellington early last month.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/2363800/How-safe-are-our-schools-New-report-reveals-playground-safety-fears

4600 kids in CYF care
Sunday News 26 April 2009
Thousands of Kiwi kids continue to be taken from their families each year and put into Child, Youth and Family (CYF) care. Figures released to Sunday News under the Official Information Act show as of December 2008, 4643 children and teens were in the care of the government agency. Of those, 584 were aged under two, 713 from two to four, 1276 five to nine, 1134 aged 10-13, 903 were from 14-16 and 33 aged 17-19. Of the youngsters taken by CYF, 66 were at-risk babies less then one month old, and 15 were removed from their parents on the day they were born. The number of custody orders involving newborns has more than doubled in the past five years.

...The total number of children in CYF care has decreased over the past few years. Up to June 30, 2008, 4831 children were in CYF care 472 less than the previous year and 558 less than in the 2005/2006 financial year. CYF said they couldn't tell Sunday News how many children and youths it had returned to parents because their removal had been unjustified. Nor could they say how many times they'd apologised to parents for the behaviour of their staff or how many complaints they had received. Hughes said that information was "held on individual files" and would take a considerable amount of time to collate. But he said CYF was aware there is "public interest" in that information and had made "improvements" that will allow the department to "supply this information in the future". CYF had launched a new complaints process which "establishes a consistent and robust nationwide process for managing complaints", he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2364255/4600-kids-in-CYF-care

Hushed report: gay adoption puts kids at risk of bullying
The Christian Institute 22 April 2009
Children adopted by same-sex parents are likely to face bullying, according to a report that the Scottish Government tried to keep secret. However, same-sex parents are likely to turn a blind eye for fear of being blamed, according to the review of eight studies into gay adoption which ministers have now released under a freedom of information request. Critics of gay adoption say the Government should have conducted more research into its effect on children before deciding to allow it in Scotland in 2006.

Sociologist Patricia Morgan has conducted extensive research into same-sex adoption. She said: “The adoption agencies and ministers behind these reforms are doing this to appease the gay rights lobby. “It is possible children will be emotionally damaged.”
http://www.christian.org.uk/news/20090422/hushed-report-gay-adoption-puts-kids-at-risk-of-bullying/

Witnessing violence can harm children's health: study
Reuters Apr 21, 2009
Witnessing violence in high-crime urban areas could increase levels a hormone in young children that could cause long-term health problems such as diabetes and heart disease, researchers said. They found that children who experienced shootings, knife attacks or fights showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as worries, flashbacks and difficulty paying attention. The youngsters also had higher levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol, which can lead to a weaker immune system and other illnesses.

"Our study indicates that important biological effects occur in children living in high-crime neighborhoods," said Dr Shakira Franco Suglia, of the Harvard School of Public Health.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE53K5KW20090421

Children roaming net as they please (Aust)
Herald Sun April 22, 2009
A MILLION Australian children are roaming the internet as they please, a new study has found. Almost four in 10 teens and one in 10 aged 4-7 also have a computer in their bedroom. The study found while eight in 10 parents control their kids' internet use, only a third use filters. Twenty per cent had no control over their child's online activities. Experts warn the study is a wake-up call for parents who "have their heads in the sand" on cyber safety. They add children as young as seven are illegally joining the Facebook social networking site, putting themselves at risk.

The March StollzNow poll, for the Generation Next parenting group, found only 42 per cent of parents checked the history of sites their children visited. Just four in 10 restricted computer use to shared family areas. About 38 per cent of teens, 15 per cent of kids aged 8-11 and 9 per cent of those aged 4-7 had computers in their bedrooms.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25367369-662,00.html

Alcohol warning labels urged after coroners' web appeals
NZ Herald Apr 22, 2009
Alcohol advisory groups have renewed calls to put warning labels on alcohol following a recommendation posted by the chief coroner on the internet. Nearly 60 health and safety recommendations by the country's coroners issued over the past 20 months were put on the coroners' website yesterday. One of the coroners' appeals was that labels should be fixed to alcohol bottles in the same way health warnings were printed on tobacco packets. The website added that greater efforts should be made to educate the public through campaigns about the danger of death from drinking too much alcohol. The Alcohol Advisory Council (Alac) said the labels should be on the container warning pregnant women of the dangers of alcohol to their unborn child.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10567866

Sex workers given one month's grace
NZ Herald Apr 22, 2009
An Auckland community group that warns people not to use street sex workers has agreed to a month's amnesty - but has warned it will not stop until street prostitutes are out of the neighbourhood. The Papatoetoe Reclaiming our Streets group, made up of local residents, has been patrolling Hunters Corner for the past few months after becoming fed up with noise, violence and offensive litter being left behind by street prostitutes. The group will stop its patrols for a month, to let the police and street prostitutes work to find a solution for all the parties involved. But the head of PROS, Stephen Grey, said that the group would be back if was it unhappy with the result. "We've agreed so the police and the [Prostitutes] Collective can tidy up their act," he said. "We want them off our streets and out of Papatoetoe." Mr Grey said the group's ideal outcome - with the residents of Papatoetoe, particularly around Hunters Corner - would be to have street prostitutes outlawed from residential streets and suburban areas.

...Meanwhile, Manukau City Council will again recommend to the Government to have the Prostitute Reform Act 2003 changed, which would see street prostitution made illegal. Former MP and now Kiwi Party president Gordon Copeland yesterday said it was time to "clean up" the prostitution law.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10567874

Fears over inadequate childcare
The Press 20 April 2009 
 Half of under-two-year-olds in early childhood care are at centres falling short of official standards, the Education Review Office says. The agency has completed an eight-part series of reports advising parents on early childhood education options. The reports show many aspects of early childhood education are in good health.

The 33 playcentre associations were praised for their "typically attractive, stimulating and carefully organised" environments, and kindergartens, which had 23 per cent of toddlers enrolled in early childhood education, were of good to high quality. But concerns were raised about the quality of education and care at infant and toddler centres. There were also questions about home-based childcare, where a third of centres did not meet compliance standards and 75 per cent of centres needed to improve assessment practice.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2345714/Fears-over-inadequate-childcare

Govt proposes courses for parents whose kids break the law
TV3 News 18 Apr 2009 
The Government wants to force parents whose children are repeatedly caught drunk underage to take courses in becoming better parents. Police Minister Judith Collins joined officers as they patrolled the streets of Papakura last night. Ms Collins says it is disturbing that children as young as 12 are drinking hard liquor on the streets and at home.

..Ms Collins says some responsibility for the problem must lie with parents. "A lot of these young people are not getting alcohol from licensed premises," she says. "They are getting it from supermarkets, and friends, and family and parents." Ms Collins says the Government is looking at giving youth court judges the power to order parents whose children continually break the law to get mentored on parenting. "When you've got parents who are supplying their young underage children with alcohol, those parents are failing." Labour says it is not a solution by itself.
http://www.3news.co.nz/News/PoliticalNews/Govt-proposes-courses-for-parents-whose-kids-break-the-law/tabid/419/articleID/100197/Default.aspx?ArticleID=100197

Parental leave options explained
The Southland Times 18 April 2009 
OPINION There still seems to still be confusion around who is entitled to what when it comes to parental leave, writes Mary-Jane Thomas in this week's Work to Rule. Here goes my attempt to make things simple.
Maternity leave: an expectant mother who has worked for the same employer for six months or more (averaging at least 10 hours a week) is entitled to 14 weeks' paid leave. The leave is paid for by the Government. The amount paid is either the employee's normal weekly pay or $325 a week, whichever is the lesser. If she has been working 12 months or more, she is also entitled to a further 8.5 months extended unpaid leave (to make the total time off one year).
Paternal/partner's leave: the father or partner may also be entitled to two weeks' unpaid leave. Again, they must have been working for the employer one year at least 10 hours a week. Generally, paternal leave is to be taken within three weeks either side of the due date, unless the parties agree otherwise. It must be taken in a continuous two-week period.
Sharing leave: if both partners are entitled to leave, the mother may transfer some or all of her extended leave to her partner. The couple can take their leave at the same time or different times, but they must take it within a year of the child's birth (except by agreement).
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/business/2342782/Parental-leave-options-explained

Community group squares of with street prostitutes
NZ Herald Apr 19, 2009
A Papatoetoe community group is fighting to get prostitutes off the area's streets. While Manukau City Council has another crack at making street prostitution illegal, a community group is confronting street walkers and their kerb-crawling customers in a notorious red light area of south Auckland. The Papatoetoe Community Patrol is trying to scare off prostitutes' customers at Hunter's Corner by breaking up their negotiations and warning them of health dangers.

...Last week Manukau City Council's policy and activities committee decided to recommend the council seek amendments to the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 to make street prostitution illegal. In 2006 a bill, sponsored by Manurewa MP George Hawkins, that would have given the council the same powers was defeated in Parliament. A 2005 report by the Prostitution Law Review Committee estimated there were 423 sex workers in Manukau, of whom 150 were on the street. The report also found that street prostitution was the most likely entry point for underage people to the sex industry.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10567403

Alcohol for teenagers 'never safe'
The Age (Australia) April 12, 2009
Teenagers who drank only small amounts of alcohol had a significantly higher risk of abusing alcohol or engaging in risky sexual behaviour as young adults, research has found. The research casts doubt on new national guidelines that suggest there is a low-risk level of drinking for under-18s. It provides evidence for a move away from the harm-minimisation approach and raises questions about the apt legal minimum drinking age, experts say.

A team from Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute says its study, which has tracked 1520 young people's drinking habits over more than 10 years from mid-teens to mid-20s, shows there is no safe or sensible level of drinking for adolescents, in light of later likely events. National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines define a low-risk level of drinking for adults as fewer than three standard drinks a day. The research found teenagers, drinking at even this level, increased their chances of alcohol abuse, social or legal problems or alcohol-related high-risk sexual behaviour, 10 years down the track.

Those who abstained from any alcohol in adolescence experienced fewer (bad) alcohol-related outcomes than those who drank at the recommended level. "We found no evidence of a level that may have been safe," Dr Moore said. The research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, found that by young adulthood, 27 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women met at least one of the criteria for alcohol abuse and risky sexual behaviour.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/alcohol-for-teenagers-never-safe-20090412-a40v.html

Families so busy the only time they spend together is watching TV
Daily Mail (UK) 13th April 2009
Families are so busy that the only time they spend together is in front of the television, a survey has claimed. It found one in ten of those questioned said pressures at home and work meant that the only chance they had to bond was watching TV. Half said they regarded the time spent in front of the box as the best way of catching up, while 12 per cent admitted it was the only time they were together in the same room. The survey of 1,000 families also revealed that 32 per cent watched TV together for two to three times a week, and a third (38 per cent) for up to an hour a night. Only 5 per cent of families said they never watched TV together.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169456/Families-busy-time-spend-watching-TV.html

A Labour u-turn on anti-smacking law?
TVNZ Sunday April 12, 2009
The Labour Party appears to have made a u-turn on the controversial anti-smacking policy. On TVNZ's Q+A program on Sunday, Opposition leader Phil Goff said smacking in a disciplinary context should not be prosecuted. This comes as the party looks to re-brand itself after the election loss and the loss of some very experienced old hands.

...When Paul Holmes asked if a smack, as part of good parental correction, should be a criminal offence in New Zealand, Goff said: "The answer to that is, no, it shouldn't be a criminal offence, or we should not have people following up for a smack in that context." ONE News wanted to know if that meant Labour would support a revoking of the controversial anti-smacking law. But when asked what the Labour Party now stands for, Goff said the same values Labours always had.
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/a-labour-u-turn-anti-smacking-law-2638198

AUDIO

UPDATE: Goff denies smacking reversal
NZ Herald 13 April 2009
Labour leader Phil Goff says the anti-smacking law does not need to be amended or revoked. Mr Goff caused confusion this morning when he was asked on TV One's Q and A programme whether he thought a smack should be allowed as part of good parental correction. "Well my answer to that is no, it shouldn't be a criminal offence or we should not have people following up and prosecuting parents for a smack in that context, but remember 110 out of 122 MPs voted for that legislation including every member of the National Party."

That response sparked Family First, who oppose the law, to put out a statement welcoming the apparent u-turn. Act MP John Boscawen has drafted a member's bill to allow parents to use a light smack to correct their children and Family First director Bob McCoskrie said Labour should now back the Act MP's bill. But Mr Goff said neither his position nor Labour's policy had changed. Labour supported Green MP Sue Bradford's bill to remove the statutory defence of "reasonable force" to correct a child, meaning there would be no justification for the use of force for that purpose.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10566386

Nanny's on the naughty step
Herald on Sunday Apr 12, 2009
Behaviour-control methods such as time-out and sending children to the "naughty step" are unprofessional teaching tactics in preschools, says an Auckland academic. Unitec lecturer Pauline Bishop's comments have left early childhood centres scrambling for answers about what to do with naughty children - while other experts say Bishop is out of step. Bishop, a lecturer with 20 years' experience in early childhood education, told an Early Intervention Association conference in Auckland last week that behaviour-control techniques popularised by TV's Supernanny were unprofessional for teachers. They also breached the United Nations (UN) Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the national curriculum. She said Supernanny's techniques were fine in homes, but not in childhood centres. Rather than punishing children, teachers should be teaching them about their wrongs.

...Parenting guru Ian Grant, of Parents Inc, who has written books and runs seminars, said that time-out and the naughty corner should stay - they taught children the consequences of their actions. "Otherwise they grow up and think the world is theirs," he said. "She [Bishop] comes from an era where the child does the parenting and runs the family. Parents have got to be the big people." He said children "feel and act" and caregivers needed to teach children to "feel, think and act". Giving a child time-out, along with guidance, gave them time to think about their behaviour. However, Grant was not a fan of Supernanny, calling Jo Frost the equivalent of an "A&E of hospitals ... she has to deal with wimpy parents who let them [children] run their lives".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10566284&pnum=0

Parents balk at donations cost 
The Press 11 April 2009 
 Many parents are refusing to pay up as schools increase costs to meet budgets. A new survey covering two-thirds of New Zealand's secondary schools and many primary schools concludes that schools will need to find new ways to stretch resources. The report, released this week, came days after Education Minister Anne Tolley told principals she expected "discipline" on spending. The New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) report, School resources, culture and connections, said funding was identified by parents, teachers, principals and school boards as the single biggest issue.

The survey received responses from almost two-thirds of the nation's state and integrated secondary schools, and from 56 per cent of contacted primary principals. Among the survey's other findings:
* One-quarter of secondary schools (24 per cent) had increased the parent donation requested over the past two years.
* High-decile secondary schools were more likely to have requested a donation increase (38 per cent, compared with 8 per cent of low-decile schools).
* Nearly one in 10 secondary principals reported that more than 70 per cent of parents had not paid the donation. Six out of 10 reported donation payment rates of between 30 per cent and 80 per cent.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/national/2328635/Parents-balk-at-donations-cost

NZ slated on domestic violence
Sunday Star Times 12 April 2009 
New Zealand is about to be shamed by a high-profile international human rights group that says we are not doing enough to turn around our horrific record on domestic violence. he report from New York's prestigious Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice will be presented to the government on Tuesday. But the Sunday Star-Times can reveal it identifies numerous weaknesses in our domestic violence laws and policies.

The authors, all international human rights experts, have made 27 recommendations, focusing on:
improving the way we monitor domestic violence
providing greater support for victims and offenders after violence happens, and
doing more to protect Maori women in particular.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/2329870/NZ-slated-on-domestic-violence

City sex bylaw fight reignites
Waikato Times 06 April 2009 
Hamilton's sex-in-the-suburbs stoush looks set for another round. The city council's 2004 prostitution bylaw is up for review and will go out for public consultation following a full council meeting this week. Sex workers and some advocacy groups want the bylaw abolished because they say it forces the industry underground and makes for an unsafe working environment. But opponents want the tough rules, which ban sex workers and brothels from operating in residential areas, to stay put and thinking the bylaw is doing a good job.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/2317286/City-sex-bylaw-fight-reignites

Next: career counselling for toddlers (Aust)
The Australian April 04, 2009
Toddlers in daycare should be given early career counselling, Principals Australia has told the committee drawing up the nation's first childcare curriculum. The call comes as the state and territory children's commissioners caution against pushing academic-based teaching on children still in nappies. And a leading childcare operator insists it is "crazy stuff" to start telling pre-schoolers about their career options.

