The breach of name suppression of two sex abuse victims by the Ministry of Justice is a mistake that should never have happened and is another example of the National Government’s failure to protect the rights of victims.
Simon Power says he will be asking questions of the officials tomorrow morning to ascertain how this mistake occurred, when really he should be pointing the finger at himself and his Government. The slash and burn cuts that the National Government have continued to make across the public sector, are inevitably going to result in mistakes being made. The funding cuts to resources and jobs across the sector – equate to, additional pressure being placed on those still working there – leaving them stretched beyond the limit. Mistakes are bound to happen in this kind of working environment. The scary thing is there will probably be more made across the public sector, unless the National Government wake up to the fact that you can’t expect high levels of service, when funding and subsequently corners are being cut left right and centre.
The National Government has been vocal over the past year about suppression orders being breached but if victims can’t trust the Ministry of Justice to protect their anonymity in cases where suppression orders have been granted, then how can they reasonably expect the media or any other group or individual to adhere to stipulations of suppression orders.
Family members have stated that the victims would not have come forward had they known they were going to be publicly identified. The psychological damage that an incident like this causes those victims must be of the utmost concern to the Government. My concern now is that a case like this is likely to have an impact on other victims of sexual abuse victims, stepping forward out of fear that their details might be ‘accidentally’ released to the public.
An apology to victims will now be too late – their details have been splashed on a Government website for the public to see. There’s nothing that the Government can do to take that back.
What specific cuts would these be, Carmel? Because I find it hard to believe that the gradual attrition of “consultants” from the public service can be responsible for this stuff up. I have yet to see any wholesale layoffs.
Did mistakes like this not happen under Labour’s watch?
I would like to see some evidence that this unfortunate event was the result of cuts made by National.
I agree with MacDoctor & Plutonian… How does Carmel know that ‘they are stretched beyond the limit’
Stop making stuff up. If we want that I would go and read Trevors posts
What a nonsense Carmel, you may not believe this but public sector employees have actually made mistakes in the past, even under a Labour Government. this is a massive stretch of reasoning lacking any semblance of logic.
It used to be the case that Ministers were responsible for whatever happens in their department. That does not mean that mistakes will not happen, but the point of the convention is to ensure that ministers do get interested in ensuring that processes are robust, that there is a reasonable balance between requiring efficiency and ensuring that such mistakes are minimised. When a mistake does happen, being responsible should ensure that the Minister takes an interest in the detail of processes and forms a judgement as to whether that balance is where it should be. This is a serious breach of a legal obligation; one at a level that has not happened very often, if at all. It is reasonable to consider the reasons why clearly checking procedures have been shown to be insufficient. For such a breach it is reasonable to expect a full explanation in due course as to why procedures did not prevent this error; but given the pressure that all government departments are under, the possibility of high staff pressures, and short cuts in risk mitigation procedures are a reasonable assumption. Carmel is right to draw attention to the seriousness of the breach of responsibility, to expect a full apology, and for the Minister to ensure that staffing is adequate to ensure such an error cannot happen again.
It may be uncomfortable for the Minister, but so it should be; this government has shown that it is far too relaxed about inappropriate disclosures of personal details.
Grow up you plonkers, when you put pressure on anything it fractures and eventually breaks.
The private sector does not cut back office staff to the extent that you guys want the government to cut public sector staff, becuse they realise the work still has to be done and its more efficient to have staff on 15$ to $20 an hour doing it rather than those on $30 an hour who have more important work to do.
Carmel, are you mad? Are you going to attack John Key tomorrow for a really old person dying of old age?
Why is the Wellington cluster of courts losing over 20 staff?
I feel sorry for the victims
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=4987
http://www.psa.org.nz/YourWorkplace/justice.aspx
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-government/news/article.cfm?c_id=144&objectid=10568713
Hmmm, from what I’m seeing, even if the government hadn’t cut staff, which it looks like they probably did, mistakes like this were going to happen anyway due to excessive work load.
