‘ignores its own values’
The children’s ministry is accused of abandoning a traumatised former worker. David Williams reports
As happens so often, raw emotion and despair play out in a drab, air-conditioned room dominated by greys and off-whites, under the glare of fluorescent lights.
Last week it was the turn of former Oranga Tamariki employee Bai Zammit-Ross, whose personal grievance was heard by the Employment Relations Authority.
The power of the state was on display – for a beleaguered children’s ministry under heightened scrutiny and whose chief executive has resigned. Two suited senior managers gave evidence at the Christchurch hearing, led by a pair of lawyers from national firm Buddle Findlay who flew in from Wellington.
Zammit-Ross, flanked by her local lawyer and a union secretary, pleaded her case in a floral dress from an opportunity shop. Reminders about what she should say were written on the back of her hand in ballpoint pen.
Link to article: Oranga Tamariki ‘Ignores Its Own Values’ | Newsroom