Kate Castine, who runs the Principals Australia career education project on behalf of the federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, is calling for "career development concepts" to be included in the new curriculum to be introduced nationally by July 1. Her concern is that little children rarely think beyond what their parents and relatives do for a living.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25286978-12332,00.html

Play in, politics out for new early learning manifesto (Aust)
The Australian April 02, 2009
THE federal Government has torn up its politically correct curriculum for children in daycare, quietly replacing it with a family-friendly guide for carers and parents. The revised "early years learning framework", to be introduced nationally on July 1, bears little resemblance to the original version, which was criticised for its academic jargon and focus on social engineering. In place of the original description of child's play as "a space for politics and power relations", the new document states that "play enables children to simply enjoy being".

"It can also provide opportunities for children to learn as they discover, create, improvise and imagine," it says. "(They) use play to investigate, imagine and try out ideas." The new version also scraps any reference to babies, toddlers and kindergarten kids discriminating on the grounds of sexuality. And it removes the reference to toddlers "enacting custodianship of the planet and encouraging environmental sustainability". Instead, it says children can care for the environment by recycling, gardening, turning off running taps and cleaning up litter. Discussion of "civic participation" and "reconciliation" has vanished from the new version, which highlights the importance of playing outdoors, storytelling, drawing and singing nursery rhymes.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25277353-601,00.html

Parents are to blame for the problems in schools, teachers claim (UK)
Daily Mail (UK) 05th April 2009
Teachers have attacked parents and claimed they are responsible for the problems in Britain's schools. Dr Mary Bousted from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers blames parents for children arriving at school with problems and claims they often undermine teachers. In a devastating broadside, she accused parents of increasingly neglecting their childrearing responsibilities and expecting schools to step into the breach. Dr Mary Bousted of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said children were arriving at school socially undeveloped.

She said that parents expect teachers to take responsibility to socially educate and control their children, and as a result, children were starting school unable to dress themselves, unable to use the toilet properly and unused to eating at a table. Dr Bousted cited one case of a mother who blamed the school when her 14-year-old daughter became pregnant and another who blamed staff for her 16-year-old's cannabis habit. 'We know that far too many children are behaving badly at school, even to the point of being violent to staff,' she said. 'This is horrifying enough, but it is hard to be surprised since many are just mirroring their parents.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167630/Parents-blame-problems-British-schools-teachers-claim.html#

Authority rejects call for changes to billboard advertising
Radio New Zealand 5 April 2009
Advertising Standards Authority chairperson Rick Osborne says there is no need to tighten the regulations governing billboard advertisements. Bob McCoskrie who is spokesperson for the lobby group Family First says a vetting system is needed to prevent children being exposed to offensive advertising. He says the most recent case of a promotion in central Wellington for sex toys is proof the system doesn't work. But Mr Osborne says any member of the public can complain about an advertisement, and the ad is always withdrawn if it's found to breach advertising codes.

He says regulating what material is or isn't offensive before publication would be too complicated. Mr Osborne says it's difficult to judge what people may find offensive, because opinions vary widely. But Mr McCoskrie says a complaints process is only available after an advertisement appears and by then it's too late. He says when advertising is in the public domain, such as with billboards, there needs to be a higher standard than for targetted advertising such as that in a magazine. Mr McCoskrie says a vetting system is needed that will prevent distasteful advertising from appearing in the first place.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/04/05/1245a975145e

Sex shop's vision of ecstasy angers church
The Dominion Post 04/04/2009 
A sex shop advertisement featuring a group of churchgoers has caused more agony than ecstasy for the Catholic Church. On a billboard ad for D.Vice designer sex gear, four parishioners are pictured in a church. Three have their eyes closed, hands clasped, praying but the fourth, a woman, is smiling and below her is a tagline describing a sexual aid and its price.

Wellington Catholic Archbishop John Dew said it was "unnecessary and distasteful" to associate a church with a sex shop device. "It is an insult to anyone who recognises a church as a sacred gathering place for believers in God and a place of prayer." D.Vice director Wendy Lee said the campaign and billboard in Cable St, Wellington, was meant to make people laugh and was not intended to offend.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/wellington/2313572/Sex-shops-vision-of-ecstasy-angers-church

Sex slaves may be working in NZ, officials say
NZ Herald Apr 04, 2009
Immigration officials admit that women could be working undetected as sex slaves in New Zealand, despite previous assurances that there is no evidence of a problem. The Cabinet will be asked to set up a taskforce involving seven Government departments to stop human trafficking in this country.

The action plan follows criticism in United States intelligence reports, which name New Zealand as a destination for traffickers from Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and other Asian countries. Police and advocates for change believe it is likely the trade exists here and has become harder to detect since the liberalisation of prostitution laws in 2003. Fear of reprisals can stop victims speaking up.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10565125&pnum=0

School 'no place' for Supernanny techniques
The Press Last 04 April 2009 
Television's Supernanny has been sent to the naughty step. Behaviour-control techniques popularised by the TV disciplinarian have spread to preschools despite being in breach of the United Nations (UN) Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the national curriculum Te Whariki, an Auckland academic says. Pauline Bishop, a Unitec lecturer with 20 years experience in early childhood education, this week told the Early Intervention Association conference in Auckland that Supernanny techniques were unprofessional for teachers.

"What you're really doing is you're punishing the child for doing something that is not appropriate, instead of teaching them, which is our mandate," Bishop said. "It could be quite traumatic for children they might have hit somebody because they didn't understand or they couldn't communicate so they lashed out. Instead of teaching them a way of communicating, we're punishing them by putting them on a naughty chair and giving them time out." Bishop said the Supernanny techniques were OK in the home but did not belong at early childhood centres.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/2313817/School-no-place-for-Supernanny-techniques
READ Anti-Correction Movement Pushes Boundaries of Good Practice by Family First's Sue Reid " The use of time-out is questioned in its use within early childhood centres, yet it is a simple, effective method and there are times when a child must be removed from other children as they can be a danger to others."

Child risk prompts swift law change
The Dominion Post 03 April 2009 
 The Government has moved to close a legal loophole with a law to monitor child-sex offenders electronically for up to 10 years after they leave prison. MPs took the rare step last night of allowing legislation to be introduced and made law in one sitting after Justice Minister Simon Power said the legal loophole posed an "unacceptable risk" to children.

Mr Power said law changes in 2007 had inadvertently threatened the ability of authorities to impose conditions on paroled sex offenders, such as where they could live, without their consent. That would have led to a bizarre situation in which freed child-sex offenders would have had to agree to rules being put in place. "That's just unacceptable and obviously nonsensical if we were to have legislation that would keep our children safe."

The 2007 changes had also created uncertainty around the length of time electronically monitored curfews could be imposed on child-sex offenders once they left prison. It appeared they could be imposed only for the first 12 months.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2311280/Child-risk-prompts-swift-law-change

Call to give fathers four months' parental leave (UK)
Evening Standard 31 March 09
New mothers should get less time off work and new fathers more, says a report out today. The study, by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has suggested statutory maternity leave be cut from nine months of paid leave to six, with an optional four months "parental leave" for fathers. The group believes the changes would shift perceptions that only mothers looked after children as well as prevent women struggling in the workplace and being seen as less attractive employees.

Equality and Human Rights Commission chief executive Nicola Brewer said: "Changing the way we approach parental leave could be one way of tackling the gender pay gap." The report wants fathers to be able to tag-on the extra paternity leave after the mother's six months of maternity leave finishes.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23668550-details/Call+to+give+fathers+four+months'+parental+leave/article.do

Sex-in-city bylaw set to stay
Waikato Times 01 April 2009
 Hamilton looks like it'll keep a tight rein on sex in the city. The city's prostitution bylaw, which is under review, restricts sex workers to designated areas within the central city. That is likely to remain unchanged despite concerns from the Waikato District Health Board and the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective that the bylaw has pushed the city's sex industry underground. The controversial 2004 bylaw was put in place after the Prostitution Reform Act was passed by parliament in 2003.

A staff report recommending the bylaw stay in place was approved by the city council's city development committee meeting yesterday. But the health board's medical officer of health Dr Dell Hood believed it was defeating the purpose of the Act by forcing sex workers to act illegally outside the designated brothel areas. In her submission she wrote: "I support the council in permitting private sex worker residences to operate anywhere in the city. "I am concerned that bylaws passed by other local authorities prohibiting `small, owner-operated brothels' from operating in residential areas may prove to drive this sector of the sex industry underground." Her comments were echoed by the prostitutes' collective and sex workers.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/2306889/Sex-in-city-bylaw-set-to-stay

Bylaw aims to stamp out sexual service signs
The Press 02 April 2009 
A proposed bylaw banning brothels across Christchurch from using signage to advertise sexual services is being considered by Christchurch City councillors. However, the wording allowed on the signs may have to be tested in court. Ambiguous signage like "Girls Girls Girls" or "Two girls for $40" could create legal headaches, said Christchurch City Council environmental health principal adviser Terry Moody. The signs do not explicitly advertise commercial sexual services and so if they were banned by the council, the decision may have to be tested in court, he said. "If there was an argument about whether a sign was advertising commercial sexual services that would have to be tested either in court or elsewhere," he said.

The new bylaw, to be considered by the council regulatory and planning committee today, allows brothels to advertise their name and address on a sign, but not commercial sexual services. Previously, all brothel signage was banned outside a defined area in the city centre, but only signs featuring the name and address of a brothel were allowed within the city centre. The new bylaw would also give the council power to control billboards and signs not attached to brothel buildings. Moody said the bylaw was being introduced as councillors felt "any advertising for sexual services would be offensive to members of the public".
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2308650/Bylaw-aims-to-stamp-out-sexual-service-signs

Too many kids spend little time outdoors
Reuters Health Mar 27, 2009
Many children spend too little time outdoors and too much time in front of the TV -- and a lack of suitable outdoor spaces seems partly to blame, an Australian study suggests. The study, of nearly 1,400 10- to 12-year-olds, found that 37 percent typically spent a half-hour or less being active outside. Few were outdoors for two hours or more on a typical day. On the other hand, researchers found, many children devoted at least two hours per day to the TV or computer screen, with 49 percent of boys and 36 percent of girls doing so. The researchers did find, however, that certain children were more likely to play outdoors for more than a half-hour at a time -- namely, those whose parents allowed them to walk around their neighborhood on their own.

The finding suggests that when parents think their neighborhood is safe, children are more likely to get outdoor exercise, according to Dr. Li Ming Wen and colleagues at the Sydney South West Area Health Service and the University of Sydney. If more neighborhoods were safe, clean, walkable and offered public areas where children could play, Wen told Reuters Health, that might allay parents' concerns and help kids be regularly active. The findings, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, add to evidence of the importance of neighborhood surroundings on people's activity levels.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52Q3TQ20090327

CDHB focus on abuse of pregnant women
The Press 31 March 2009 
Canterbury hospitals are intensifying their fight against domestic violence as figures show one in six pregnant women is physically abused. The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) is hiring a family violence co-ordinator to review all relevant policies. Experts say abuse is at epidemic proportions in New Zealand, and doctors and midwives are well placed to detect it.

Research cited in the latest edition of CDHB magazine HealthFirst showed that up to one in six women was abused during pregnancy in New Zealand. The board executive in charge of the new family-violence role, Hector Matthews, said the co-ordinator's role was established because of high-profile deaths of women and children around the country.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/2302648/CDHB-focus-on-abuse-of-pregnant-women

Playcentre struggles without funding
NZ Herald Mar 31, 2009
Playcentre is losing families to other early childhood educators because of a lack of funding to support its structure. The parent-run centres for babies to 6-year-olds are disappointed they will not be included in the Ministry of Education's 20 Hours funding scheme, or receive any extra funding to support mounting costs. Before the election, National promised to include Playcentre in the 20 Hour early childhood education policy, but a recent meeting with Education Minister Anne Tolley confirmed any boost in funding would not be part of this budget cycle.

Playcentre national president Marion Pilkington said this could see centres closing, particularly in areas where they struggle to keep up the numbers such as east Waikato. There are about 15,000 children and 11,000 families aligned to one of the 500 Playcentres around the country. Mrs Pilkington said Playcentre was built on the belief that parents were the best educators for their children. She said the Government had also spoken about the importance of parents in early childhood education. "We are disappointed that despite these assurances, the election promise is not yet being kept." The inclusion of Playcentre in the 20 Hours policy would put the service on an equal footing with other early childhood providers, she said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10564412

David Cameron: family values the key to responsible society 
 Telegraph (UK) 29 Mar 2009 
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has said that the restoration of family values and a new commitment to economic and social responsibility are key to repairing "broken Britain". He promised that a Tory government would "lead by example," by paying off public debt and curbing spending while supporting parents, teachers and doctors to take the right decisions. And he delivered a hard-hitting attack on irresponsible benefits cheats and bankers, saying that the culture of relying on others and thinking only of oneself "must end".

 In a speech to the Welsh Conservative conference in Cardiff, he said: "We've seen too many of the ugly things that happen when people duck responsibility: the father who leaves a mother and child to fend for themselves, the banker who clamours for his bonus when he's bust the bank. "The healthy welfare claimant who thinks it's OK to live off benefits paid by others or the businessman who puts profits before the planet. All this irresponsibility must end." He added: "That is our mission: to help build a responsible society where government leads by example and lives within its means."

...Families would be put at the fore-front of the Government's policy making, with Mr Cameron stressing his belief in the importance of marriage and supporting parents. He said: "We want to see a more responsible society, where people behave in a decent and civilised way, where they understand their obligations to others, to their neighbours, to their country. And above all, to their family. Families are the most important institution in our society. We have to do everything in our power to strengthen them."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/5070968/David-Cameron-family-values-the-key-to-responsible-society.html

Vaccine bid on children (Aust)
Sunday Herald Sun March 29, 2009
EVERY Australian child would be vaccinated against the flu under a plan being proposed by leading infant health experts. The push comes after a trial of pediatric influenza vaccinations reduced hospitalisations for flu in under-5s by almost 90 per cent. And it follows new data showing flu rates in children under two are now seven times higher than for the elderly. The immunisation trial, carried out in Western Australia, was the first in Australia.

The results, released during the week, showed two doses of the vaccine were 88 per cent effective at preventing hospital admission with an influenza-related condition in those younger than five years. And laboratory-confirmed influenza among young children was almost halved in flu season compared with the previous year, the 2008 trial showed. Royal Children's Hospital pediatric infectious diseases physician Jim Buttery said the trial indicated parents were receptive to the benefits of an influenza vaccination.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25256288-662,00.html

Teachers given cane go-ahead (Australia)
The Australian March 29, 2009
THE cane is still being wielded at some Queensland schools where parents sign legal waivers to give teachers the power to hit their children. The corporal punishment option is offered at some of the state's fastest-growing independent schools as part of their strict behaviour management strategies. Religious beliefs are used to justify discipline at some schools. With more than 55,000 suspensions handed out at state schools last financial year - a jump of more than 20 per cent in two years - Independent Schools Queensland has reported growing support for private schools catering for the "disengaged and at-risk" school sector.

