Crackdown better late than never
A chilling statistic counts out our never-ending cycle of family violence. Every five-and-a-half minutes, on average, police are called to deal with an incident of domestic violence.
It is an appalling fact of life in New Zealand. But it is not too late to turn things around.
A $130 million plan announced by the Government this week to crack down on violence in Kiwi homes has been welcomed by most victims, support and advocacy groups, and politicians on both sides of the House.
Enthusiasm for the overhaul and for change is genuine, but is tempered by some concerns and a feeling action should have been taken years ago.
The scale of the family violence eating away at our society is mind-boggling. Police attend about 280 domestic violence incidents every day, close to 110,000 callouts a year. Children are present during violence in two-thirds of those cases. In Canterbury alone, police receive about 10,000 calls a year.
Between 33 per cent and 39 per cent of all New Zealand women experience physical or sexual violence from a partner, according to Women’s Refuge. And international studies have rated this country among the worst in the world for both kinds of violence against women. Men of course can also be the victims of domestic violence but, as Women’s Refuge points out, it is unusual for men to be seriously injured or killed by a woman.
Domestic violence also has major social and economic impacts. One estimate is it may be costing New Zealand close to $8 billion a year in policing, support funding and in lost productivity.
In terms of the social impacts on the country, it is wrecking the lives of thousands, denying victims their human rights and taking away the hope and innocence of children, thereby setting in train another potential generation of violence.
This package of measures is certainly something which can act as a catalyst for change. It includes tougher penalties for the breaching of protection orders, which will also become easier to get, more than 60 new police officers, 53 law changes and ‘‘family violence’’ being marked on offenders’ records for life. It will also introduce new legislation to stop forced and underage marriage, and bring in the new offence of assault on a family member, which will have tougher sentences than common assault.
That so many current laws need tinkering with to make this work shows how piecemeal a fashion this has been dealt with in the past.
While there is widespread support for this overhaul, the Labour Party’s associate justice spokeswoman, Poto Williams , believes it should be made easier for offenders to get help to stop them being violent. Christchurch City Missioner Michael Gorman is voicing concerns about a ‘‘punitive approach’’ and Dunedin lawyer Anne Stevens has told RNZ the plan is simply ‘‘window dressing’’, which fails to address the start of the family violence cycle among young people.
It may be a case of better late than never but we welcome the Government’s initiative. There is no bigger societal problem facing New Zealand.