Group to hold Government to account

The Government has appointed a tangata whenua ministerial advisory group to give advice and hold it accountable as it seeks to wipe out family and sexual violence in a generation.

Marama Davidson, Green Party co-leader and the minister in charge of sexual and family violence prevention, announced the new 11-member group. Te Aorerekura will advise on the national strategy for eliminating family and sexual violence within 25 years.

The strategy, launched in December, is a whole-ofgovernment plan which called for widespread societal change to reduce family and sexual violence. Its guiding principles are deeply rooted in te ao Ma¯ori principles.

‘‘[It is] moving away from the short term, punitive focused approaches,’’ Davidson said.

‘‘They have not been working, they never have and in actual fact, they continue the cycle of harm.’’

The Government spends $2 billion per year on combating family and sexual violence, and every four minutes a domestic violence incident is reported to police.

One in three women will experience sexual abuse in their lifetime, and 10% of boys will be abused as children.

In the decade ending 2019, Ma¯ori made up 44% of family violence-related deaths, but this dropped to 23% in 2021 – a trend the Family Violence Death Review Committee has linked to the work of kaupapa Ma¯ori organisations.

The new group – due to start its three-year term tomorrow – comprises leading practitioners and researchers grounded in kaupapa Ma¯ ori, Davidson said.

They will give independent advice and ensure Ma¯ ori voices are heard, and will meet at least six times a year.

‘‘We can’t hope to eliminate family violence and sexual violence unless we ensure we are working with Ma¯ ori properly to do this work.’’

Poata Watene (Waikato Tainui, Nga¯i Te Rangi) is chief executive of the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project, a nongovernment organisation that provides advocacy and support services to families affected by violence.

As a new group member, he says big changes may take a while to come to fruition, but a key focus would be ensuring practitioners were given enough resourcing to make an impact.