Speech: Preventing Family Violence

PRESBYTERIAN SUPPORT CENTRAL FAMILY WORKS

Preventing Family Violence Conference

Orongomai Marae, Upper Hutt

 

Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Social Development

 

Thursday 4 June 2009; 12.00pm

 

 

This is a significant setting in which to consider the challenge, ‘everyone is responsible for preventing family violence’.

 

Orongomai Marae has a proud history as an urban-based marae, embedded right in the heart of its community, with the loving warmth of Te Atiawa all around.

 

This marae provides a home for all iwi away from their ukaipo. It is grounded in te Ao Maori. From this marae springs forth kohanga reo, kapa haka, roopu for pakeke, for whaikorero; Te Ataarangi programmes; the Maori Land Court, marae-based studies.

 

But it also provides wider services across the community – health, social work, training, community law.

 

And so when I heard that Presbyterian Support Central Family Works was planning to hold this important conference here, I could completely understand why.

 

In its everyday activities, Orongomai marae reflects the spirit of collaboration and partnership that we would wish to see in the family violence sector.

 

There are no partitions in the whare to divide our group into perpetrators, victims, children.

 

There are no bells ringing to tell us when our session time is up or waiting rooms to usher the next group in.

 

But there is a sense of collective ownership; a sense of belonging; of accountability to the walls around us, to the people who have walked this road before us.

 

I want to congratulate Presbyterian Support Central for opening up your conference to the wider sector, in the hope that together, we can indeed prevent family violence and restore peace to our lives.

 

I am interested in the values that inform the concept of “Family Works” –

the belief that we all need support at some stage in our lives;
that the strength of our families and our communities are the people;
and that strong, self-sufficient families are the best places to grow happy and healthy children.

We might also think of these values as an expression of mauri ora – having respect for the balance and the strength in all aspects of our spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual wellbeing.

 

I believe that the greatest challenge in family violence is to hold the vision of mauri ora uppermost in our reach. It is about smelling, tasting, feeling the power of mauriora in all that we do.

 

Conversely, one of the greatest sorrows is to know that some of our families have never known the joy of mauriora, the wonder, the mystery, the power of whanau.

 

One of our most precious goals must be to help all of our families know what mauri ora looks like.

 

If you know what it is, then you will know also that violence does not fit within the continuum of wellbeing.

 

One of the things that worries me is when I hear of people attending programmes, regurgitating the new language they have learnt, but knowing that when they return home, they will discard that vocabulary, that way of being, as quickly as they walk in the door.

 

Sometimes that might be because they have learnt that if they acquire the language and follow the rules, then they are more likely to be released early.

 

In other times, their intentions may very well be genuine, but when they come home and they are the only one looking at life differently, it is just too hard to make the change on their own.

 

That is where we come back to this theme, everyone is responsible for preventing family violence.

 

We need to normalise wellbeing; to make it completely natural that full health and happiness takes central stage in our lives.

 

To do this, we must take responsibility for identifying the things that hold us back; we need to insist on eliminating violence in our lives while at the same time setting realistic outcomes based in wellness.

 

And it must be a journey that we take together.

 

I was so pleased to see that this conference included professionals and policy developers alongside those who deal with the challenge of working in the family violence sector every day.

 

I want to particularly acknowledge Judge Philip Recordon from Waitakere District Court; Judge Paul Goeghegan from Tauranga Family and Youth Court; and David Carruthers, the Chair of the New Zealand Parole Board; for being willing to be part of the road to recovery our community must take.

 

It will be good to hear their thoughts on some of the persistent questions that challenge me:

 

how do children fare out of the current application of the domestic violence legislation?

If 69% of men are dropping out of programmes; and those that do attend are at best, reluctant, then how can we say that stopping violence programmes are being effective?

What is the capacity of the Court to promote whanau ora; to refer families to programmes which restore peace in their homes as a family unit?

I see in your programme that there is also a presentation from Senior Sergeant Mark Cousins and Maxine Rennie – a member of the Maori advisory board to the Rotorua Police. I will be interested to learn their views on how consistently police are applying policies and procedures in areas such as issuing protection orders or the investment we make in the care of children.

 

Hui like this are absolutely critical for giving us all a chance to refocus; to review; to refresh our views on what works and what doesn’t.

 

Are we really confident that what we are doing translates in real and meaningful outcomes for peaceful families?

 

Are we sure that preventing violence services are responding to the diverse needs of our communities – the migrant and refugee communities; people with disabilities; people who seek to self-refer, to take the initiative to address their anger before it gets too late.

 

Is it the system itself that needs the biggest overhaul? Is the Ministry of Justice the appropriate fund-holder for mandated programmes? Should the Children’s Commissioner, or the Families Commission have a more active role? Is the DVA working? Are stopping violence programmes making a difference?

 

I want to congratulate you all for having the breadth of mind and the willing spirit to know that it is only through working together that we will achieve the change we need.

 

There is a session tomorrow morning that sounds inspirational– and that’s the session headed, ‘watching miracles happen’. People like Jude Simpson know that miracles can happen; that we can come through the experience of family violence and make bold changes, for the sake of the children, for the sake of the family, for the sake of the community.

 

I wish you well in these two days, and I hope that the energy and the enthusiasm that has driven you all to do the work you do, is rewarded by the discussions you have here at Orongomai.

 

Your work is so vital to maintaining the very heartbeat of our communities – the soul of our families – the wellbeing of our people. I commend you all, for the dedication of your efforts to champion a message that violence is unacceptable.

 

I truly believe that we can transform ourselves, that we can liberate ourselves from the burden of family violence, and that we can flourish.

 

Yesterday The Economist ranked New Zealand as the most peaceful of 144 countries reviewed in the Global Peace Index.

 

Our challenges to ourselves must be to ensure that the reputation we have earned on the world stage is mirrored in every home.

 

We obviously have the potential to achieve greatness – let this Orongamai hui become the benchmark from which we will now know we can, and have, restored peace throughout this land.