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LEGAL LOWDOWN

ISSUE

25

July 2015

COMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICES SOUTH TRUST

2 SAFETY LAWS Vulnerable Children 3

OUR CASEWORK

The Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (the Act)

passed into law this month with the aim of deterring, preventing,

and mitigating harm caused to individuals by digital communica-

tions and to provide victims of harmful digital communications

with a quick and efficient means of redress.

The Act also sets out 10 Communication Principles aimed at

reducing cyberbullying that provide that a digital communication:

Principle 1: should not disclose sensitive personal facts about an indi-

vidual.

Principle 2: should not be threatening, intimidating, or menacing.

Principle 3: should not be grossly offensive to a reasonable person in

the position of the affected individual.

Principle 4: should not be indecent or obscene.

Principle 5: should not be used to harass an individual.

4 MAORI LEGAL NEWS Maori Language 5 PACIFIC ISSUES

NZ Visa Applications

ANTI-CYBERBULLYING LAWS Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015

Principle 6: should not make a false allegation.

Principle 7: should not contain a matter that is published in breach of con-

fidence.

Principle 8: should not incite or encourage anyone to send a message to

an individual for the purpose of causing harm to the individual.

Principle 9: should not incite or encourage an individual to commit suicide.

Principle 10: should not denigrate an individual by reason of his or her

colour, race, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation,

or disability.

The Act also imposes a maximum sentence of 2 years imprison-

ment or a $50,000 fine for breaching the new laws.

For more in format ion about cyberbu l ly ing see

www.cyberbullying.org.nz

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The Vulnerable Children (Requirements for Safety Checks of

Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015 came into effect on 1 July

2015 as a result of reforms to the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

The new changes provide that all paid employees or contractors of State-

funded organisations, who will be working as a children’s worker, must

complete safety –checks

Children’s workers are “core workers” if they work alone with children or

have primary responsibility for children. Core workers are subject to a

workforce restriction if they have specified convictions.

The state-funded organisations that will be required to ensure their chil-

dren’s workers are safety checked include schools, early childhood ser-

vices, school bus services, public hospitals, medical practices belonging to

primary health organisations, publically funded providers of social or sup-

port services, and providers of services approved under legislation to work

with children.

There will be a phasing of the safety checking requirements in over three

to four years to give organisations time to have all of their children’s work-

force checked:

From 1 July 2015 new core children’s workers starting a job or con-

tract must be safety checked before they start work

From 1 July 2016 new non-core children’s workers starting a job or contract must be safety checked before they start work

By 1 July 2018 existing children’s core workers (i.e., those currently employed, or engaged as a contractor) must have been safety

checked

By 1 July 2019 all existing non-core children’s workers must have been be safety checked.

Who does not have to be safety checked

Under the Vulnerable Children’s Act, the requirements don’t apply to volunteers, unless that unpaid work is part of an educational or

vocational training course (e.g. a student teacher at a school as part of an education qualification).

Organisations are still encouraged to safety check volunteers, but are not legally obligated to do so under the new regulations

(although some organisations may need to do so because of other requirements – for example, as a condition of their contracts with

government agencies).

Businesses, unfunded non-government organisations, and voluntary organisations are also encouraged to voluntarily adopt the new

standards.

The regulations do not cover parents, guardians or people with care of a child receiving funding to secure regulated services for their

child. An example of this is a parent employing a person to care for their disabled child with funding from the Ministry of Health.

Local Government is not subject to the requirements until a later date (up to 1 July 2017). More information will be made available

once decisions about the timing have been made.

© CLSST, 2015 - (09) 274 4966 - www.clsstlaw.com - admin@clsstlaw.com 2

VULNERABLE CHILDREN

NEW SAFETY CHECKS FOR CHILDREN’S WORKERS

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NGĀ TAKE MĀORI Issues affecting Māori communities

TE WIKI O TE REO MĀORI KI CLSST

I tēnei marama, I whakanui tatou I te wiki o te reo Māori. I wha-

karitea e mātou, tētahi whakataetae reo Māori ki tō mātou tari,

a, he ako I ngā kupu Māori te mahi. Ko ngā kupu I akona he

kupu e pā ana ki ngā mahi ture me ngā mahi hāpori. Ko ngā

aronga matua o te whakataetae nei, he whakatairanga I te reo I

te wāhi mahi, ka tahi, he rongo-ā-taringa I te reo Māori e kōrero-

hia ana e te waha tauiwi, ka rua. I wikitōria I a Jonny Nu’u te

whakataetae reo Māori, he whanaunga a Johnny no te motu o

Hāmoa.

Photograph: Johnny Nu’u, winner of our in-house Māori

language competition:

© CLSST, 2015 - (09) 274 4966 - www.clsstlaw.com - admin@clsstlaw.com

TE REO MĀORI IN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Te reo Māori in legal proceedings has come a long way since

the Māori language became an official language of New Zea-

land. In this month’s Ngā Take Māori, we take a look at the

status of te reo Māori in legal proceedings, today.

In 1987, the Māori Language Act 1987 (“the Act”) was

passed into law which had the effect of making the Māori

Language an official language of New Zealand and establish

Te Taurawhiri I te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commis-

sion).

In 1988 the Act also provided the right for the following

persons to speak te reo Māori in legal proceedings:

(a) a member of the Court or Tribunal; and

(b) any party or witness; and

(c) any counsel; and

(d) any other person with leave of the presiding

officer.

In July 2012, an initiative of the District Courts Head of

Bench saw the announcement of the opening, adjournment

and closing announcements in all District, Family and Youth

Courts being made in both te reo Māori and English.