Bundaberg Christian College principal Mark Bensley said corporal punishment had become a drawcard for some parents because of a "lack of boundaries" at other schools. "A growing number of parents come to our school and say the school got their attention because it uses the paddle," Mr Bensley said. "If they choose to not sign it (the waiver), they are not refused enrolment. But a very significant majority of parents sign because they like that we understand the need for boundaries, fairness and consistency." Mr Bensley said the plastic paddle - shaped like a table-tennis bat - was a "last resort" when suspensions, detentions and warnings had failed. The school, which has 600 students in Prep to Year 12, gave the paddle 10 times last year and seven times in 2007, he said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25258430-5006786,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25257713-952,00.html

Sudden surge in child abuse cases
Sunday Star Times 29 March 2009
Record numbers violently abused South Auckland babies have been hospitalised with severe injuries in recent weeks, shocking police and child welfare agencies and leading to speculation that the economic recession is contributing.

Detective Inspector Mark Gutry, of Counties-Manukau police, told the Sunday Star-Times that investigations had been launched into the cases of seven babies who were admitted to Auckland's Starship hospital in the past six weeks with suspected non-accidental injuries. The number was far above the region's average of one abused baby admitted every six weeks with severe non-accidental injuries and Gutry believed it was a record high.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2299592/Sudden-surge-in-child-abuse-cases

Kiwi women falling asleep on the job
Herald on Sunday Mar 29, 2009
New Zealand women are in the midst of an exhaustion "epidemic", with hundreds barely getting any shut-eye between working two jobs and looking after their families. Sleep experts say "supermums" are putting their health at risk by trying to do it all. Dr Alex Bartle, of the Sleep Well Clinic in Auckland, said office workers, people working indoors and shift-workers are at high risk of developing cancer, heart disease, obesity and workplace injuries by not allowing themselves seven to eight hours sleep each night. He sees between 15 and 20 new patients a week suffering from insomnia and sleep apnoea - where people stop breathing while asleep.

"Young mums are a huge issue because they are trying to be supermums and do it all at once. There are a lot more opportunities for women and plenty more are entering the workforce but doing all these things leads to all sorts of anxiety and sleep issues. I see a lot of women trying to juggle everything and it's a huge problem," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10564116

READ "Extended Childcare No Miracle for Children - Or Mums!" by Bob McCoskrie - Family First

Why shouting at your children is as bad as smacking them (UK)
Mail Online 28th March 2009
At this rate, the only weapon left for parents dealing with extremely difficult children will be a nasty look. For it seems that shouting at your offspring could follow smacking in falling foul of political correctness. Parents are now worried that they are letting their children down when they raise their voices to tell them off and fear they could be accused of losing their cool. The issue is the subject of a BBC Radio 4 series on parenthood, Bringing Up Britain. The first episode will tackle the issue of shouting and disciplining children. Professor Stephen Scott, of the National Association of Parenting Practitioners, tells the programme that the issue of shouting at children had become an increasing worry. He added that youngsters needed to experience some shouting in order to prepare themselves for the outside world, where they would meet people who were passionate or emotional. Professor Scott did warn, however, there was a point when shouting at children became destructive - particularly if it is repeated and personal.

Scientists in the US are starting to look at the impact of verbal abuse alone on young people. Sue Gerhardt, a psychotherapist who has researched how early experience shapes babies' brains, told the show: 'We can learn from science when parenting. The fact is extreme levels of stress affect the development of young children’s brains. 'If you have chronic stress levels - which happens when real fear is generated - over time this will increase the stress hormone cortisol, [which] affects brain development. It is linked with aggression and depression.’

...The concerns over shouting follow years of wrangling between children’s charities, parents and the government over smacking. It has become an increasing taboo despite the fact that many parents privately believe it is an acceptable way to discipline children. Under the law, mild smacking is allowed but parents who hit children hard enough to leave a mark face up to five years' imprisonment.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1165369/Why-shouting-children-bad-smacking-them.html#

Anger as child porn offenders spared jail
The Press 27 March 2009
Outrage is growing over a failure to jail child-pornography offenders in the wake of a home-detention sentence for a man possessing more than 100 pornographic images of infants as young as 18 months. The Department of Internal Affairs says fewer than half the nation's convicted child-pornography offenders are being jailed. It says the low rate of imprisonment in the face of a "plague" of child pornography that is getting "far more violent" and "sicker", and with younger victims, is infuriating. Internal Affairs deputy secretary Keith Manch yesterday told a conference in Auckland that only 24 of 56 offenders eligible for imprisonment in the past two years were jailed. The remainder got home detention, fines or community work.

"Home detention is completely inappropriate as a sentence; after all, that is exactly where the offending occurred in the first place and without adequate monitoring it will be virtually impossible to stop them accessing the internet," Manch said. On Wednesday, a former Temuka taxi driver, Cornelius Baars, 62, was sentenced to five months home detention and 100 hours community work on two charges of possession of objectionable material. Over two to three years, Baars had downloaded 116 objectionable images, mostly of pre-pubescent children, some as young as 18 months.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2294950/Anger-as-offenders-spared-jail

Drug treatment for young people 'should involve whole family'
guardian.co.uk 24 March 2009
Projects to help young people who are misusing drugs should work with the whole family, says a report published today. Drug treatment charity Addaction wants treatment for young people to be tailored to their needs, to be more flexible – and to involve their whole family. While the government and drug treatment agencies have been moving steadily towards the idea of working with the families of drug users, there has been little hard evidence of the success of such an approach. But Addaction's report, Closing the Gaps, out today, provides just such evidence, according to the charity. It acknowledges the project is based on relatively small numbers of people – 386 young people and 341 family members – but says the results provide sound evidence for the approach. "For those interested in what works in this area, these results are really notable," said an Addaction spokeswoman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/24/family-drugs-treatment/print

Majority of doctors opposed to assisted suicide (UK)
guardian.co.uk 24 March 2009
Doctors very rarely help anyone who is terminally ill to die and two-thirds are opposed to changing the law to allow them to do so, new research reveals today. In only around one in 200 deaths have doctors given a patient a drug with the explicit intention of speeding their end, according to a survey on British social attitudes by Prof Clive Seale from the Centre for Health Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, which updates similar work he did in 2004.

Where doctors have helped a patient to a faster escape from their pain or distress, most say they have not shortened life by more than 24 hours and nine out of 10 say their actions hastened death by less than a week. Doctors who admit to it say they had the full collaboration of the patient and family. The revelations of the limited scale of assisted dying in the UK are published in the journal Palliative Medicine alongside a separate study of doctors' attitudes towards euthanasia, which shows they are substantially out of line with public opinion.

Only a third of doctors (34%) are in favour of the legalisation of euthanasia and 35% in favour of assisted suicide, Seale's work shows. That contrasts with 82% and 62% respectively of the general public who were asked exactly the same questions in the survey. The fundamental difference of opinion is important, says Seale, because governments who have passed laws to enable assisted dying have only done so with the support of the medical profession, as happened in the Netherlands.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/24/assisted-suicide-euthanasia-doctors/print

Porn king vows 'I'll be back'
Auckland City Harbour News 20 March 2009 
The organiser of Auckland’s controversial Boobs on Bikes parade is determined the event will go ahead in September, despite new moves to stop it. The Auckland City Council wants a legislative change to allow local authorities to refuse permission for events like the parade and is looking at ways to amend its public places bylaw. Pornographer Steve Crow says whatever the outcome, it won’t stop the parade. "My attitude is whatever they are trying to do is obviously a direct attack on the Bill of Rights. I’m not going to take any notice whatsoever of whatever they dream up next."

The council took the case to the Auckland District Court last year in a bid to stop Boobs on Bikes, but Judge Nicola Mathers ruled it was not unlawful for women to walk down the street topless. Mr Crow says he will proceed under the Bill of Rights and if he is arrested, the council will have a "High Court fight on its hands". The council was planning to seek a declaratory judgement from the High Court, but voted to abandon the plan at last week’s city development committee meeting. Instead, councillors voted to write to the local government minister to seek a legislative change and look into ways of changing its bylaw.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/auckland-city-harbour-news/2277147/Porn-king-vows-I-ll-be-back

Relationships under stress
Whangarei Leader 10 March 2009 
More people are seeking relationship advice as a result of financial stress brought on by the recession. Relationship Services Te Tai Tokerau area manager Jean Beazley says there’s been a significant increase in the number of people in Whangarei seeking relationship support and counselling because of the impact the recession is having on them. She says there has also been a large increase in the number of reported domestic violence cases.

According to relationship services statistics, in the six months to January, there have been 304 cases of domestic and family violence reported, significantly up from 100 during the same period a year ago. A recent survey conducted by Consumer Link – a division of Colmar Brunton – shows one in four New Zealand women say the economic environment is having a detrimental affect on their relationships and almost one in five men agreed financial stress had put a dampener on their relationships.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/northland/local-news/whangarei-leader/2178210/Relationships-under-stress

Smacking debate row reignites
The Dominion Post 23 March 2009 
The smacking debate has reignited as both sides prepare for a war of words ahead of a referendum on whether the physical punishment of children should be allowed. Child welfare agencies have banded together to counter what they say is misinformation about the 2007 law change, which effectively banned smacking by removing the defence of "reasonable force". The coalition includes Barnardos, Save the Children, Plunket, Unicef, the National Collective of Women's Refuges, Childspace, Jigsaw and Epoch, a small voluntary organisation.

It is shaping up against the lobby group Family First and others championing a referendum on whether smacking as part of good parental discipline for children should be a criminal offence. The referendum will be held by postal ballot in August. It could be preceded by a planned private member's bill from ACT MP John Boscawen, which would allow parents to use reasonable force to discipline their children within clearly defined limits. If the bill is drawn before the referendum, it could cause discomfort for National, which supported the smacking ban legislation after it was changed to give police discretion on prosecuting. Prime Minister John Key has said the law will not be changed back unless a review shows good parents are being prosecuted for light smacking.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2283387/Smacking-debate-row-reignites

Webster's dictionary redefines 'marriage'
Now includes references to same-sex relationships
World Net Daily March 17, 2009
One of the nation's most prominent dictionary companies has resolved the argument over whether the term "marriage" should apply to same-sex duos or be reserved for the institution that has held families together for millennia: by simply writing a new definition.

..The new definition references "marriage" as the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife. But the definition also includes "the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage." ... A dictionary version from 1913 that has been posted online not only didn't mention same-sex "marriage," it supplemented its definition of traditional marriage with references from the Bible.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91995

EU bans use of 'Miss' and 'Mrs' (and sportsmen and statesmen) because it claims they are sexist
Daily Mail (UK) 16th March 2009
Using 'Miss' and 'Mrs' has been banned by leaders of the European Union because they are not considered politically correct. Brussels bureaucrats have decided the words are sexist and issued new guidelines in its bid to create 'gender-neutral' language. The booklet warns European politicians they must avoid referring to a woman's marital status. This also means Madame and Mademoiselle, Frau and Fraulein and Senora and Senorita are banned.

And the rules have not stopped there - they also ban MEPs saying sportsmen and statesmen, advising athletes and political leaders should be used instead.
Man-made is also taboo - it should be artificial or synthetic, firemen is disallowed and air hostesses should be called flight attendants. Headmasters and headmistresses must be heads or head teachers, laymen becomes layperson, and manageress or mayoress should be manager or mayor. Police officers must be used instead of policeman and policewoman unless the officer's sex is relevant. The only problem words that do not fit into the guidelines are waiter and waitress, which means MEPs are at least spared one worry when ordering a coffee.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1162384/EU-bans-use-Miss-Mrs-sportsmen-statesmen-claims-sexist.html#

Plan to change smacking law
Dominion Post 19 March 2009
ACT MP John Boscawen is going to try to amend the anti-smacking law by bringing a member's bill to Parliament. He said today his bill would allow parents to use a light smack to correct their children. "In an attempt to curb child abuse, this law has simply criminalised law-abiding parents and removed their freedom to decide how best to raise their children - something ACT has consistently opposed," he said. "The Labour 'we know best' government is out and National is now in. Perhaps we will now begin to see an end to the madness of the past nine years where politicians saw fit to tell New Zealanders how to live their lives."

Mr Boscawen said a survey released yesterday showed 77 percent of 1000 people questioned felt the law should be changed. The law bans smacking for correctional purposes.

..Family First, the organisation which opposed the law and ran yesterday's survey, welcomed Mr Boscawen's bill. "This flawed law has attempted to link a smack on the bottom with child abuse of the worst kind," said national director Bob McCoskrie. It has put good parents raising law-abiding and responsible citizens in the same category as rotten parents who are a danger to their kids and to society in general." Mr McCoskrie said the child abuse rate had continued unabated since the law was passed, with 12 deaths in the last 21 months. He said National should adopt Mr Boscawen's bill as a government bill.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/2276646/Plan-to-change-smacking-law

Teens refuse vaccine
The Timaru Herald 19 March 2009
Less than 50 per cent of South Canterbury schoolgirls aged between 12 and 16 have consented to have the HPV vaccination. Public health nurses have passed the halfway point in vaccinating against human papillomavirus (HPV). About 130 HPV types have been identified. Some HPV types can cause warts or some types of cancer, while others have no symptoms. South Canterbury District Health Board clinical leader of public health nursing, Judy Cooper, said 16 schools had received visits from public health nurses over the past two weeks to vaccinate girls aged between 12 and 18. Girls younger than 16 require parental consent.

This is the second-phase of the immunisation programme rolled out from March 2. By tomorrow, all schools with girls participating in the HPV vaccination programme will have been visited for the first dose. So far 76 per cent of consent forms have been returned by students, Ms Cooper said. Of those returned, 49 per cent had consented to the vaccine. She expected this figure to rise above 50 per cent as more forms came back.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/2275128/Teens-refuse-vaccine

Lobby group claims public confused about 'anti-smacking' law
TV3 News 18 Mar 2009
A lobby group campaigning for the repeal of anti-smacking legislation has released survey findings showing many parents are confused about the law change. In research commissioned by Family First NZ, respondents were asked whether the new law made it always illegal for parents to give their children a light smack.

As the law stands there are some circumstances where a light smack would not break the law. Fifty-five percent of the 1000 people surveyed thought it was always illegal, 31 percent thought it wasn't, and 14 percent did not know. "This proves just how confusing the law is to parents and it is this confusion that is causing huge harm," said Family First national director Bob McCoskrie.
http://www.3news.co.nz/News/PoliticalNews/Lobby-group-claims-public-confused-about-anti-smacking-law/tabid/419/articleID/95946/cat/68/Default.aspx

Marry for life, but divorce is OK (Poll - Australia)
Sydney Morning Herald March 18, 2009
Marriage is for life, right? Most Australians agree with the proposition. But most also think it is perfectly all right for unhappy couples to divorce, even if they have children. The apparently contradictory attitudes emerged in a survey of 11,325 Australians, published in the latest Family Relationships Quarterly newsletter. Roughly half the men (51 per cent) and women (56 per cent) agreed either strongly or moderately with the statement that "marriage is a lifetime relationship and should never be ended".

But an even bigger proportion of the same group (63 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women) thought it was "all right for a couple with an unhappy marriage to get a divorce, even if they have children". Almost 30 per cent of the men and women endorsed both views - that marriage was "until death us do part" but divorce was an acceptable escape route.

Ruth Weston, principal research fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies and co-author of the study with Lixia Qu, thinks she understands the seeming contradiction. "People believe you have to go into marriage thinking it is for life," she said. "They believe marriage should be a serious commitment. But they acknowledge the ideal may not pan out, hopes will be dashed, and as the course of the marriage unfolds, the ideal may need to be set aside." The study shows only 24 per cent of Australians hold consistently anti-divorce views.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/17/1237054825876.html

Radical plan to tackle school bullies
Sunday Star Times 15 March 09
Schools could combat bullying by shortening lunch breaks and releasing classes at different times, says a top-level inquiry that will go public tomorrow. The inquiry also warns that victims could sue teachers and schools that are slack in dealing with bullying. It follows the 2007 Hutt Valley High School scandal where boys were chased, dragged to the ground and violated. The boys' parents called for an investigation, and tomorrow the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) will present their findings to a school violence summit in Wellington. The findings were released exclusively to the Sunday Star-Times.