We’ve had an awful lot of Earthquakes since National has been cutting back.
Increasing pressures on officials to do more with less, to cover a greater range of outputs while doing so with fewer colleagues and to be a “lean and efficient” machine, is inevitably going to result in this sort of thing being just the tip of the ice breg.
The Labour government was forced to inject around $400m into the Ministry of Justice’s baselines, in 2004 I think, it was because of a decade of real terms cuts and a failure to sufficiently support its expectations with funding under a Bolger/Shipley-led government.
The Ministry of Justice, like the Ministry of Education is a target for finding savings for the public purse because of the large budget and potential material savings, but this government IS ridiculous. Contract numbers are steadily increasing actually, not declining and attrition is not natural, not natrual because over 5,000 public sector staff have already been asked to stay away based on the numbers reported by the government last week since this government took office.
What this government has also said is that services would not generally cost more, nor would it become difficult to access them and on yet another topic, another broken promise by this deceitful NACT government that cares about nothing but the bottom line.
Government has a responsibility to ensure its people are protected from harm, the alarming thing here is not that a mistake happened, it is the extent to which that mistake happened and the level of that mistake. This is a competent ministry, one that seldom makes these kinds of mistakes if at all, you can’t continually ask it to do an increasing volume of work with fewer resources and less money and not expect these things to happen.
This is a government that would seek to blame officials for their costs and would seek to reduce their numbers because these “backroom” services that Mr Key talks about cost so much and are unnecessary and bureaucratic.. well, these are the kinds of services those people undertake.
Confidence in the public sector must remain high, both from a politcal and from a practical sense. Putting this level of pressure on the sector will – logically and unfortnately – result in the state creating vitcims where there need be none.
OOPS – Looks like it was a mistake from the judge.
Nothing to do with clerical issues etc – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10706122
“Mr Power said today the ministry was following instructions from the judiciary when it published the names.
“The decision came to the ministry for publishing with no suppression orders on it and marked for publishing,” Mr Power told Radio New Zealand.
It was the responsibility of the judge to instruct the ministry about any suppression orders, Mr Power said.
Ministry officials had been in contact with the judiciary who were launching their own investigation, he said.”
so – can you explain now – How exactly is this Nationals fault?
Talk about quick to jump on a bandwagon and lay blame without any information.
No cause is too great to try and score political points huh?
Well done Chris, perhaps Carmel would like to repeat her hysterical allegations, but this time do some research first?
This is like the Congresswoman shooting story in America. Left wingers jump on the bandwagon to accuse hysterically right wingers of being responsible, only for the evidence to emerge that the claims don’t stack up.
Carmel you owe the Minister an apology. It had nothing to do with cutting back staff. It was a judge who didn’t do their job properly.
Or is the new cut-and-run style of the desperate labour party, to make hysterical attacks and then run for cover when the truth comes out? Maybe you should try waiting 24 hours before blogging a big new attack you have on the government carmel, it might improve your credibility.
Yet another post shown to be inaccurate. It is sad that they are so quick to jump on a cause and blame the nats without any info to back it up. But lack the backbone or guts to come back and say that they may have jumped the gun.
Really is that the kind of behavior that you want to take to government if you got voted in?
Where’s Carmel gone?
She has been well and truly fisked on this issue, and has obviously been told to do the blogging equivalent of pulling her head in.
It’s probably not helping that DPF has zoned in on her now though. Red Alert started out well, but there now seems to be an inordinate amount of personal attacks being made on the public purse.
Repulsive Carmel !!
Oh right wingers. The day I apologise to the National Government or any of its members, will be the day that the National Government publically apologise to us for falsely accusing the former Labour Governement of causing the first recession in this country, rising unemployment, rising debt and the second recession….ain’t gonna happen eh:)
Carmel you have deliberately taken this post off topic to distract from your own silly behaviour and reactionism. Maybe you should try not blogging for 24 hours because you’re getting very defensive.