From October 2013, by direction of the Chief Justice, the

President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief High Court

Judge the opening , adjournment and closing of sessions in all

higher Courts were and continue to be conducted in both te

reo Māori and English.

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PASEFIKA ISSUES HEALTH INFORMATION FOR

NZ VISA APPLICANTS

Koe konga eni ‘oe mau “newsletter” ‘oku lave atu ia ki he ngaahi

ongoonogo moe ngaahi isiu fakalao fekau’aki moe kakai pasi-

fiki. Koe mahina ni ‘oku mau vakai’i ‘a e founga fo’ou ‘oku fa-

kahoko he Immigration New Zealand fekau ‘aki moe ngaahi sivi

mo’ui lelei.

This part of our newsletter covers legal issues regarding people

from the pacific. This month we are looking at the new process

whereby INZ deals with medical examinations.

In order to apply for a New Zealand Visa, the person applying

must have an acceptable standard of health whereby they are:

(a) unlikely to be a danger to public health; and

(b) unlikely to impose significant costs or demands on New

Zealand’s health service or special education services;

and

(c) Able to perform the functions of the visa for which they

have been granted

Applicants may also be required to provide medical and chest

X-ray certificates to establish they are of an acceptable stand-

ard of health. If an applicant does require a medical and chest

x-ray certificate then they must see an approved panel physi-

cian

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) have entered into a partner-

ship with Australia’s Department of Immigration and Boarder

Protection (DIBP) and Citizenship and Immigration Canada in

the use of eMedical, an online immigration health processing

platform.

Panel Physicians will now be required to process health ex-

aminations online and grade the health examination with:

(a) “A” where there is no significant medical history or ab-

normal findings present or

(b) “B” where there is significant medical history or abnor-

mal findings present.

A grading does not determine whether a person meets the

health requirements. That determination is made by an immi-

gration officer who may refer the medical certificate to a

medical assessor. The approval process usually will take about

6-8 weeks.

A list of approved panel physicians can be found via the INZ

website. A list of countries in which eMedical is now available

can be found here. There are also a number of countries that

have been confirmed as part of the panel physician network,

however eMedical will not be made available. These countries

include Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu. A full list of these

countries can be found here

For applicants with a history of tuberculosis (TB) it is likely

that a referral to an Immigration New Zealand medical asses-

sor will be necessary. In these circumstances, applicants

should provide all medical documents of past diagnosis and

treatment.

If a decision is made that a person does not have a sufficient

standard of health then the visa application will be declined

unless a medical waiver is granted by INZ. INZ will only con-

sider medical waivers for residence class visa application if the

applicant meets all the other requirements of the visa applica-

tion. INZ will only consider medical waivers for temporary

class visas if the applicant meets all the other requirements of

the visa application and:

(a) is the partner or dependent child of a New Zealand citi-zen or residence class visa holder, or

(b) Has applied for a temporary visa as a seconded busi-

nessperson, or

(c) has been recognised as having refugee or protection

status in New Zealand.

For more information, please see the INZ website (link)

Source: Immigration New Zealand

© CLSST, 2015 - (09) 274 4966 - www.clsstlaw.com - admin@clsstlaw.com 5

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Legal Education UPCOMING

SESSIONS

We currently have 2 on-air legal

information slots which are part of

our preventative services. We

provide these services every

Wednesday. Each week we look at a different area of

law. The details of our on-air services are as follows:

Planet FM: Kiribati Voice, from 1:00pm

Radio 531pi: Pacific Drive Time, from 2:00pm

To listen to our on-air services, tune in, live via the links

below:

ON AIR

Legal Services

LEGAL EDUCATION

Our legal education sessions are part of our preventative

services which aim to reduce the number of legal disputes

occurring in our communities.

Through our legal education services, we seek to inform,

and educate the community on their legal rights and re-

sponsibilities in relation to various legal topics.

It is also an opportunity for individuals to ask questions

about specific areas of law they may not understand.

For more information on our Legal Education sessions

visit the education tab on our website to download/view

our education booklet or contact us on (09) 274 4966

© CLSST, 2015 - (09) 274 4966 - www.clsstlaw.com - admin@clsstlaw.com 6

STATS Legal Education

#top3 education sessions

#1 NZ Legal Systems

#2 Employment Law

#3 Family Law

7

Otara

CLSST Office

120 Bairds Road

Otara Appointments available:

Monday – Friday

Manukau Salvation Army

16B Bakerfield Place

Manukau

Appointments available:

Monday-Friday

Papakura

Papakura Citizens Advice Bureau

4a Opaheke Road

Papakura

Appointments available:

Thursday

Pukekohe

6A Rouslton Street

Pukekohe

Appointments available:

Fortnightly on Tuesday

Manurewa

Manurewa Marae

81 Finlayson Ave

Manurewa

Appointments available:

Wednesday

OUTREACH CLINICS: Our Community

TE MATA LAW:

5 August 2015

7 October 2015

BENNION LAW:

2 September 2015

4 November 2015

A free Māori Land Advisory Clinic provided in partnership with the Te Mata Law, Bennion Law and

Manurewa Marae, (First Wednesday of every month - by appointment only). Below are the dates for the

2015 Māori Land Advisory Clinics:

CLINIC DETAILS:

Manurewa Marae

81 Finlayson Ave

MANUREWA

30mins appointments

from 10am -1pm

For more information or to book an appointment (with a lawyer) contact

Wi Pere Mita: (09) 274 4966 or wipere.mita@clsstlaw.com

MAORI LAND CLINIC FREE MAORI LAND ADVICE

© CLSST, 2015 - (09) 274 4966 - www.clsstlaw.com - admin@clsstlaw.com 7