The HRC paper says there are "glaring gaps" in the national guidelines that schools use to deal with bullying. In particular, the guidelines don't stipulate that parents must be informed when a child is bullied at school. The HRC says that should be mandatory. It also raises concerns about whether the Education Review Office (ERO), which oversees schools' anti-bullying systems, is up to the job.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2263260/Radical-plan-to-tackle-school-bullies 

Charlotte backs mum on vaccine
Waikato Times 14 March 2009
There's been a lot of debate around the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, but Hamilton teenager Charlotte Dumble sums it up simply and succinctly. "I heard about it through my mum because she really wanted me to get it so that I don't get cervical cancer." "Mum" is not your average parent though she's Waikato Hospital medical officer of health Dr Felicity Dumble. "Having a public health doctor as a mother is a difficult thing," Dr Dumble says. "She gets all the talks, not just about HPV and immunisation but also about alcohol, drugs, smoking and the rest." Dr Dumble does not recommend immunisations like the HPV vaccine "willy nilly" though, but rather because of the fact she believes it will save lives.

....But critics have queried the effectiveness of the vaccine in tackling cervical cancer. Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said last year there was still a lack of sufficient evidence behind the relatively short clinical trials of the vaccine. He said overseas medical journals pointed out researchers had not demonstrated how long immunity of the vaccine would last, or whether eliminating some strains of the cancer-causing virus would decrease the body's natural immunity to other strains. Mr McCoskrie, on the other hand. believes the best strategy for preventing HPV in teenagers is for them to postpone sex and "promote abstinence". "We are accepting by default that kids are going to be sexually active at a time that is not suitable or safe for them," he said. "Young people deserve good advice not vaccines for at-risk behaviour."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/2260381/Charlotte-backs-mum-on-vaccine

DB Breweries' porn billboard sparks protest
NZ Herald Mar 13, 2009
A billboard asking "Would you rather watch porn with your Mum or your sister?", has sparked calls for stricter controls on outdoor advertising. The billboard in Hamilton's CBD advertises a pre-mixed drink made by DB Breweries. Advocacy group Voice Waikato has put up a sign in response saying "This is offensive - porn hurts women and children." The controversial billboard sparked furious debate on talk-back radio this morning.

Family First NZ today backed Voice Waikato, saying the billboard glorified pornography and could be seen by children and families. "It is offensive to many, and ignores the harm that pornography is doing in our community and the contribution it makes to family breakdown, addiction, aggressive sexual behaviour, sex role stereotyping, and viewing people simply as sexual objects," national director Bob McCroskie said. He said the billboard's publication showed advertisers were ignoring the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a watchdog that he said was viewed as "a toothless wonder."

Family First has called for a committee to be established to pre-approve billboards. Mr McCroskie said the committee should include specialists to advocate for the protection of children and families from offensive billboards. "Families are sick to death of being confronted with offensive material as they drive along motorways and through city streets."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10561488

Abortion pill plan
The Press 11 March 2009 
South Island women could soon be able to get an abortion without going to hospital or an abortion clinic. Family Planning yesterday announced it had applied to the Abortion Supervisory Committee for a licence to dispense abortion pills. The Family First lobby group said it was concerned about the conflict of interest in clinics that gave women advice on pregnancies also dispensing the abortion pills.

New Zealand Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond said the abortion pill, the drug mifegyne, allowed women less than nine weeks' pregnant to get an abortion without going to hospital for surgery. Only district health boards in certain cities can currently dispense the pills... Family First director Bob McCroskie said he was alarmed at the prospect of the pill. "This will mean that Family Planning will be able to talk women into having abortions, and then carry the procedure out on them ... there is a huge conflict of interest here. Those offering advice shouldn't be the ones performing the abortions." McCroskie said he was concerned about the pills' effects on women's health.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/national/2253205/Abortion-pill-plan

Family Planning Launches Sex Shop
The Press 11 March 2009
Family Planning is hoping to create a buzz by selling vibrators on its website in a bid to top up Government funding. It has launched a web shop that sells condoms, lubricants, and vibrators. New Zealand Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond said the shop provided for those unable to buy the goods (such as those in rural areas or with disabilities) or for those who were too embarrassed.

"We are aware that there is a significant market for these products and that many people will appreciate the ease of access that a web shop offers." Edmond said it was lucky to have ongoing Government contracts, but there was always the need for funding to provide additional programmes.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/national/2253405/Planning-for-a-buzz

Regular Family Meals Result In Better Eating Habits For Adolescents
ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2009)
Good eating habits can result when families eat together. In the March/April 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, researchers from the School of Public Health, University of Minnesota report on one of the first studies to examine the long-term benefits of regular family meals for diet quality during the transition from early to middle adolescence. In general, the study found adolescents who participated in regular family meals reported more healthful diets and meal patterns compared to adolescents without regular family meals.

Data were drawn from Project EAT, a population-based, longitudinal study designed to examine socioenvironmental, personal, and behavioral determinants of dietary intake and weight status among an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents. Young adolescents completed classroom surveys and a questionnaire in 1998 and 1999 when they were about 12 to 13 years old (referred to as Time 1), and then completed a further round as middle adolescents five years later (Time 2). The study sample included 303 male and 374 female adolescents.

Regular family meals, defined as five or more meals together per week, declined over time. Sixty percent of youth had regular family meals during early adolescence compared to 30% during middle adolescence. Having regular family meals at both Time 1 and Time 2 was associated with greater frequency of consuming breakfast and dinner meals and increased intakes of vegetables, calcium-rich food, dietary fiber, and several nutrients including calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc five years later. An important finding is that although adolescents with regular family meals at both Time 1 and Time 2 had better diet quality, on average, overall dietary adequacy was not achieved for the entire study sample.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309104710.htm

U-turn on cervical cancer tests for young women (UK)
Independent Online March 8, 2009  
Cancer tests that could save the lives of scores of young women are set to return, five years after they were cut amid controversy, health chiefs confirmed yesterday. Ministers are considering the return of cervical cancer screening for women under 25, after having restricted the tests to older women. The Government raised the age for routine smear tests from 20 to 25 in 2004, after a study by Cancer Research UK, Britain's largest cancer charity, found that the incidence of the disease in teenage girls was very rare. It claimed the risk to women under 25 was so low that screening might actually do more harm than good. Now ministers have agreed to rethink the decision after campaigners highlighted a series of tragedies since the move. Latest figures reveal that cervical cancer killed 27 women aged under 25 in England and Wales between 2002 and 2006 – 15 of them since 2004.

...Details of the rethink were revealed as it emerged that hundreds of 12- and 13-year-old girls have reported debilitating side-effects after receiving the new vaccination against cervical cancer. Doctors have confirmed that almost 1,300 British schoolgirls suffered reactions, from alleged paralysis to facial bloating, fainting, skin discoloration and rashes after taking part in a mass vaccination programme launched last year. The DoH claimed the side-effects were within the range expected for a programme that has so far seen half a million schoolgirls vaccinated. It also insisted that the Cervarix vaccine had met "the rigorous safety and efficacy standards required for licensing in Europe and elsewhere". But Jackie Fletcher, of the campaign group Justice Awareness and Basic Support (Jabs), said parents had not been given enough information on the vaccine. "We are not necessarily against this programme, but it has not been explained properly," she said. "Parents tell us they were never warned of any potential dangers, but their children have suffered side-effects."
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/uturn-on-cervical-cancer-tests-for-young-women-1639778.html

Married, With ADHD: Relationships Suffer Under Stress of Raising Child With Disorder, Study Finds
Washington Post March 3, 2009
For many years, scientists have explored how parental conflicts and other marital problems can affect the well-being of children. Far less attention has been paid to the opposite question: How do children, especially difficult children, influence the quality of married life? Couples who have a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are nearly twice as likely to divorce or separate as couples who do not have children with the psychiatric disorder, according to a definitive new study that is the first to explicitly explore the question. The reason appears simple: Having a child who is inattentive or hyperactive can be extremely stressful for caregivers and can exacerbate conflicts, tensions and arguments between parents.

The research topic is sensitive because it can be easily misinterpreted to mean that scientists are blaming kids for the marital woes of their parents; that may be one reason researchers have generally avoided the topic and limited their investigations to how parental conflicts affect children. But increasingly, the evidence suggests that the lines of influence run in both directions. The study, led by psychologists Brian Wymbs and William Pelham and published last year in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, longitudinally tracked a large number of families with and without children diagnosed with ADHD, a disorder characterized by inattention and hyperactivity and often accompanied by conduct problems and oppositional behavior. While 12.6 percent of the parents of children without ADHD were divorced by the time the children were 8 years old, the figure was 22.7 percent for parents of kids with ADHD. Couples with ADHD kids also tended to reach the point of divorce or separation faster.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030201787.html

Call to jail parents who break video game age limits
Dominion Post 06 March 2009 
Parents who give their underage children access to violent video games should be prosecuted to serve as "shock value" to other families, says chief censor Bill Hastings. Laws around video games were "an even stricter regime than alcohol", because if an adult gives a child aged under 18 access to a restricted video game even in their own home they are breaking the law, he said. Mr Hastings told The Dominion Post yesterday that if someone was caught knowingly allowing a child access to restricted video games such as the R-18 Grand Theft Auto series they could be punished by up to three months' imprisonment or a fine of up to $10,000.

...Mr Hastings said studies had shown that repeated exposure to violence and sexual violence had an adverse effect on attitude, and it was important that parents realised some games were created for adults not children.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/2029668/Call-to-jail-parents-who-break-video-game-age-limits

Call for TV ban on alcohol advertising
The Age (Australia) March 6, 2009
A GROUP of experts has called for alcohol advertising to be banned on television, particularly during sport, after research showed it encouraged young people to drink. The Alcohol Policy Coalition — a group of health agencies including the Australian Drug Foundation and the Cancer Council of Victoria — has also demanded tougher rules for sponsorship of sporting events and teams in Australia.

A US study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine tracked the behaviour of more than 6000 youths over several years and concluded those with alcohol-branded merchandise, such as T-shirts and hats, were up to twice as likely to engage in risky drinking during their teens.

A separate study published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism this week found that people aged 18 to 29 who watched films and advertisements in which alcohol drinking featured prominently reached for a drink immediately if it was available to them.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/call-for-tv-ban-on-alcohol-advertising-20090305-8q37.html

Victory for residents over brothel
TV3 News 05 Mar 2009
Resource consent given to a Wellington brothel has been quashed by the High Court in a victory for neighbours. Mt Victoria Residents Association took legal action against Wellington City Council after it granted resource consent for The Lovely Lilly brothel on Pirie St to increase its number of sex workers from three to five in 2007. Residents were concerned about the brothel's close proximity to a playground, kindergarten and primary school as well as being on a major walking route to two secondary schools in the area. They took the case to the High Court in Wellington on Monday and in a judgment released today Justice Robert Dobson said the council had failed to recognise a section of the Prostitution Reform Act.

....Lobby group Family First praised the court ruling. National director Bob McCoskrie said residents had complained of illegally parked cars, intimidating men, a client sleeping in his car, and the brothel being busiest during the middle of the day. The ruling was a "victory for families who have been victimised by the effects of the decriminalisation of prostitution", Mr McCoskrie said.
http://www.3news.co.nz:80/News/NationalNews/Victory-for-residents-over-brothel/tabid/423/articleID/94108/cat/64/Default.aspx
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/2003236/Brothel-may-be-closed

READ Full Court Decision

Alcohol on screen drives viewers to drink: study
Reuters Mar 4, 2009
Watching films and ads in which alcohol features prominently drives people to immediately reach for the bottle themselves, Dutch researchers said on Wednesday. An experiment with students showed that volunteers exposed to a film and commercials where alcohol featured predominately drank an average one-and-a-half bottles of beer more during the hour they were watching.

The findings highlight a potential need to explicitly warn people -- and parents -- if movies contain alcohol use because such portrayals have a direct effect on drinking, researchers at Radboud University Nijmegen said. "Implications of these findings may be that, if moderation of alcohol consumption in certain groups is strived for, it may be sensible to cut down on the portrayal of alcohol in programmes aimed at these groups and the commercials shown in between," Rutger Engels and colleagues wrote.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52301C20090304

EU fights huge increase in web child abuse
The Guardian (UK) 4 March 2009 
The number of child sex abuse websites in Europe has soared and the violence shown has become more extreme, the European commission and Europol, the European police agency, warned yesterday. Jacques Barrot, EU commissioner for freedom, justice and security said Europe was facing "an extremely dramatic situation" after the number of child abuse websites increased fourfold between 2004 and 2007. At the launch of an international coalition to disrupt finances of the online child sex trade, he warned that organised criminal gangs were making an "indecent profit" for "horrific crimes against the most vulnerable people - children".

British police who tackle online child abuse and will lead the work of the European Financial Coalition said that up to 300 commercial child abuse websites were available at any one time and earnt well in excess of ﾬ30m (ﾣ26.8m) a year. Officers at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) in London processed 1.6m images in the past year alone and identified and rescued 50 children.... The Internet Watch Foundation has found that 10% of the children featuring in images of abuse are under two, a third are younger than six and 80% are under 10.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/04/child-sex-abuse-websites-increase/print

Kids grow up 'surrounded by porn' (Australia)
news.co.au March 02, 2009 
YOUNG Australians will likely see pornography before they are legally allowed because of a proliferation of easily available x-rated material, a study says.
The Australian Institute of Criminology says there is a "very high' chance that Australian teenagers will be exposed to pornography before the age of 18 - the legal age to view and purchase explicit sexual material. Institute analyst Colleen Bryant said there was concern that young people were being inundated with sexual information before they were capable of integrating it into a healthy sexual identity.

"The proliferation of pornographic materials and their ease of access are such that it is not a matter of whether a young person will be exposed to pornography but when,' she said. Dr Bryant said scientists were divided about the harm caused by porn as research was struggling to keep pace with changing media technologies and children's engagement with sexual material. She said pornography might promote unhealthy sexual attitudes and behaviour by encouraging males to view females simply in terms of sexual potential.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25127019-29277,00.html

Pre-teens try booze, cannabis
Christchurch Press 03 March 2009
Kiwi children as young as four are trying alcohol and nine-year-olds are using cannabis, a new study reveals. The study of 12,000 young people, led by Canterbury researchers, found the onset of drinking "goes up very steeply from age 12", while many were smoking cannabis by 15.

The study's Christchurch-based lead author, Dr Elisabeth Wells, of Otago University, said it was obvious New Zealand's youth were getting caught up in an overall culture of binge drinking. She suggested pre-adolescents get education about drugs and alcohol in schools as well as the community to try to halt the disturbing drop in the age when experimentation began.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4865734a24035.html

Fight to stop brothel from expanding
The Dominion Post 03 March 2009
Mt Victoria residents, upset about a local brothel, have taken the Wellington City Council to court over consent to employ more prostitutes. The Lovely Lilly brothel in Pirie St opened in 2006 and gained council approval last year to increase its number of prostitutes from three to five. Residents complained of illegally parked cars, intimidating men, and a client sleeping in his car. The brothel was busiest from 11am to 3pm on weekdays.