But since you raised it, do you disagree with every economist and statistician who points out that New Zealand went into recession before the global financial crisis? Do you also disagree with every historian and anybody who can tell the time, that New Zealand’s recession started under the Labour government?
Do you also disagree with anyone who points out the New Zealand productive economy has been in recession for over five years?
You know, people make mistakes. Even civil servants.
Only Sir Humphrey would insist that they don’t, as would any ‘house-trained’ Minister.
Ah, Radio NZ has an item up:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/68601/name-suppression-lapse-was-court’s-fault-judge
wherein the judge disagrees with the Minister and explicitly says it was the Ministry of Justice’s fault.
Carmel;
What say you of our lax finance and security deposit laws (when compared with Australia) that saw thousands of millions of dollars lost? What about the impotent regulation regime overseeing markets in this country? What about the period of 2006 – 2008 when all this was going on, with not a single law change from the Government in response? Which Government was that, again?
New Zealand went into recession because we wiped out our capital investment pool for the next five years in sub-standard finance companies and now those people will rely on Government super. That money also cannot create new jobs or stimulate cashflow through the economy. The reality is that we were in trouble long before the Nats showed up because the market regulators and law makers were asleep at the wheel.
PS: Carmel, what about the person in Michael Cullen’s office who leaked the details about Telecom’s separation before the budget, triggering a massive loss in Telecom’s market price?
Chris, Dave, Dominoes and Inventory2….refer to the post by Josh – OOPHS, now whose mistake was it?
Carmel – the RadioNZ article linked by Josh CONFIRMS that the mistake was made by the court. Did you even read it?
Carmel I don’t think you realise, because maybe it’s not in the interests of other labour list MPs and electorate mps who are marginal and they’re obviously not telling you. Although your outrageous and irrational claims might help the looniest on the left support you carmel, it gives you a reputation for being a nutter. That won’t help you win Waitakere back. You’re already on the back foot with a really popular local MP who’s a Westie battler and an important part of a really popular government. Why would you imperil your chances of a decent list consolation prize by behaving so irrationally?
Oh Labour didn’t cause those things. They just failed to think about a time when they would happen. WFF and interest free student loans are like very expensive leases on luxury cars and boats. They’re great when the money is there, but you know what? When the money dries up, those leases are terminated.
Labour was the organisation that bribed the masses with those shiny new expensive toys, but had no strategy, plan, budget or rational thought about what to do when the money dried up.
Nothing I’ve read recently convinces me anything has changed.
Dominoes – lol – you’re hilarious. You really need to stop wasting time on red alert and go back to managing Paula’s Waitakere campaign on the ground. Someone’s got to be out and about in the actual Waitakere electorate for her, given she’s never in the electorate to do it herself.
Carmel,
As a centrist swing voter, these sorts of immature and pathetic attempts at spin do absolutely nothing to encourage me to vote for you, or Labour.
If I were you I would sharpen up some.
Carmel, re your OOPHS – did you actually read what Justice Winkelmann had to say:
“The Chief High Court Judge, Justice Helen Winkelmann, says the court failed to note suppression rules on a judgement which led to the publication of the names of two sexual abuse victims on the Ministry of Justice website.
Justice Winkelmann, in a statement this evening following her inquiries, said it was an error and the sentencing judge very much regretted it had happened.”
So who’s mistake was it – well it would be the sentencing judge – as reported in almost every news site in NZ.
Are you really so out of touch and uninformed on something you are posting?
Tread carefully, folks. Carmel’s given up smoking. And doesn’t it show?
Seems pretty obvious you got it wrong, Carmel. Some humility would be a refreshing change. I won’t hold my breath though. All evidence points to you doing a poor job on this one, yet you lash out when you are “potted” for it. Your last statement that you would never apologise to a National Government, seems to be out of spite, which is a very immature emotion. Not the actions of an MP at all. Adults apologise when they are wrong.
I’ve voted Labour in the past Carmel, but if your diatribe and vitriol is representative of how you and your caucus intend to operate, it will be a VERY long time before I vote for Labour again!
