31 May 2018

Family Court not working for whānau - senior lawyer

From Morning Report, 6:16 am on 31 May 2018

A senior lawyer says the Family Court is in crisis and should not be dealing with the care and protection of Māori children. The government is setting up a panel and an expert advisory group to review the Family Court system. Lawyer Tania Williams Blyth says many judges are not culturally competent, and should not be making decisions that affect whānau. She told our Māori issues correspondent Leigh-Marama McLachlan she wants a new model to deal with whānau, because this one isn't working.