Yesterday, Justice Robert Dobson reserved his decision on whether the council had correctly granted the consent under the Resource Management Act without notifying residents, and if a section of the Prostitution Reform Act dealing with whether a brothel was likely to cause serious offence, was properly considered. Residents Association lawyer Tom Bennion said residents felt there was now a big difference in the way the neighbourhood looked and felt. There were concerns about safety and children in the area.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4865969a23918.html

CYF finds fewer cases of abuse
Nelson Mail 02 March 2009
A drop in the number of child abuse cases discovered by Child Youth and Family in Nelson has come as a surprise to Nelson Women's and Children's Refuge, but could be a sign that campaigns are having an effect, some agencies say. Statistics released to The Nelson Mail under the Official Information Act show that while CYF is being contacted more often by people or organisations with concerns for children or young people, the agency is uncovering fewer cases of abuse.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/4865428a6510.html

Boys steal icecreams at gunpoint
NZ Herald Mar 01, 2009
A teenage boy was being questioned by police yesterday after a dairy was held up at gunpoint for icecream and chocolate biscuits - prompting calls for urgent action on youth crime. A security tape of the robbery shows three boys - two wearing masks - enter the Edendale Superette in Auckland's inner suburbs. One of the boys pulls out what appears to be a silver pistol and points it at shopkeeper Shazia Hussain who was alone in the shop with her two-month old baby sleeping in a back room. While one boy waves the pistol, the other two pack a bag with icecream and chocolate. They then demand cigarettes and cash, making off with about $400.

The alleged robbery is the latest in a string of violent offences carried out by teenagers which includes the bashing of Scot Stuart Martin, 31, who was in New Zealand to attend a friend's wedding. He was in a coma in hospital yesterday as the wedding went ahead. The number of young people arrested for violent crimes in New Zealand has soared by 50 per cent in the 10 years to 2007 while other offending has stayed static....Family First NZ director Bob McCoskrie said the country was becoming desensitised over violent crime committed by teenagers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10559329&pnum=2

Law review looks at drinking culture
NZ Herald Mar 02, 2009
The legal age for drinking, beer advertisements and blood alcohol levels for drivers are being scrutinised as the Law Commission reviews the liquor laws. The commission's review, the biggest since the Laking Report in the mid-1980s, will consider issues including the proliferation of liquor outlets and how alcohol consumption contributes to criminal offending. ..Exacerbating the issue was a "high prevalence of hazardous drinking" where "binge drinking appears to be a particular problem". Sir Geoffrey cited a number of social harms caused by alcohol. He said both male and female youth were now at risk and alcohol made a "significant contribution" to criminal offending.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10559463

More new babies taken from mothers
The Dominion Post 02 March 2009
Dozens of newborns are being taken from their mothers every year because of fears for their safety. Child, Youth and Family took 66 at-risk babies less than a month old into its care last year and 15 of them were taken the day they were born. In more than half of the cases, older brothers and sisters were already in care, figures provided to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act show. The number of custody orders involving newborns has more than doubled in the past five years. In the 2003-04 year, 32 were taken into state care.

Those taken last year include the newborn daughter of convicted baby-killer Tania Witika, who gave birth in Christchurch. CYF obtained custody when it heard she was pregnant. The horrific death of Witika's daughter Delcelia, 2, in 1991 was one of the worst child-abuse cases to go before New Zealand courts. She and her partner at the time were each sentenced to 16 years' jail for Delcelia's torture and death. The rise in newborn custody orders coincides with a doubling in care and protection notifications involving babies still in their mothers' wombs. Last year Child, Youth and Family received 215 notifications from people worried about the welfare of unborn children, compared with 96 five years earlier.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4864585a11.html

Boot camps proven to fail - clinical pyschologists
Otago Daily Times 02 March 2009
Clinical psychologists have joined the chorus of disapproval of the Government's planned `boot camps', saying punishment as a deterrent does not work.
The Government is planning to widen the powers of the Youth Court with a range of new sentencing options including sending the worst repeat offenders to military-style camps run by the army. Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft has already put the boot in to boot camps for young offenders. He said last week that sentencing youthful offenders to boot camp was "arguably the least successful sentence in the Western world".

Physical programmes backed up by mentoring and family support could work, but New Zealand's corrective training camps, programme which ran up until 2002, found 92 per cent of young attendees reoffended within a year, he told The Dominion Post. "It made them healthier, fitter, faster, but they were still burglars, just harder to catch." He described it as "a spectacular, tragic, flawed, failure". Mental health professionals have now joined him, with the New Zealand College of Clinical Pyschologists (NZCCP) saying "getting even does not result in change".
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/45631/boot-camps-proven-fail-clinical-pyschologists

Schools call cops 40 times a week
NZ Herald Mar 02, 2009
Police are being called to schools about 40 times every week of the academic year to deal with behaviour teachers say they cannot handle. Figures issued under the Official Information Act show officers were called out an average of 1531 times each year from 1998 to deal with violence, drugs or sex offences. Last year, they were called 1658 times.

The number of calls over violent offences jumped 27 per cent in the past decade - from 869 to 1064. Total school enrolments rose only 4 per cent from 2001 to 2009 and lobbyists say the rise in offences is alarming. Frances Nelson, president of the New Zealand Educational Institute, the union representing more than 48,000 primary and early childhood teachers and staff, said schoolchildren had become more violent in recent years.

...Bob McCoskrie, national director of the Family First lobby group, said it was time for action to protect students and teachers. "We have forgotten about the rights of law-abiding kids to feel safe, to not have disruption in the classroom, not be intimidated and be free of violence and bullying in the workplace." Mr McCoskrie said he was concerned schools were discouraged from suspending or standing down their students but encouraged to bring in police officers fulltime.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10559451
READ figures obtained from the police by Family First NZ under the Official Information Act

Judge releases 'chilling' report on child porn victim
NZPA 27 February 2009
A judge sentencing a man for collecting child pornography today took the rare step of releasing the impact report for one of the child victims depicted in the images. The 55-year-old man pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court to 12 charges of possessing objectionable images, and was found guilty of cruelty by neglecting his daughter. The man was jailed for a total of one year nine months after Judge Doherty said, ``I don't think this is an appropriate case for consideration of home detention at all.'

Judge Doherty also took the unusual step _ with the consent of the crown and the police _ of releasing one of the victim impact statements to the media at court. In this case, one of the child victims depicted in the pornographic images had been traced by investigators and the police were able to provide a report on her. It was made available to NZPA after all references to her name and the name of her Cambodian village had been blocked out. The images of the girl _ among 1000 images of child abuse or torture found on the man's computer _ had been made by a Canadian offender who went to the village and conducted the activity there. He had since been caught and dealt with by the overseas authorities. Judge Doherty described the girl's victim impact statement as ``chilling'.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4862655a24035.html

Caning pupils 'can be effective behaviour control'
UK Telegraph 26 February 2009
Behaviour among children has got worse since the cane was abolished, according to parents. 
Government research showed some mothers and fathers believed corporal punishment was an "effective method of control" when they were at school. They said the decision to outlaw physical chastisement contributed to a decline in discipline. The comments - in a study backed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families - come just months after a fifth of teachers called for the cane to be reintroduced to restore order in the classroom.

This week, a report by Ofsted suggested traditional discipline methods such as suspending hundreds of troublemakers at a time and banning children with shaven heads and designer trainers was a good deterrent. Corporal punishment, including the use of the cane and ruler, was abolished in state schools in 1987 and 1998 in the fee-paying sector.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4839892/Caning-pupils-can-be-effective-behaviour-control.html

Nudity challenges Palmerston North
Manawatu Standard 27 February 2009
PARENTAL GUIDANCE REQUIRED: Te Manawa's first exhibition carrying a PGR rating opens tomorrow. Curator Nicola Jennings said the gallery wanted to encourage discussion about gender diversity. Bare breasts, artistically arranged nude bodies and what might be blurred sexual encounters caught on camera are hanging on the gallery wall at Te Manawa.

Assume Nothing: Demystifying and Celebrating Gender Diversity, Te Manawa's first exhibition carrying a PG restriction, opens tomorrow. It's a risk for Te Manawa, opening a PGR exhibition in conservative Palmerston North. There was furore in 2007 when the Erotica Lifestyle Expo advertised with images that included nude breasts on a billboard outside Centrepoint Theatre. Palmerston North mother Philippa Peck was incensed the images were out on the street for children to see
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4862608a11.html

Teenage pregnancies soar for first time since 2002 (UK)
Mail Online (UK) 26th February 2009
Pregnancies among girls under the legal age for sex have shot up to the highest level in a decade, new figures showed today. The surge among girls under 16 dealt a fresh and devastating blow to Labour's hopes of slashing teenage pregnancy by handing out contraceptives and spreading sex education. Despite nearly ﾣ300 million spent on the campaign, the number of teenage girls who became pregnant in 2007 went up, not down, according to the latest count.

Pregnancy rates among girls under 18 in England are now higher than they were in 1995, before Labour launched its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. But the s figures brought alarming new evidence that the failed attempt to cut teenage pregnancy by distributing contraception rather than discouraging teens from having sex is doing most harm to the very youngest girls.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155824/Teenage-pregnancies-soar-time-2002-despite-blizzard-Government-crackdowns.html#
Family First Comment: A year ago, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) cited South Tyneside as an example of what could be achieved by fully implementing the teenage pregnancy strategy. The latest figures, however, show a massive 37.5 per cent rise in South Tyneside in 2007, with the result that the area now has its highest teenage conception rates since 2000. Source

Adults' fear of reporting 'encourages child neglect' (UK)
guardian.co.uk 25 February 2009
Child neglect is being allowed to persist across Britain because adults are afraid to report concerns about what is going on in their neighbourhood, a poll for the charity Action for Children revealed today. It found one in four adults said they had been worried about a child who they feared might be the victim of neglect. But 38% of those expressing concern said they did not tell anyone.

Among the concerned respondents:
• 16% remained silent about their worries because they were frightened of repercussions if they alerted the authorities.
• 15% said they did not tell anyone because it was not any of their business.
• 11% would tell a neighbour, relative or friend about their suspicions before alerting social services or the police.
• 15% said lack of proof prevented them from doing anything.
• 23% said they did not have enough information about who to ask for help.

The charity said: "Child neglect is becoming an ever-growing safeguarding concern. In 2008, in England alone, neglect was the reason why 45% of children were on the child protection register, compared to 15% for physical abuse, 7% for sexual abuse and 25% for emotional abuse."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/25/childprotection/print

Barnardos calls for same-sex adoption (Australia)
Sydney Star Observer 25 February 2009
Adoption and foster care agencies were split over whether same-sex couples make good parents at the first day of a NSW inquiry on Tuesday. Barnardos, the only secular agency in NSW, approved of foster children living with same-sex couples having the option to be adopted by them. Stability was in the best interest of the child, Barnardos CEO Louise Voigt said. “We often put sexually abused children with single women or women couples. One girl was sexually abused by her father, grandfather and other men and was terrified of men,” Voigt said. Eight percent of Barnardos foster carers were same-sex couples, she said, and many in the care of families would want to be adopted by them. “We select people for stability. Many heterosexuals won’t get through the process.”

The state’s two religiously-based child placement agencies, CentaCare and Anglicare, said they did not place foster children with same-sex couples because of their beliefs. Both agencies swore to utilise religious exemptions in anti-discrimination laws to escape any changes to eligibility criteria, as they currently do. Heterosexual marriage was the best model for parenting, the Catholic Archdiocese representative Christopher Meney told the hearing.
http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2009/02/25/barnardos-calls-for-same-sex-adoption/4557

The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess
New York Times 24 February 2009
The best way to improve children’s performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it. New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.

A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Although disadvantaged children were more likely to be denied recess, the association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school and class size. The lead researcher, Dr. Romina M. Barros, a pediatrician and an assistant clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said the findings were important because many schools did not view recess as essential to education.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/health/24well.html?_r=1&ref=health

Parents should NOT tell their children what is 'right or wrong' about having sex - UK Govt
Daily Mail Online (UK) 23rd February 2009
Parents should not tell their young teenage children that it is wrong to have sex, ministers said yesterday. They should curb their tongues for fear of discouraging youngsters from 'being open', according to a campaign to involve mothers and fathers in sex education. But, while parents are warned against giving moral guidance, they are encouraged to get their children to use condoms and other contraception from the age of 13.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1152021/Parents-NOT-tell-children-right-wrong-having-sex-say-ministers.html

Social websites harm children's brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist
Mail Online (UK) 24 February 2009
Social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, an eminent scientist has warned. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred. The claims from neuroscientist Susan Greenfield will make disturbing reading for the millions whose social lives depend on logging on to their favourite websites each day.

But they will strike a chord with parents and teachers who complain that many youngsters lack the ability to communicate or concentrate away from their screens. More than 150million use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, share photographs and videos and post regular updates of their movements and thoughts.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html

BSA claims a softening towards swearing
Herald on Sunday Feb 22, 2009
Looking back, it's hard to imagine what all the fuss was about. The 1999 "bugger" ad, featuring a farmer's frustration at the mess caused by his new Toyota truck, attracted 120 complaints. Ten years on, shows like expletive-laden mob drama The Sopranos and the cussing coven of Sex and The City have made the B-word seem tame. TVNZ programme buyer Andrew Shaw, who brought The Sopranos and ultra-realistic Western Deadwood to our screens, said audiences are intelligent enough to appreciate when swearing is dramatically justified. "There is a time and a place for it, and good programme makers and broadcasters know when it is."

So, it seems, do the viewers. The latest Broadcasting Standards Authority survey on attitudes to offensive language confirmed a softening towards swearing. More than two-thirds of people surveyed in 2006 were offended by the C-word, but only 58 per cent baulked at the F-word, down from 70 per cent in 2000. "Bugger" bothered only 16 per cent. According to the BSA, even the C-word doesn't necessarily breach standards. It's all about context - the programme's timing, tone and target audience.

Last week, the BSA released decisions on 10 complaints about TV swearing in the second half of 2008, double the number from the previous six months. "Perhaps people are grumpier," said BSA chief Dominic Sheehan. "Historically we've noticed peaks and troughs for what happens to be the flavour of the day." Only two complaints were upheld: one against TV One's historical drama Rome and the other against Tom Cruise's movie Eyes Wide Shut.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10558001&pnum=0

Schools slash after-class work
Sunday Star Times 22 February 2009
Schools across the country are slashing homework back to the basics while others are telling kids that cooking dinner, joining a sports team and helping in the community is far more important than spending hours on science projects. Some parents who have traditionally put great weight on the amount of homework their kids do are now telling schools they won't be enforcing it at home.

And the research is on their side. Academics say homework:
makes no difference to primary school students' achievement, although in high school it can boost achievement;
helps bright kids the most; for others, it is often just a reminder that they cannot do a task;
requires good feedback from teachers and backs up what the student learnt at school;
has "zero evidence" supporting the idea it teaches time-management or study skills.
There is little dispute that taking some schoolwork home can be valuable but the "busywork" the weekly worksheets and long-term projects that cause such stress for families (and are all too often completed with excessive parental help) is on the way out.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4855584a6005.html

Police target web predators
Sunday Star Times 22 February 2009
A new police unit is being launched to protect kids from online sexual predators and the dangers of social networking sites. The cyber cop taskforce, called Oceanz Online Child Exploitation Across New Zealand is a reaction to increasing numbers of cases where children are exploited on the internet.

Predators are using social networking sites like Bebo to "groom" children, with some offenders organising to meet the children for sex. Several have been caught and convicted. By May last year, an estimated 1.7 million New Zealanders had a Facebook profile, with the numbers using Bebo thought to be higher. MySpace remains popular along with countless chatrooms and dating sites, most of which have age restrictions.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4856032a11.html

Children's Commissioner loses smack appeal (UK) 
BBC News 20 Feb 09
NI Children's Commissioner Patricia Lewsley has lost an appeal against the law which allows parents to use smacking as chastisement. Judges ruled the challenge must fail because she cannot be classed as a victim under the Human Rights Act. ....Her lawyers argued that a defence based on the right of parental correction or punishment is incompatible with children's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. They claimed parental corporal punishment breached the dignity and well-being of children, that it is ineffective and a counterproductive means of discipline. It was also submitted that it sends out the wrong message to parents and that the law lacked the clarity and transparency. During the case it was suggested smacking of children is a deterrent similar to electric fences being used to keep animals in a field.

