Source: New Zealand Government
Welcome everyone, thank you for joining us today for the launch of the Second Te Aorerekura Action Plan – Breaking the cycle of violence.
My name is Karen Chhour – I am the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Minister for Children.
This is a big day, a special day. I want to acknowledge the experience, and expertise, represented by the people here.
This Action Plan marks an important milestone for us, we are in year 3 of our 25-year National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence.
We have had a high level of interest in this event so it’s great to see so many people together here today, given that we are just 10 days out from Christmas.
Thank you all for making the time, and in many cases, travelling some distance, to be here this morning.
I also acknowledge those are joining us on the livestream.
I am grateful for your support and dedication to this work.
I’d particularly like to acknowledge my Parliamentary colleagues who are here with us,
- Louise Upston, Minister for Social Development and Employment, the Community Sector, Child Poverty Reduction and Disability Issues;
- Mark Mitchell, Minister of Police, Corrections and Emergency Management
- Members of Parliament, Members of the Board of Te Puna Aonui, along with wider team and leaders from across the public services and community.
Welcome and thank you all for coming.
I have spent the last 12 months traveling the country to hear your thoughts on how we can make a real difference in this space and thanks to significant community engagement, we were able capture the most consistent feedback and consider this in the process of developing the National Strategy going forward.
I’m pleased to be part of a government that sees the value in this work.
Our setting of a target of 20,000 fewer victims of assault, robbery or sexual assault holds the government and agencies to account, and it also keeps this issue front and centre, if we don’t acknowledge the problem, how can we work towards fixing it?
As I am sure you are all aware, the Strategy is delivered through successive Action Plans.
I am pleased to say the Strategy has cross-party support, which means it can be a generational effort.
This means we can make foundational, system changes, sustained over time. To get real, lasting, improvement.
The Strategy has a strong focus on primary prevention, healing, and the critical role of community leadership in achieving change that lasts.
First, I want to talk a little about family violence in New Zealand.
It is important to try to grasp the size of the problem we are dealing with.
Family violence and sexual violence is at a crisis in New Zealand.
One in two women – 56 percent – experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime and that number is higher for Māori women – 65 percent.
And we know only about 6.6 percent of sexual violence is reported to Police.
These crimes are devastating for individuals, whānau, and their communities and carry intergenerational consequences for health, education, and economic and social wellbeing.
And of course, incidents involving adults, often also involve children.
They see, hear, and feel it, even if it is not directed at them.
This impacts their wellbeing and their development.
It shapes how they think about their world and about relationships.
And it may even make them feel that using violence to solve a problem is ok.
This is the cycle we need to break.
These are complex issues caused by a wide range of social and economic conditions.
This is why we have 9 Government agencies working together, with support from Te Puna Aonui business unit, to make sure different parts of the system are working together.
Of course, we also need Government working well with the community to enable change.
Community leadership, action and insights are essential for implementing solutions that help people on the ground.
And that is what this Action Plan is all about: delivering practical improvements in key parts of the system, with a focus on families and whānau who we are here to serve.
We want to do more of what works to break the cycle of violence.
This Plan takes a different approach to the first Action Plan and is centred on government doing fewer things, more comprehensively.
There is a lot to do, and this Action Plan focuses on areas where the greatest difference can be made.
There are 7 specific focus areas:
- investing and commissioning well, through a social investment approach and better contracting
- keeping people safe, by strengthening multi-agency responses in communities
- stopping violence through accountability and behaviour change
- protecting children and young people
- strengthening our workforce
- acting on sexual violence, and
- preventing violence before it starts.
Agencies will start working to make changes straight away on the 3 top focus areas for the next 2 years.
Let me will talk briefly about these.
First, investing and commissioning well.
This is about what the government invests in the family violence and sexual violence system, and how this shapes what is delivered and how.
Work is already underway to review current spending so we can make better decisions about future investment.
Te Puna Aonui has been working in this space in recent years, overseeing joint agency Budget packages.
We are now bringing a social investment approach to the way we make decisions, and this will allow us to have a greater understanding of the impact of what we are spending.
We will also be working toward improving our approach to contracting services.
For many years now, communities have expressed frustration with the lack of coordination and duplication in contracts.
This action will help ensure more effective and efficient management of contracts.
This means that the family violence and sexual violence providers who deliver services will have more certainty and less duplication.
The second key focus area is on keeping people safe.
This Action Plan will strengthen multi-agency responses by making practical improvements to the way that services work together at a local level.
An effective, integrated approach requires government agencies to work together well.
Police, MSD, Oranga Tamariki, Health, and Education all have a part to play in responding to family violence when it is reported, and when signs of violence are seen.
Multi-agency responses bring everyone together to develop plans and work with victim/survivors to not only get them to safety, but to also support them to stay safe.
This is especially important for people at high risk of injury or death, or for families who have complex needs.
Alongside the Action Plan, Te Puna Aonui has also just published a report on the current state of multi-agency responses.
This is an important baseline report that identifies opportunities for improvement and is aligned with evidence about what’s needed.
We know that breaking cycles requires support for people to heal and to change their behaviour.
This is why a third key focus of the new Action Plan brings a focus on stopping violence.
That means providing support to people who have used violence – again, looking for ways to break the cycle.
My colleague, Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith, has already announced a Bill to create a specific new offence that recognises stalking and imposes a penalty of up to 5 years in prison for people who break the law.
This is an important addition to strengthening accountability and keeping people safe.
We are also reviewing the non-violence programmes that are mandatory for people who have protection orders made against them.
These programmes support people to understand what triggers their behaviour, the harm they have caused and how to live without being violent to others.
MSD is rolling out a new family violence service for men called Te Huringa ō te Ao.
This will support providers to work with men in communities who are hurting their partners and children, and who realise it is time for change.
Importantly, we are extending access to rehabilitation services to people on remand, and we will be expanding the provision of safety programmes to cases going through criminal court.
Improvements to the sexual violence system include; work by ACC and MSD to create a single platform for accessing services; continuing development of kaupapa Māori sexual violence services, and services to address concerning sexual ideation.
So how will we know we are making a difference?
Te Puna Aonui recently released its first baseline report under the Outcomes and Measurement Framework.
What does that mean?
Put that in simple terms – it gives us a way to track progress.
It looks at how we measure success for those who are disproportionately affected by violence: that means women, children and young people, Māori, Pacific peoples, ethnic communities, disabled people, older people and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Measuring progress also helps Ministers hold Te Puna Aonui and agencies accountable for what they are delivering.
At the end of the first 2 years of this Action Plan, we’ll assess progress and refresh our focus for the final 3 years of the Plan.
One lesson we learnt from the first Action Plan was the importance of learning as we go.
We know that it will take time, but it’s important to get this right.
I want to acknowledge and thank all those who engaged with Te Puna Aonui in the development of this Action Plan.
That targeted engagement has informed the focus areas we present today.
This Action Plan will not solve all the problems in the family violence and sexual violence system, but it will strengthen and improve critical aspects of the system.
Today we are making people safer.
I look forward to working with Ministers, Te Puna Aonui and you, our stakeholders, to ensure this Plan makes our communities safer and improves outcomes for our most vulnerable families.
And so, the second Te Aorerekura Action Plan is officially launched.
