1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,640
Speaker 1: Here's a question. Did official agencies act fast enough to

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,720
Speaker 1: save Tom phillips children from the mattercop of Bush? That

3
00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,360
Speaker 1: is the question a inquiry, and inquiry is starting today

4
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:11,640
Speaker 1: aims to find out. And so Phillips said his children

5
00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:14,040
Speaker 1: successfully hid from police for four years, in which time

6
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,280
Speaker 1: police say that no contact was ever made. That is

7
00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,480
Speaker 1: until a faithful shootout came the life of Tom Phillips

8
00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,680
Speaker 1: in September, with all his children found safe. So doctor

9
00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,440
Speaker 1: Anna Marie Brennan is a senior electorate at the University

10
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 1: of Waicato, enjoins me. Now, Anna Marie, good morning to you.

11
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:31,639
Speaker 2: Good morning.

12
00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,879
Speaker 1: What are the questions for having it's a pleasure? What

13
00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,360
Speaker 1: are the questions that this inquiry needs to answer?

14
00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:43,320
Speaker 2: There are three central questions here. Firstly, whether parenting orders

15
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,159
Speaker 2: were properly enforced by our state agencies, whether police and

16
00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:52,320
Speaker 2: child protection services discharged their satary duties, was New Zealand's

17
00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:59,920
Speaker 2: obligations under international law observed here? And then whether interagency

18
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,160
Speaker 2: coordination mess of those thresholds as well. So there's a

19
00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,960
Speaker 2: number of questions that this inquiry will be looking at,

20
00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:12,880
Speaker 2: and especially why it took so long to recover these children.

21
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's the basic question is it was international

22
00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:16,560
Speaker 1: law involved.

23
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,240
Speaker 2: New Zealand is a member of the United Nations Convention

24
00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,240
Speaker 2: and the Rights of the Child, and under that convention

25
00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,759
Speaker 2: the best interests of the child are at the center

26
00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:32,520
Speaker 2: of all decision making. So New Zealand is obliged to

27
00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,600
Speaker 2: protect children from harm, neglect and abuse. It must make

28
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,399
Speaker 2: clear as well that children deprived of their family environment

29
00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,920
Speaker 2: must be given special protection in the systems. And the

30
00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:48,000
Speaker 2: case of Tom Phillips is absolutely unprecedented. And these are

31
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,880
Speaker 2: bind emmitments. They are not aspirational goals.

32
00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,040
Speaker 1: Okay, I understand it. And so what agencies are accused

33
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,360
Speaker 1: of abrogating their duties and letting this get away for

34
00:01:58,400 --> 00:01:58,800
Speaker 1: so long.

35
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,280
Speaker 2: Well, first, there is a question about whether agencies like

36
00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,480
Speaker 2: the police and Arana Tamariki, whether the operations in isolation,

37
00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,840
Speaker 2: did they coordinate over this time period to try and

38
00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,400
Speaker 2: find these children. And essentially this inquiry is trying to

39
00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:21,359
Speaker 2: expose those systemic vulnerabilities so that in a case as

40
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,560
Speaker 2: extraordinary and as unprecedent as this does not happen to

41
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:26,400
Speaker 2: happen again.

42
00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:28,239
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff, and I thank you so much.

43
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:32,280
Speaker 1: That is doctor n Anna Maria brinnan and she is

44
00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,640
Speaker 1: a senior lecturer at the University of Wakata School of Law.

45
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:38,600
Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live

46
00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,760
Speaker 1: to news Talks it be from five am weekdays, or

47
00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:43,720
Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.