Dismissing the appeal Lord Justice Girvan ruled that the High Court judge who rejected Ms Lewsley's original judicial review application had reached the right verdict. He also pointed out that the use or threat of force is not always unlawful. "In particular, it may be justified on the basis of actual or implied consent, self-defence, crime prevention or crowd control and on the basis that it involved the lawful punishment of a child," he said. "It is for the prosecution to prove that a parent was not lawfully correcting his child when the issue arises."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7902052.stm

Police banned from brothel raids
The Dominion Post 21 February 2009
A top policeman has banned officers from accompanying Immigration officials on potentially illegal brothel raids after a man leapt out of a window, suffering fatal injuries, during a raid being filmed for reality television.... Since the raid, a top Auckland detective has questioned the legality of the forays, documents obtained by The Dominion Post reveal. Officers have been banned from taking part in the Immigration-led raids for more than a year because of concerns about their legality.

"[The Immigration Act] doesn't provide lawful authority for a warranted immigration officer to enter and search premises of licensed brothels," Detective Inspector Scott Beard of Auckland wrote last November. "I have instructed that police staff are not to assist Immigration New Zealand visiting brothels or suspected brothels." But the Immigration Department disputes the police interpretation, saying that the raids' legality may have to be tested in court.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4854537a11.html

Children fear parents will be jailed if smacks reported
NZ Herald Feb 21, 2009
Pro-smacking lobby groups such as Family First are being blamed for confusing children about whether it is all right to tell if they are victims of family violence. Dr Peter O'Connor, who runs a theatre group that has presented a play to schoolchildren about family violence for five years, says he has noticed a marked change in the responses of youngsters since the outcry over the so-called anti-smacking law. Two to three years ago children always responded to the play by saying you should tell if mum or dad was hitting you - but now they say you shouldn't tell because they will go to prison. Dr O'Connor is concerned that with the upcoming referendums on the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act, set down for July 31 to August 21, the debate by adults will further confuse children.

..Family First has a website with numerous cases of parents it claims have been wrongly persecuted since the law change. Its director, Bob McCroskrie, said yesterday he was concerned to hear children were backing off from revealing abuse but said that since the law change everyone had been confused about what constituted child abuse.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10557937

Majority of children living in poverty have at least one parent in work, says study (UK)
The Guardian (UK) 18 February 2009
A sharp increase in the number of children living in poverty who have at least one parent in work is revealed today, in a study which calls into question government efforts to lift living standards. When research was last conducted five years ago, the majority of children in poverty had parents who were unemployed. The new study shows the majority of children living in poverty now have at least one parent in work, but they are earning so little they are unable to drag their family above the poverty line.

The study, published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, runs counter to the government's message that work is the best route out of poverty. It also predicts that the government will fail to meet its much-trumpeted promise to halve child poverty by next year unless another ﾣ4.2bn is spent on the problem.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/18/child-poverty-research

More Kiwi boys becoming dads
Christchurch Press 18 February 2009 
Young boys are becoming fathers at alarming rates, with the number of dads aged under 15 rapidly rising. In 2007, there were 15 new fathers in New Zealand aged under 15 up from four in 2006. The figures emerged in the wake of revelations a baby-faced 13-year-old British boy had become a father.

There were also a record 54 15-year-old fathers in 2007, Statistics New Zealand figures revealed. The figures showed there had been 14 11-year-old mothers in New Zealand since 1962. In 2007, there was one 12-year-old mother and six 13-year-old mums.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4850863a11.html

Children don't need the f-word to bring them into line
NZ Herald Feb 18, 2009
Derek Martin Derek Martin has an MA in linguistics. He is Academic Director of Laidlaw College.
You're f***ing annoying, do you know that? Hurry the f*** up!" Partly out of shock, partly out of curiosity, I turned to view the person using this language in a busy public place. My shock doubled when I saw it was a mother telling off her son, aged about 4, for walking too slowly across a carpark outside Rainbow's End in Manukau City recently.

Immediately, a myriad of confusing thoughts raced through my mind. Should I intervene and inform the mother that it was unacceptable to use such language in front of children, let alone when talking to her own child? Was it my business to do so? Is parenting better left to parents without others butting in?

Isn't verbal abuse just as damaging to children as smacking, now outlawed in New Zealand? Was it my duty as a member of the public to do something? Would I be the target of even worse verbal or perhaps physical abuse if I intervened?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10557260&pnum=0

Domestic violence schemes don't work, says judge
NZ Herald Feb 17, 2009
A top judge says programmes aimed at stopping domestic violence should be redesigned for one-off offenders and for Maori and Asian men. Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier told a hui for anti-violence providers in Auckland yesterday that too many offenders were dropping out of anti-violence programmes, possibly partly because of the current "one-size-fits-all" approach.

"I believe we should screen in order to determine whether attendance is likely to be effective," he said. "If there is a one-off act of violence, which is limited to and caused by a certain context, should we really be requiring offenders to attend a programme that assumes the violence is a continuous or systematic feature of the respondent's relationships?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10557123

School fees rebate on tax returns
Manukau Courier 17 February 2009
A family advocacy group is urging parents to make sure they claim back a third of their children’s school fees when they complete their tax returns.
Family First national director Bob McCoskrie says many parents don’t know school donations qualify for the donations rebate. Sometimes schools and parents find the difference between fees and donations confusing, Mr McCoskrie says. But people should claim for any general purpose school payments they’ve made, irrespective of how schools label them.
http://www.stuff.co.nz:80/stuff/sundaystartimes/auckland/4849233a6497.html

Mums hit as Plunket struggles
Herald on Sunday Feb 15, 2009
The futures of some Plunket Family Centres around the country may be in the balance as the credit crunch causes extra problems for the cash-strapped organisation. The 21 centres are a lifeline for sleep-deprived new mums struggling to settle, feed or care for their babies. But with limited government grants and a reliance on community fundraising, many are reassessing their services.

Plunket general manager of operations Jenny Prince said the Ministry of Health fully funded Plunket Well Child services, including regular "milestone" checks. That grant increased by $2.9m this year. Family centres, which dealt with 9500 consultations last year, were part-funded by the ministry but relied heavily on donations. There is some good news on the horizon for Plunket, with the Government expected to announce plans to fully reinstate previously scrapped Plunketline.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10556800

More US states consider mandating ultrasounds before abortions
USA Today.com 13 February 2009
Abortion foes have a new tactic: The hope that women can't look away. Lawmakers in 11 states are considering bills that would offer or require ultrasounds before a woman gets an abortion. The most stringent are proposed laws in Nebraska, Indiana and Texas, which would require a doctor show the ultrasound image of the fetus to the woman, despite legal challenges to a similar measure in Oklahoma. A similar bill was proposed in Wyoming but it was defeated in a state House committee before reaching the floor. "Many times, these are young mothers who are in vulnerable situations. And they are about to make a very grave choice." said Nebraska Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln, who introduced the ultrasound bill (LB675) there. "This is about informed consent."

Sixteen states already have laws related to abortion ultrasounds, some requiring they be performed and others requiring a woman be told where she can get a free ultrasound. But Oklahoma's law, which is being challenged in court, is the only one that requires the image to be presented to the woman, even if she refuses to look at it. It also requires the doctor to describe the picture. Indiana's proposal requires the mother to listen to the fetal heartbeat.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-08-abortion-laws_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Women the new pimps in human trafficking trade
Sydney Morning Herald February 13, 2009
WOMEN are emerging as the pimps of the global trade in humans with a third of countries reporting more female traffickers than male, a United Nations study shows. The first international report into the scope of human trafficking, published yesterday, found a disproportionate number of female perpetrators, more than in any other crime, selling other women into slavery in countries including Australia. With demand for cheap goods and services rising with the fall of the world economy, experts fear labour exploitation will grow.

Sex slavery accounts for 79 per cent of all human trafficking, most victims being women and girls, says the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Global Report On Trafficking In Persons. It used data from 155 countries to establish patterns in trafficking and what individual nations were doing to fight it.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/women-the-new-pimps-in-human-trafficking-trade-20090212-85zr.html?page=-1

Playing violent video games 'has risks'
Reuters February 06, 2009
Text size
AMONG young college students, the frequency and type of video games played appears to parallel risky drug and alcohol use, poorer personal relationships, and low levels of self-esteem, researchers report. "This does not mean that every person who plays video games has low self-worth, or that playing video games will lead to drug use," Professor Laura M. Padilla-Walker said. Rather, these findings simply indicate video gaming may cluster with a number of negative outcomes, "at least for some segment of the population," said Prof Padilla-Walker, an associate professor at the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

She and colleagues examined the previous 12-months' frequency and type of video game and internet use reported by 500 female and 313 male undergraduate college students in the US. The students, who were 20 years old on average and mostly received course credit for their study participation, also recounted their drug and alcohol use, perceptions of self-worth and social acceptance, and the quality of their relationships with friends and family. The findings, reported in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, showed "stark gender differences in video game and internet use," Prof Padilla-Walker said. For example, compared with young women, young men reported video gaming three times as often and reported playing violent video games nearly eight times as often.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25017533-5014239,00.html

Labour's electoral law to be repealed
NZ Herald Feb 09, 2009
The controversial Electoral Finance Act will be repealed by the end of next week and all but the donations disclosure regime will be replaced with the old the Electoral Act 1993 as an interim measure. The old law will be in place for any byelection, such as would be triggered if former Prime Minister Helen Clark landed the job she has applied for at the United Nations. The penalties under the present act will be retained in case there are any offences over returns yet to be made on expenditure for the last election. But the Government will then embark on a cross-party consultation process to rewrite the electoral law.

...The bill was proposed by Labour in the wake of the 2005 election in which members of the Exclusive Brethren church undertook a secret campaign to attack Labour and the Greens and support National without affecting National's spending limits. But the extent of the change attracted a huge amount of criticism, including from the Electoral Commission which had to administer much of the new law. And while the new act imposed tougher spending rules on all parties and candidates, it liberalised the advertising spending rules of sitting MPs and parties.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555713

Ads taken out for 'anti-smacking' repeal
NZPA 08 February 2009
Lobby group Family First has placed advertisements in all three Sunday newspapers calling for the repeal of the "anti-smacking law". The advertisement described four cases where parents were investigated by Child, Youth and Family following the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act, which removed the defence of reasonable force for parents who physically punish their children. A late amendment to the law added the proviso that police had the discretion not to prosecute complaints against a parent where the offence was considered to be inconsequential. The cases referred to CYF included two where parents admitted smacking their children as a last resort and one where CYF investigated when her child told a friend's mother he had been smacked. The fourth involved a child complainant who was found to have been angry with her mother for being grounded.

"The tragedy is that families are seeking help in their role as parents but as soon as they acknowledge that they smack or have smacked, they are immediately being referred to CYF and their children are being removed," Family First director Bob McCoskrie said. CYF eventually closed the investigation in all four cases, the advertisements say. A fifth example described a case where a woman was suspended by a community centre for what Family First says was a tap on the back of the hand. She was eventually reinstated after the employer dropped the case after her lawyer intervened.

Mr McCoskrie called for the repeal of the law, saying it was penalising good parents while not tackling the real causes of child abuse.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlboroughexpress/4841414a6422.html

Prostitutes' turf wars and retailers' fears behind bid for law change
NZ Herald Feb 07, 2009
Shopkeepers in parts of South Auckland start half an hour early to clean up used condoms, syringes and wash away urine. Some have installed extra lighting to deter the prostitutes and their clients who walk the streets at night. Many spoke to the Weekend Herald only on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution. It is this climate - and a background of increasingly violent turf wars between prostitutes - that has prompted the Manukau City Council to ask the Government to change laws around the sex workers industry.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555531

Schools bully parents for money
NZ Herald Feb 07, 2009
Schools are under fire for forcing parents to pay voluntary fees - and punishing children whose parents don't pay up. But an East Auckland principal says free education is a fallacy and parents should feel pressured to contribute. The Weekend Herald has obtained documents under the Official Information Act revealing cases brought to the attention of the Education Minister. They include complaints of voluntary donations being chased up by school  boards using "bullying tactics", optional expenses being deemed "compulsory" and schools breaching the Education Act by singling out students whose parents did not pay. One Auckland school employed an agency to call parents at home and urge them to pay.

...Under the Education Act 1989, every person who is not a foreign student is entitled to free enrolment and free education at a state school from their fifth birthday until January 1 following their 19th birthday. But schools argue they could not function without top-up donations from parents. Education Minister Anne Tolley told the Weekend Herald that schools could not force parents to provide voluntary donations. But she said such contributions help many schools to provide a wider range of educational experiences for their students. School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said it was no secret that government funding was inadequate - in many cases it was lost on administration, power, water and rates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555536&pnum=0

Parents dodge paying $460m
The Press 07 February 2009
Thousands of New Zealanders living overseas owe more than $460 million in child support, and nearly a quarter are not paying any money back. Inland Revenue figures requested by The Press show that in December there were more than 14,000 Kiwi parents living overseas who owed child support.

..New Zealanders' total assessed debt is $161 million and, with $299 million in penalty payments added, the total owed reaches $460 million. The spokeswoman said nearly 80 per cent of parents had arranged to repay their debt, leaving nearly 3000 who were making no repayments. The number of Kiwis caught dodging child support in Australia had risen from about 3000 owing $3.3 million in 2005 to more than 8000 owing $13.3 million in 2007, she said. There are 8000 Australian fathers living in New Zealand failing to pay child support.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4840137a11.html

`Food police' rules scrapped
The Press 06 February 2009
Pies and chips are back on the menu for schools after Education Minister Anne Tolley scrapped rules forcing them to offer only healthy food options to students. The former Labour government was accused of being the "food police" when it introduced regulations last June requiring school tuck shops to sell only healthy food and clear pies, chips, chocolate and fizzy drinks from the shelves. Critics said then that the rules would lead to children heading to dairies and takeaway bars at lunchtime for junk food, but nutritional experts said it was an important step in fighting childhood obesity and diabetes. Tolley said yesterday she had decided to remove the clause in the national administration guidelines for schools that said "only healthy options" could be made available to students. Instead, boards of trustees would be free to make their own decisions about appropriate food and drinks.

..Lobby group Family First welcomed the decision. "Research demonstrates that parents are still the gatekeepers of the family food supply and that parents act as important role models for children's eating behaviours," national director Bob McCoskrie said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4839220a6009.html

LISTEN Bob McCoskrie quoted on Newstalk ZB News

Call to get prostitutes off streets
NZ Herald Feb 05, 2009
The mess left behind by street prostitution, including used condoms and syringes, has prompted councillors in South Auckland to call for a change in the law. Manukau City Council is to present the Government with recommendations it says will help cut the number of prostitutes on the streets, and the associated social problems they bring. Dick Quax, a Pakuranga councillor and Manukau's community safety portfolio leader, said the recommendations were a result of calls from the community who have to deal with the problems. "The community has had enough. It's not fun to come out in the morning and be having to clean up condoms lying in your garden and on the fence. Cleaning up condoms and needles - it's just not fair."

One recommendation is the complete repeal of the Prostitution Reform Act. Introduced in 2003, the act saw the legalisation of prostitution and brought in safety provisions - like the compulsory use of condoms - to protect street workers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555259

More nurses opting out of abortion ops
NZ Herald Feb 04, 2009
The Auckland District Health Board has had "critical" difficulties in providing surgical abortions to women in mid-pregnancy because of an increase in nurses refusing to perform the work. The board provides surgical abortions for women who are 13 to 18 weeks pregnant from throughout the Auckland region, plus some from other areas. It also provides medical abortions. This is in addition to terminations in the first third or trimester of pregnancy, which have not been affected by the shortage of nurses. Nurses are not required to be involved in performing abortions; they can refuse on grounds of conscience and work in other areas.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555056

Cervical cancer vaccine for boys
The Dominion Post 03 February 2009
The cervical cancer vaccine should be given to boys as well as girls, to protect them and their future partners from genital warts and cancer, public health experts say. The main introduction of the $177 million vaccination programme, which aims to immunise 300,000 Kiwi schoolgirls over five years, begins this week. The vaccine, Gardasil, has been available free to 17 and 18-year-olds since September. About 20,000 teenage girls have already had the three doses necessary to protect them against four strains of human papilloma virus (HPV), the main cause of genital warts and cervical cancer. The vaccine's maker, Merck Sharp & Dohme, says it plans to apply to have Gardasil licensed for boys and men up to the age of 26 after new research showing it prevents 90 per cent of genital warts and pre-cancerous lesions in males.