The real issue is two young men who have had details of abuse leaked in to the public domain by the failure of civil servants to do their jobs correctly! That you should use this to spin in to an attack on the National Government shows a distinct lack of judgement and simple class. You should not only apologise for your comments, but for your follow on comments as well.
I’ve only met Paula twice Carmel. I haven’t ever met you. Is this the new tactic that Labour MPs have with comments that are inconvenient when you play puerile games? You tell them to go away and accuse them of being NActoids?
Carmel the people you have to convince in Waitakere and NZ are swing voters. Swing voters don’t like radicalism. Swing voters don’t think the government is evil. Swing voters don’t think it’s acceptable to launch an hysterical attack and then when you’re found to be wrong, refuse to apologise.
Obviously some people in the Labour Party think you’ve got some contribution to make though, because they ranked you higher than Judith Tizard on the list. I hope you start proving your value to them soon, because we’re not seeing any of it here on red alert.
Good on you for pushing this Carmel. Power’s statement that the judge may be at fault is lame. Everyone at the MoJ knows there is automatic name suppression in these cases, that is their job, and also thinking on their feet.
The fact that the RWNJ’s have nothing on topic to post about apart from spin and personal attacks speaks volumes.
Lets keep making it clear how National cuts to the public service hurts the public the Government is meant to serve.
“MacDoctor” is also a laugh and a half, some doctor, taking issues of confidentiality in such a blasé manner. Hope I’m not on your patient list mate, I’d want my records back right now.
And this Carmel is exactly why your party will continue to poll at 30%. When you make a mistake or get caught making stuff up, you need to front up and accept it. Refusing to apologise because “National do the same” is pathetic.
I wonder what position you will get on the Party list with those who make such decisions, especially at a time when Labour is TRYING to reconnect with the swing voters (who have all moved into the Blue Tent.) Please keep up this behaviour which is a reflection of the Previous administration.
Monty, Carmel is spot on you are off beam, you apologise
The political advice of a Right Winger, wait let me write it down and keep it under my pillow
Arrogant, immature and vile. Carmel you have no mechanism for change (Thank goodness)in fact you have no mandate for parliament. Who voted for you? No electorate wanted you. Keep up your arrogance and nastiness and they will never want you. I’ll give that tip to you for free. Until I found this socialist propaganda I never even heard of you! You seem to loathe basic courtesy and social skills. You have little legitimacy in this job.
Funny how all these Right Wingers keep going on about apologies and moral outrage.
Get a life Matthew, maybe spend a bit more time in the sunshine and fresh air, it’ll do you a world of good, I promise.
Oh yeah, and stop being a hypocrite LOLz
Do you have a job CV? You seem to spend your whole time on this site. Or are you at primary school with caramel? Sure does sound like it.
Its not really hypocritical. Im not remotely as rude as she is, but she needs to be told bluntly. “LOLz”
By the way Whale Oil did a nice little post about this. Gave her a nice nick name also.
@Matthew – hilarious stuff. Unfortunately she’ll still say she was right despite evidence to the contrary. It takes a big person to admit when they’re wrong i suppose.
Matthew, I married into a very wealthy family so am doing quite OK without employment, but thanks for asking
Wow you Righties are going to have to be on the defence all year.
With more and more public sector cutbacks, plummeting morale and the most experienced staffers already sending CVs across the ditch, this is only the start of the National frak ups hurting the NZ public.
Why do you guys even have comments here. The bilge being spewed in here by the right wing attack machine is truly awful.
Banned. Idiot. Forever. Trevor
Banned. Forever. Changing Email or name won’t help. Trevor
@ Josh; it wasn’t the Minister who blamed a judge; it was Justice Helen Winkelmann, the Chief High Court Judge.
I2 that is a very casual interpretation you’ve taken there.
What she actually said was that although the Court had failed to note that the names should be suppressed the MoJ also knew that name suppression was a statutory requirement for all such cases.
(Emphasis added below)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/justice-system/news/article.cfm?c_id=240&objectid=10706217