The Children's Commissioner is the independent voice for children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand. They speak up for our rights, hold governments and public agencies to account, and stand beside children and young people when no one else will.

That is why the decision not only not to reappoint Dr Claire Achmad, but also to cut her term short by 2 and a half years, matters. This is not simply a change in leadership. It has real consequences for the trust, stability, and confidence children and young people place in the office that exists to protect them.

When Dr Claire Achmad was appointed in 2023, New Zealand was told she would serve a five-year term. Children and young people expected stability. We expected the relationships she was building, the trust she was earning, and the work she had begun would continue through to 2028.

Instead, that continuity has been lost, severed when her term was cut short and she was replaced without consultation with the very community that she serves

Dr Claire Achmad had earned the confidence of children, young people, whānau, advocates, and communities across Aotearoa. That confidence was built through years of listening, consulting with youth and their whānau, standing up for children's rights, and ensuring young people's voices were heard. Trust like that cannot simply be replaced, nor should it be.

Continuity is not just about keeping the same person in a role. It is about preserving years of relationships, lived experience, institutional knowledge, and the confidence children and young people have built in the office. Once that trust is broken, it cannot simply be handed to someone else. And once broken, that trust is incredibly difficult to repair. For children and young people, stability is not a luxury. It is essential.

Many young people already experience uncertainty in their lives. Some have grown up in state care. Some live with disabilities. Others face mental health challenges, family violence, poverty, discrimination, or exclusion. The Children's Commissioner is meant to be a constant. An independent voice that stands beside children no matter who is in government or what changes are taking place.

For many young people, trust in the systems that are meant to protect them is already fragile. The Children's Commissioner should be one office that remains steady, independent, and trusted regardless of who forms the Government. The constant that exists when too many other systems change without our consultation and allow for us to fall through the cracks.

Trust is built over years, not months. Yet the decision not to reappoint Dr Claire Achmad was made without any public consultation with the children and young people she existed to represent. At a time when governments speak about listening to young people, those same young people were given no public opportunity to have a say in who would become their independent advocate.

It takes time for children and young people to know that someone will listen, understand their experiences, and speak up when it matters. When trusted leadership changes unexpectedly, that trust cannot simply be transferred to someone new.

Over the past three years, Dr Claire Achmad has listened to children and young people, challenged systems when children's rights were at risk, and consistently ensured their voices were heard at the highest levels. That is how trust is built. That is why this decision matters.

We are calling on the Government to reappoint Dr Claire Achmad as New Zealand's Children's Commissioner and to ensure that future appointments place children and young people at the heart of the process.

Children need stability.

Young people need stability.

Our rights deserve stability.

The office that exists to protect us should provide exactly that.

 

Created by:

Jaden Movold & Nikita Van Dijk

On behalf of children and young people across Aotearoa who believe their voices deserve to be heard.