Immunisation Advisory Centre director Nikki Turner said extending the vaccine to boys would be more expensive but could have major health benefits. "It could benefit the individual by protecting them against genital warts and cancers. HPV is implicated in 40 per cent of penile cancer. From a population perspective, vaccinating boys could also reduce the carriage of HPV in the community, though we don't yet have the evidence for that."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4836048a11.html

Having more than two children is 'irresponsible' - Greens (UK)
Mail Online (UK) 1st February 2009
Couples who have more than two children are putting an 'irresponsible' burden on the environment, the Government's leading green advisor has warned. Jonathon Porritt called on ministers to divert money away from curing illnesses towards contraception and abortion services to limit the country's population and help in the fight against global warming. And he criticised fellow green campaigners for dodging the issue of population growth and its effect on the environment because it is too 'controversial'. It came as Catholic bishops in England and Wales lambasted environmentalism as an ideology every bit as dangerous as communism. In a booklet, they say worshippers should be deeply sceptical of claims the green movement makes on global warming.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1133316/Having-children-irresponsible-warns-Government-advisor.html#
Family First Comment : Before you say "only in the UK", last year during the election campaign the Green party in NZ floated the same idea. READ Greens Want To Tell Parents How Many Children To Have 17 Oct 2008

Female Empowerment Has Caused Family BreakUp
A landmark report on childhood says our greed culture has damaged them so badly they need lessons in love
Times on Line (UK) 1 Feb 09
BRITAIN’S cult of individualism, greed and selfishness has so blighted children’s lives that families and pupils need basic training in love and moral responsibility, according to a landmark report on the state of childhood. More than 35,000 people contributed to the inquiry, which recommends measures including emotional report cards for children to give a snapshot of their mental and moral state at the ages of 5, 11 and 14. The report, endorsed by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, is likely to be used as a weapon by the Conservatives to attack Labour for what David Cameron has called “broken Britain”.

...It paints a stark picture of social breakdown. The report cites evidence that this country has some of the worst rates of child unhappiness, poverty, family breakdown and child violence in the western world. Two-thirds of respondents say the moral values of children have declined; other polls show people’s trust in one another has crumbled. One of the most controversial areas covered by the report is the effect of women working. It claims female economic independence as well as feckless fathers have contributed to family break-up while also reducing the amount of time a child spends with its parents. In a poll for the inquiry, 60% of respondents said parents did not spend enough time with their children. The inquiry warns that parents should not rely excessively on nurseries but should turn more to relatives to help with childcare. It also deplores the acquisitiveness promoted by advertising targeted at children.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5627605.ece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4422887/Female-empowerment-has-caused-family-break-up-Church-backed-report-warns.html

Health spotlight goes on teenage drinking
NZ Herald Feb 02, 2009
The Ministry of Health is considering its own policy on youth drinking after the Australian Government hardened its stance on teenage consumption of alcohol. The new Australian National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines stated that there was no safe level of consumption for drinkers under 18. Sydney's Sun-Herald reported that the guidelines, due to be released on February 28, warn parents that alcohol is particularly dangerous for under-15s and they should try to delay their teenagers' drinking for as long as possible. The ministry's chief adviser on child and youth health, Dr Pat Tuohy, told the Herald last night that the ministry was "looking with interest at this research" and "considering it alongside other international studies on the subject". "The ministry will then decide upon what, if any appropriate action should be taken to protect the health of New Zealanders."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10554682

Schools fear the worst as cash dries up
NZ Herald Feb 02, 2009
The first weeks of a new school year can be expensive for parents, but term one, 2009, could prove a struggle for schools as well as the global recession starts to bite. Secondary Principals' Association president Peter Gall said New Zealand schools will be hoping families pay their "voluntary" donations this year despite the economy.
..Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said it was difficult for parents to receive expenses in one lump sum just as they were recovering from the holiday period. "It's like that every year and I guess this year is going to be that much more trying." He said the recession seemed a catchphrase for what families had been going through for the past couple of years as they deal with high mortgage repayments, increases in petrol costs and rising commodity prices. "Families have felt under pressure for a number of years and finally the experts have put a label on it. They call it a recession, [but] for families it is just unfortunately business as usual."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10554679

Pregnant, drink-driving 'child' dismays police
NZ Herald Jan 30, 2009
A 14-year-old Whangarei girl, legally too young to have sex, buy alcohol, or drive a car, has shocked police who this week caught her behind the wheel, five times the drink-drive limit and four months pregnant. The teen was spotted by police driving "erratically" on Kamo Rd in Whangarei about 11pm on Tuesday. She allegedly provided officers with a false name, which she had problems spelling, before giving a breath-alcohol reading of 828 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath - more than five times the youth drink-driving limit of 150mcg, and more than twice the adult limit of 400mcg. But officers say the situation is hardly surprising, given that alcohol is readily available to youths, and teen drink-driving is on the rise.

..Family First lobby group director Bob McCoskrie said the girl's situation showed a lack of proper boundaries in her discipline. "There's a huge issue of lack of supervision for this case," he said. The case highlighted a lack of pre and post-natal advice for women as well as a lack of debate around the country's attitude to alcohol, Mr McCoskrie said. New Zealand had extremely high teen pregnancy and binge drinking rates, and the girl's case could be just the "tip of the iceberg", he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10554240

Grandparents 'lose children to gay couple'
The Herald (Scotland) 29 January 2009
Church leaders hit out at social work chiefs today over claims that a couple were "forced" to give up their grandchildren for adoption by two gay men. The grandparents wanted to care for the five-year-old boy and his four-year-old sister because their mother was unable to look after them. But it was reported today that the children, from Edinburgh, are now to be adopted by a gay couple. And the grandparents claim they have been warned they risk never seeing the youngsters again if they continue with their opposition to the same-sex adoption. Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "This is a devastating decision which will have a serious impact on the welfare of the children involved.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2485158.0.Grandparents_lose_children_to_gay_couple.php

As storm rages over siblings' forced adoption by gay men, 5-year-old pleads: 'We want to stay with granny and grandad'
Daily Mail (UK)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1131200/As-storm-rages-siblings-forced-adoption-gay-men-5-year-old-pleads-We-want-stay-gran-grandad.html

Working for Families no help to most needy, agency says
Otago Daily Times 29 Jan 2009
One of the Labour government's most comprehensive social assistance packages, Working for Families, has "failed to impact on the lives of the most vulnerable", a Presbyterian Support Otago report on poverty has found. Working for Families (WFF) was introduced by Labour in 2004 and has been adopted by the National Government, which has promised to retain all its entitlements. But the report "Can we do better?", which aimed to see what life was like on a low income in Dunedin in 2008, said WFF was never intended to address the often "desperate circumstances" of single adults and beneficiaries and a majority of people in the study were no better off because of it. Nearly a third of the 90 participants in the study were ineligible for WFF because they were single adults, non-custodial parents or married couples without children.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/41161/working-families-no-help-most-needy-agency-says

Kiro's term ending
Herald on Sunday Jan 25, 2009
Controversial Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro will finish her five-year term in April. The Ministry of Social Development has advertised the high-profile role, with an annual salary of $195,100. Critics have accused Kiro as being a toothless figurehead, but she has defended her record as an independent voice for children.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10553475
Family First Comment : Cindy Kiro has been openly hostile towards Family First, and in fact to any people who may have a christian faith - no matter how qualified they are to speak up. Apart from completely misrepresenting the facts in the smacking debate and mispresenting Family First's position, last February she attempted to discredit the 300,000+ NZ'ers who had signed the petitions on the anti-smacking law by saying that previous generations of parents didn't parent as positively and were less qualified in knowing how to raise their children than parents of today !!
We also would like to know why she was
- silent after the pathetic sentence handed down to the caregivers of Ngatikauri Ngati who abused the little 3 year old to death
- silent during the Trevor Mallard incident during the "It's Never OK" Violence Campaign funded by the government.
- silent when the prostitution report from South Auckland was released last year highlighting the number of young teenagers prostituting themselves
- silent when Police refused to prosecute a 21 year old who got a 13 year old pregnant (after starting the relationship when she was 11)
- silent over the recent cancelling of the sentence for a woman who pleaded guilty to infanticide
- silent over the ultimate child abuse of abortion
....yet is more interested in the rights of children to be able to purchase spray cans of paint for the purposes of tagging, and wanting to monitor every child with a social worker as soon as they are born!!!

The problem is not just with Dr Kiro but with the office itself.  Children's interests are best served in the context of their own family . Government support for children must be through their families, not apart from families. Any office or structure which even appears to separate children from their parents and families will be destructive in the long run - no matter how well intentioned. Laws are already in place which protect children in seriously dysfunctional families. 

If the National government is serious about doing away with unecessary governmental spending , this would be a good place to start - rather than just cancelling a few conferences. So why are they advertising for a new Commissioner?????
READ MORE "Parents deserve the right to raise their children."

Nursed babies less prone to abuse
The Age (Australia) January 27, 2009
WOMEN who do not breastfeed their infants are nearly four times more likely to neglect and abuse their child, a world-first study of Australian women has found. The analysis of about 6000 Queensland mothers and their children also discovered that the longer a woman breastfeeds, the less likely she is to neglect or hurt her child. To reach their findings, researchers from the University of Queensland linked data from Australia's largest longitudinal study tracking mothers and their children with substantiated reports of maltreatment recorded by the state's child protection authorities. They found that of the 1421 women who did not breastfeed their children in the group, 102 women — or 7.2 per cent — neglected or abused their child in some way. This was compared to 4.8 per cent of the 2584 women who breastfed their baby for less than four months and just 1.6 per cent of the 2616 women who breastfed their baby for more than four months. Maltreatment included neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual assault. Neglect was the most common form identified in the study, but the prevalence of all types increased as the duration of breastfeeding decreased.

When the researchers adjusted the statistics for 5890 cases to filter out the influence of other factors, they concluded that women who did not breastfeed were 3.8 times more likely to maltreat their child. For mothers who breastfed for less than four months, the risk was about 2.3 times that of women who breastfed for longer than four months. Lane Strathearn, author of the research due to be published in the journal Pediatrics next month, said the conclusions were bolstered by research linking breastfeeding to the release of oxytocin, a hormone proven to activate areas of the brain linked to maternal care and behaviour in animals.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/nursed-babies-less-prone-to-abuse-20090126-7q0e.html?page=-1

Kids become net sex prey 'in seconds'
Herald Sun (Australia) January 26, 2009 
Fran Ralph is bombarded with pop-up conversations from males wanting to know her age, sex and location. The New South Wales detective senior constable is 39 years old but it is her 14-year-old schoolgirl alter-ego that these men are interested in. When Detective Senior Constable Ralph logs on to an under-20s internet "romance" chat site, what follows is horrifying. When told she is 14, men beg her to send pictures, go on webcam and take part in cyber sex. One of seven specialist officers in the child exploitation internet unit, Sen-Constable Ralph has been chasing child sex predators online for two years.

...Sex crimes squad commander Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec said internet filters could be useful but would not put a stop to kids being lured via online chat sites. He said parents needed to educate their children to not give out personal information such as their gender, age and address and parents needed to ensure computers were kept in common areas of the house and never in a child's bedroom.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24961486-662,00.html

Letting infants watch TV can do more harm than good says wide-ranging international review
Published: January 13, 2009 Psychology & Sociology 
A leading child expert is warning parents to limit the amount of television children watch before the age of two, after an extensive review published in the January issue of Acta Paediatrica showed that it can do more harm than good to their ongoing development. Professor Dimitri A Christakis, from the Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, USA, has also expressed considerable concerns about DVDs aimed at infants that claim to be beneficial, despite a lack of scientific evidence. And he points out that France has already taken the matter so seriously that in summer 2008 the Government introduced tough new rules to protect the health and development of children under three from the adverse effects of TV.

Professor Christakis' extensive review looked at 78 studies published over the last 25 years and reiterates the findings of numerous studies he has carried out with colleagues into this specialist area. He points out that as many as nine in ten children under the age of two watch TV regularly, despite ongoing warnings, and some spend as much as 40 per cent of their waking hours in front of a TV. "No studies to date have demonstrated benefits associated with early infant TV viewing" says Professor Christakis, whose review looked at the effect that TV has on children's language, cognitive skills and attentional capacity, as well as areas for future research.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2009/01/13/letting.infants.watch.tv.can.do.more.harm.good.says.wide.ranging.international.review%20

Young people overestimate condom use: study
Reuters Health January 14, 2009
Many teenagers and young adults may make overly optimistic estimates of how often they use a condom during sex, a new study finds. Researchers found that among 715 young African-American women, many of those who said they'd consistently used a condom over the past two weeks had objective evidence that this was not the case. One-third had evidence of sperm DNA in samples of their vaginal fluid. The findings have implications for young people's sexual health, as well as studies on the matter, researchers say. Studies that use both self-reports and objective measures of condom use may offer a clearer picture of young people's sexual behavior and risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), according to the researchers, led by Eve Rose of Emory University in Atlanta.
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, January 2009.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_73792.html

Gay couple will be loving parents, says mum
Sunday Star Times 25 January 2009
An Auckland woman soon to give birth to a surrogate baby for two gay Australian men is excited to help a loving couple become parents, regardless of their gender. "One of the nicest things was I've had a letter in the mail from [the biological father's] mother telling me how loved this child will be and how they can't put into words what I've done for their family." The 35-year-old single mum has a 10-year-old son to a former relationship and has been keen since then to have a baby for a couple unable to have their own children. "I think some people can do it and some can't." After failing to find anyone needing a surrogate among friends and family, she googled the subject and found the New Zealand surrogacy website, nz-surrogacy.com, where surrogates and intended parents could meet online. She talked to several heterosexual New Zealand couples about being their surrogate but nothing worked out. Eventually, she was asked if she'd consider being a surrogate for a gay couple from Sydney.

..While surrogacy laws are under review in Australia, it is illegal in many states, unlike in New Zealand. The couple had considered using a surrogate in America, where commercial surrogacy is legal, if they couldn't find one closer to home. One of the men is the biological father and came to New Zealand three times last year, using artificial insemination with a syringe to impregnate her.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/4828788a6442.html
Family First Comment : Same sex adoption (through surrogacy) hurts children because it intentionally creates motherless and fatherless families. It s simply part of a push to normalize same-sex parenting. Same sex couples can love a child very well. BUT love alone is not enough to guarantee healthy growth and development. The two most loving men in the world cannot provide a mummy. Surrogacy and the rights of adults to be parents can also mean other people (children) losing their rights. The purpose of adoption is not to provide a child to a family but rather provide a family to a child . Overseas, the message has been just as strong - the Spanish Association of Paediatrics said “family nucleus with 2 fathers or 2 mothers is clearly dangerous for a child”, and  a multi-party Commission of the French National Assembly Jan 2006 – “the best interests of the child must prevail over adult freedom.. even including the lifestyle choices of parents.” Surrogacy simply adds to this 'social engineering' by deliberating denying a child access to the adults who created them.

Costs rise on Chinese adoption
The Press - 27 January 2009
Infertile couples desperate to adopt a Chinese baby face three-year waits and almost double the administration fee, pushing total costs up to about $30,000 a child. Child, Youth and Family (CYF) director of adoption and international services Paula Attrill said that from this month the fee charged by the Chinese government adoption agency rose from $5000 to $9000. The agency cited rising costs in caring for the children before their adoption, she said.

