Ex Glenn inquiry boss heads watchdog
New family violence group aims to pioneer feedback on system’s failings, reports Nicole Lawton.
A new independent watchdog that will act as a voice for victims of domestic abuse has been launched by the former head of the Glenn Inquiry.
Ruth Herbert, a domestic abuse survivor herself, says NGO The Backbone Collective will ‘‘wrap around abused women and their children’’ to keep them safe and help them rebuild their lives.
‘‘Violence against Women is New Zealand’s great shame, we have the highest rate of women experiencing violence and abuse in the developed world. So it’s high time we started building a system that is more consistent and powerful than the abuser.’’
Herbert, along with violence-againstwomen advocate Deborah Mackenzie and policy analyst Tania Domett firmly believe the justice system is failing victims of domestic abuse ‘‘the greatest’’.
‘‘Backbone is a newly established independent body taking action to change New Zealand’s alarming violence-against-women statistics by examining the present response system through the eyes of its users – the women who have experienced violence and abuse,’’ said Herbert.
Each part of the integrated system would ‘‘talk to the others’’, sharing information about how to best to support a woman and her family. Processes that women go through after reporting violence can include communicating with the police, GPs, safehouses and family courts as well as countless NGOs and Government departments.
It will also survey its members anonymously every month, seeing where New Zealand’s systems are succeeding or failing, and suggesting changes to those in power.
Domett said this would become New Zealand’s first and only independent watchdog of the system with this monitoring function.
‘‘We think that government and others in a position of power will start listening when hundreds, and potentially thousands, of women speak up about what needs to change,’’ she said.
‘‘The more we develop this initiative, the more impact we will be able to have. What we need most is for women to join the Backbone and have their say.’’
Herbert believes her experience of domestic violence more than 30 years ago puts her in the best position to do the job.
After her partner levelled a loaded gun to her temple and pulled the trigger, she fled and went into hiding. After 12 years she received a phone call saying her abuser had died and then, she said, and only then, could she stop living in fear.
Remarkably, Herbert says that modern victims of domestic abuse have it even worse than she did.
Herbert has dedicated her life to improving outcomes for other victims of abuse: she did her masters on the topic, campaigned tirelessly, and became director of family violence at the Ministry of Social Development before becoming the executive director of the Glenn Inquiry in 2012 – an independent inquiry into family violence in New Zealand.
After a tumultuous couple of years she left the inquiry, which was backed by millionaire philanthropist Sir Owen Glenn and chaired by Dame Catherine Tizard, due to ‘‘a culmination of events that have occurred over a period of time’’.
‘‘My decision to resign was one I didn’t make lightly, but due to confidentiality undertakings I am not able to talk about the circumstances that led me to take that decision.’’