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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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Justice Minister Phil Goff stated again this afternoon that the
parents of children involved in the Ellis case have not been denied
assistance for legal representation to the recently announced Ministerial
Inquiry. Mr Goff was responding to Mrs Shipley's statement, slipped out
last Friday afternoon and repeated today by Mr Ryall in the House, that he
had already turned the parents' request down. "Parents of the creche children wrote to me on 14 March
asking for assistance and my reply is attached. I am still giving
consideration to their request, having asked them for some clarification. "I am sympathetic to the suggestion that the viewpoint of
the families is properly represented to the Inquiry, just as Mr Ellis'
viewpoint will need to be. It is important that the submissions to the
Inquiry address the terms of reference and are expressed in a clear and
focused manner. Legal representation of the families will assist in achieving
that objective. "I did turn down an earlier request by a lawyer acting for
some of the parents for a counsel to be appointed to assist the families to
make submissions on the need for an inquiry in the first place. "To confuse the two requests and their replies Mrs Shipley
has either been very sloppy or quite dishonest". |