CYF manages formal adoption programmes with seven countries, including China, Chile, Lithuania and Thailand. Each country set its own administration fee. The largest number of CYF-arranged adoptions are from China. More than 350 foreign children are adopted every year by New Zealanders.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4829929a6009.html

Bullying and mates top list of kids' fears
The Dominion Post 21 January 2009 
Forget sexual assaults, eating disorders or child abuse - bullying and friendship woes are the biggest worries for youngsters, a helpline says. A free counselling phone line for children and young people received more than 500,000 calls last year, though just 145,000 were able to be answered. The What's Up helpline gave anonymous advice for personal problems ranging from sexual abuse and homelessness, to feelings of worthlessness and confusion about sexual orientation. Relationship concerns and bullying were the main problems reported by callers, who were 50 times more worried about friendships than child abuse.

Loneliness has increased, more young people want to quit smoking and more than 100 callers had suicidal thoughts or fears a third of whom expressed "immediate intent".  Others experienced regular physical abuse or felt "at risk of injury or death". On average, the confidential helpline received more than 1400 calls a day last year. It has been running since 2001. A 2008 summary, made public yesterday, shows relationship problems with family, friends or partners accounted for half the year's calls. Twelve and 13-year-olds were the helpline's biggest users. Peer relationship problems were callers' single biggest concern. Bullying was second, though it was the leading problem for boys and children aged nine to 11. Nearly 100 children were judged at risk of imminent harm by counsellors last year. About half were referred to emergency agencies such as police or Child Youth and Family.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4824875a11.html

What to feed your kids to make them smarter
Sunday Star Times 18 January 2009
Your kids may not thank you for it, but new research reveals just what parents should feed their children to make them smarter. And it's fish once a week and bread and cereals four times a day that make all the difference. The findings come in a major New Zealand study into children's IQ levels, diets and family situations. The study suggests that if children eat certain types of food their intelligence may be boosted or significantly lowered. It singles out margarine as having particularly strong links with lower IQ scores. The thesis by University of Otago research fellow Dr Reremoana Theodore, calls for further research into margarine and says children from disadvantaged families could be most at risk as margarine is often cheaper than other spreads.

...Theodore's thesis looked at the IQs, diets and family situations of almost 600 New Zealand European children, as well as detailing the pregnancy of each mother. These families are still being tracked by the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative group of researchers, to investigate how children develop. Theodore analysed the effect certain factors had on children's intelligence. She did not look at other health effects and warns that some of her more controversial findings should not be used to justify diets or behaviour that could be harmful in other ways.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4822437a11.html

Kiwis rank vanity above family
Herald on Sunday Jan 18, 2009
Weight and looks rate higher among Kiwis' medical concerns than the health of their children, according to new research. A survey of 867 women and 625 men by the Southern Cross Medical Care Society revealed less than half of the women questioned - 47 per cent - said their children's health was among their biggest concerns. Men also put themselves first, with only 26 per cent of men rating their children's health as a major worry. Other top health issues for women included fitness, stress, cancer and sleep quality.
WOMEN:
Weight and appearance 52%
Children's Health             47%
Fitness                            44%
Stress                              40%
Cancer                            37%
Sleep quality                   29%
MEN:
Heart disease                 40%
Fitness                            37%
Weight & appearance    36%
Stress                              35%
Children's Health             26%
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10552394

Health visitors 'aid birth blues'  
BBC News 16 January 2009
The risk of new mothers developing postnatal depression is cut if health visitors are trained to spot signs and offer psychological help, a study says. Health visitors were trained to spot symptoms of depression six to eight weeks after birth. Women who were then given psychological support by health visitors, rather than the usual process of being referred on to a GP, fared better.

University of Sheffield researchers looked at 4,000 women. At the six or eight-week check, 600 women were found to have signs of postnatal depression. A third were offered the usual care of a GP referral, while the rest were offered eight sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy, which aims to change behavioural responses, or person-centred therapy where the patient is encouraged to discuss their feelings about their situation. Both forms of psychological support led to a reduction in depressive symptoms when compared with women in a control group who received the usual level of care. A third of women who had been given therapy still had symptoms of depression six months after their baby's birth, compared with just under half of those in the control group. The difference in outcomes remained when women were assessed again at 12 months.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7831868.stm

Elephants in Kenya seen smacking children in BBC documentary 
Telegraph (UK) 14 Jan 2009
Researchers witnessed mothers disciplining wayward offspring as well as shepherding their families away from potentially violent disputes with neighbours. A team from Save The Elephants made the discovery as they spent a year following one family in the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya's remote, arid north. The researchers captured the moment a mother knocked her older calf off his feet after he began misbehaving after the birth of a younger sibling.

The group leader, HarMattan, had lost a calf soon after birth and her only other son, named Buster, had reached the age of six with no siblings to divert his mother's attention. "When she eventually had another calf, Buster became a very jealous mummy's boy and kept trying to get between his mother and the baby," said Saba Douglas-Hamilton, who co-presents the BBC's Big Cat Diary series. "She eventually rounded on him and gave him an almighty smack which knocked him clean off his feet and sent him tumbling. This kind of aggressive admonishment, not enough to really hurt, but enough to show she meant business, is very rare in mother-calf elephant behaviour. "He learnt his lesson and is now off getting into trouble with the other boys in the group."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/4227002/Elephants-in-Kenya-seen-smacking-children-in-BBC-documentary.html

Free morning-after pill advert under fire
The Dominion Post 13 January 2009
A radio campaign for free handouts of the morning-after pill is giving teens an excuse for unprotected sex and putting them at risk of sexually transmitted infections, critics say. Auckland District Health Board began a $300,000 trial in October offering the emergency contraceptive pill free at pharmacies in a bid to cut the teen pregnancy and abortion rate. In the first two months of the scheme, 1539 women got the pill. A similar scheme, for women under 25, has run in the Waikato for two years.

Family First spokesman Bob McCoskrie said a radio advert for the pill in which a chance encounter on a beach leads to an unplanned sexual liaison and the need for the emergency contraceptive sent the wrong message to young listeners. "We shouldn't be telling teenagers that having unprotected sex is okay. This [pill] deals with unwanted pregnancy, but there's no mention of the danger of sexually transmitted infections." Family Planning Association chief executive Jackie Edmond said she accepted it was difficult to communicate complex health messages in one short ad but she hoped women using emergency contraception knew to seek a full health check later.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4816479a11.html

Study shows bad behaviour at school is predictor of range of problems later
Guardian (UK) 9 January 2009
Tearaway teenagers identified by teachers as misbehaving at school are more likely to go on to experience difficulties in their adult lives, including depression and divorce, a major study has found. Researchers looked at the health and social problems of more than 3,500 adults whose behaviour had been rated by their teachers when they were aged 13 and 15. Between the ages of 36 and 53 they were asked again about their mental health and social and economic status. The 40-year study showed that participants with severe or mild behaviour problems in adolescence were more likely to leave school with no qualifications and go on to suffer a number of difficulties throughout their adulthood, including depression, anxiety, divorce and financial concerns. This result held true even after taking into account predictors of outcomes in adulthood such as sex, father's social class, adolescent depression and cognitive ability.

Published in the British Medical Journal today, the study was led by Prof Ian Colman, now at the University of Alberta in Canada, and used data from the Medical Research Council's national survey of health and development.

..Previous studies have shown that individuals with severe conduct problems place a significant burden on society in terms of crime, as well as through additional needs in education, health and welfare. But, unlike previous studies in the field, the new study's findings also showed that most of the participants who were badly behaved at school did not have alcohol problems as they got older.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/09/tearaway-teenagers-lifelong

Free anti-cancer shots extended to 12-year-olds
The Press 07 January 2009
A free vaccination critics say encourages sexual promiscuity by teenage girls will be extended to focus on 12-year-old girls. The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is this month being made available to all girls aged 12 to 18. It was previously free in Canterbury only to 17 and 18-year-olds. The vaccination protects against the two strains of human papillomavirus that cause 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of all genital wart cases. Leading causes of HPV include girls having their first sexual encounter at an early age, having more than one sexual partner and having a partner who has HPV, was sexually active at a young age or who has had more than one sexual partner. The Government this month made the vaccine available free to girls born in 1990 or 1991, and will roll it out in schools nationwide late in term one next year for girls aged 12 to 18.

..Home School Foundation national director and conservative Christian campaigner Craig Smith said the HPV vaccination was based on the assumption that teenage girls were "all a bunch of promiscuous little so-and- sos". Family First National Director Bob McCoskrie said the vaccination was unproven.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4811086a11.html
READ what we really said

Capital the best place to bring up a family
Dom Post 5 January 2009
Wellington has come out on top as the best place in New Zealand to raise a family. That's according to the latest ASB TopSpots report, to be issued this week, which placed Queenstown and the Lakes District the second-best place, Selwyn District third and North Shore City in Auckland fourth out of 50 territorial authorities. Ashburton came in fifth and Auckland City was placed sixth equal with Waimakariri District, near Christchurch. Porirua was placed eighth, with Christchurch ninth and Rodney District 10th.

The report used family-friendly criteria to award points to different territories. Points were allocated for house price affordability in relation to income levels, unemployment, crime rates, health statistics, the number of school leavers with qualifications, truancy rates and rates of tertiary education. It also looked at household deprivation levels, the number of young people living in the area and the number of GPs per 100,000 head of population.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4809129a6479.html

Couples $15,000 worse off
NZ Herald Jan 04, 2009
Married couples are being penalised by nearly $15,000 a year for choosing to stay together. That's the view of lobby group Family First, which says the Government has created "perverse disincentives" for people to get married or live together by making it financially more attractive to separate. The group has commissioned research from the NZ Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) showing that a married couple, both working and being paid $40,000 each, with three children, has a joint income $14,715 lower than if they were separated or divorced.

Where one parent chooses to stay at home to raise the children while the other is on a low income ($40,000), the parents could be $12,000 better off by separating, says Family First. Additionally, the group says a small pay increase for married couples can result in the family tax rate on their extra income being as high as 69 per cent. But John Donaghy, manager of single-parent support group Birthright, rejected Family First's claim that couples were splitting for the money. Donaghy said that would be "rare".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10550375

Married couples 'punished by tax system'
Telegraph (UK) 02 Jan 2009
Married couples are thousands of pounds worse off than parents who do not live together under the tax and benefits system, according to a report by an influential think tank. Despite Gordon Brown's pledge to support "hard working families", those who marry or set up home together and establish a stable family are up to 20 per cent poorer, the Civitas study shows. Campaigners warned last night that the situation "punishes" families trying to do the right thing. A senior MP said it was "insane". The findings will lead to further allegations that the system of benefits and tax is fuelling "Broken Britain". They will also reignite political debate over whether married couples should receive tax breaks, a policy abolished by Mr Brown in 1999 and likely to be a key battleground in the next general election.

..Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The current benefits system has huge inbuilt biases against socially responsible behaviour and the tax system punishes families who try to do the right thing. "Not only is this situation completely unfair, but it also undermines the creation of a better, more socially just society." The report, Individualists Who Co-Operate, said the system "penalises" couples who live together, adding to accusations that Labour's taxes and handouts are encouraging the death of traditional family structures.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4061560/Married-couples-punished-by-tax-system.html

Rotten Parents targetted
Newstalk ZB 01 January 2009
Family First has come out guns blazing on the first day of the year, targeting "rotten parents". The lobby group has released a raft of priorities it believes will help protect good parents, and reduce child abuse and domestic violence. National Director Bob McCoskrie says amending the anti-smacking law is his top priority. He says the law is wasting police and CYFS resources, while child abuse and family violence go on. Bob McCoskrie says the law should be clarified so good parents are protected, and child abusers are more effectively targeted.
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=150329

Longer day for schools gets mixed reaction
NZ Herald Dec 24, 2008
The education industry has welcomed a discussion about the length of time students should be kept at school, as long as teachers are not going to be expected to extend their contact hours. The School Trustees Association, which represents most of the 2700 school boards, wants a national debate on whether schools should open well before 9am and shut much later each day to better cater for pupils' changing needs. Association general manager Ray Newport said any such move would require a law change. He conceded that extending the school day had huge implications for staffing levels, teachers' hours and the effects on pupils and working parents. But Education Minister Anne Tolley has welcomed the suggestion, saying there is an "appetite" for fresh ideas to benefit pupils, teachers and principals.

...Lobby group Family First has also dismissed the suggestion school hours should be extended. "Education is based on quality, not quantity, and a suggestion to extend the school hours is not in the best interests of children and young people," said national director Bob McCoskrie. "Extended hours will cut into valuable family time, sports and music practices, and is ultimately about serving the needs and pressures of fulltime working parents. "It would also cause chaos for families where children are at different schools with different schedules each day."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10549560

Call to extend the school day
The Dominion Post 23 December 2008
Teachers could be forced to work radical new hours, with the daily routines of thousands of children and parents disrupted, under suggested changes to make the school day longer. The School Trustees Association, which represents most of the 2700 school boards, wants a national debate on whether schools should open well before 9am and shut much later each day to better cater for pupils' changing needs. Education Minister Anne Tolley has welcomed the suggestion, saying there is an "appetite" for fresh ideas to benefit pupils, teachers and principals.

Association general manager Ray Newport said any such changes would require a law change. He conceded that extending the school day had huge implications for staffing levels, teachers' hours and the effects on pupils and working parents.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4800946a6479.html

Drug risk after pregnancy loss - abortion or miscarriage
Herald Sun (Aust) December 22, 2008
YOUNG women who have had an abortion or miscarriage are significantly more likely to use illegal drugs and have a history of alcohol dependence, a study has found. University of Queensland researchers surveyed more than 1200 women born between 1981 and 1984 about their pregnancies and substance abuse histories at age 21. They found 280 had been pregnant at least once. Of those, 82 reported having a miscarriage and 101 said they had undergone an abortion. Seventeen women had experienced both.

Public health researcher Kaeleen Dingle said the study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, was one of the first to have directly compared the psychiatric outcomes, including substance abuse histories, of women who had undergone an abortion with those who had experienced a miscarriage. She said both groups had similar risks for lifetime alcohol use disorders and illegal drug use, excluding cannabis. Ms Dingle said the findings suggested pregnancy loss, by whatever means, may be associated with an increased risk of later substance misuse to dampen emotions.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24831042-662,00.html

Pokies a gambler's nightmare - survey
NZ Herald Dec 22, 2008
More than 70,000 New Zealanders could be suffering an inferior state of mental health thanks to their own gambling or a relative's, new research estimates. And those who get their gambling fix playing poker machines are likely to feel worse about themselves - mentally and physically - than any other gamblers. The Massey University Assessment of the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in New Zealand reported that the playing of gambling machines elicited more negative mental and physical feelings than TAB or on-track betting, while also affecting people's feelings about personal relationships, feelings about self, overall quality of life and overall satisfaction with life.

..Maori and Pacific Islanders were more likely to play the pokies than other ethnic groups, and as a result, on average, reported a poorer self-rated quality of life than other races.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10549258

Call to teach cannabis dangers
Dominion Post 22 Dec 08
A new breed of powerful cannabis and ballooning costs in treating its health effects have led to calls for urgent action, including drug education for primary school children. The information, in a National Drug Intelligence Bureau report obtained by The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act, shows that cannabis, the most widely used illicit drug, creates more than $30 million a year in hospital bills. The report the first of its kind to use information from Customs, health and police officials warns that the drug is likely to become more harmful. The threat posed by high-potency "re-engineered" cannabis has been steadily increasing, it says.

Hospital costs jumped 50 per cent from $19.5 million in 2004 to $31 million in 2005. Of the 2062 hospital cases in 2005, 48 admissions cost between $100,000 and $370,000 each. The report calls for further action to reduce supply and demand as communities have become "comfortable with high prevalence levels". Included is a call to curb the "alarming" trend of teenagers to use cannabis by making drug education programmes an immediate priority in primary schools.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/dominionpost/4799970a6479.html