PĀNUI PĀPĀHO / MEDIA RELEASE

Date: 06/05/21

Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu welcomes the Government’s announcement on Violence Prevention and Elimination

 Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu celebrates the bold declaration by Hon Marama Davidson to launch a national engagement process on the prevention and elimination of family and sexual violence. The endorsement of the approach by the Minister for Māori Development, Willie Jackson, is also important for confirming this engagement is of the utmost importance to Government across its portfolios.

 “We are delighted to see both Ministers announce that Māori leadership, Te Ao Māori thinking, and inclusive Te Tiriti framework – plays a pivotal part in transforming the system and is right at the forefront of their approach” said Pouārahi, Helen Leahy.

“Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu has championed a whānau-led approach to reducing violence over the last five years. We have been proud to share the impact of that strategy directly with Minister Davidson in a recent hui hosted in Aranui on 27 April 2021.”

“Whānau change is driven by whānau from all over Te Waipounamu telling us they are willing and have made positive changes in their homes, marae and communities.   They have also told us that accessibility to kaupapa Māori practitioners skilled in addressing trauma is a gap, and they seek change that they can own, that will be meaningful and appropriate to whānau.”

“We want to see a Government that places its faith directly in the hands of whānau; whānau action for whānau transformation.”

The Government’s own evaluation in 2019 recommended attention be accorded to Tū Pono the Whānau Ora approach to family violence developed across Te Waipounamu – and yet to date, there has been little investment or interest in reaching out to embrace the findings of Whānau Ora to be better connected to ensure seamless support for whānau.

“We look forward to this national engagement process providing an opportunity to hear about whānau-driven solutions which are locally generated, intergenerational and address historical or intergenerational trauma.”

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact:

Helen Leahy – 021 881 031

Background

Throughout 2016-17 the Tu Pono collective visited over 27 marae, whānau and communities throughout Te Waipounamu, and whānau shared their lived experiences and solutions to stop the harm from violence.  The outcome of those hui was the launch of Tū Pono Te Mana Kaha o Te Whānau at Rehua Marae in June 2017 – a Whānau Ora Strategy to eliminate harm from violence.  What’s working for Māori: a kaupapa Māori perspective on the responsiveness of the Integrated Safety Response to Māori Synthesis Evaluation report (Wehipeihana, 2019).  The report states: “Whilst the overall picture at this stage is a positive one, there are areas for improvement. These include to:

1.         Work with government partner agencies to support them to understand and adopt whānau-centred practice to improve their responsiveness to whānau and to align with ISR

2.         Review workforce capacity and coalition funding allocations to ensure support and services are adequately resourced

3.         Strengthen relationships across the sector to manage service gaps, facilitate access and to advocate for more funding of non-ISR programmes and services

4.         Vest decision-making about the collation and reporting of ISR whānau outcomes in Māori to support a Kaupapa Māori analytic lens, the consideration of outcomes; and to minimise the misuse or misrepresentation of Māori and whānau data

5.         Clarify for (all those involved) the ISR governance, ISR government agencies and the ISR core team in Christchurch, ‘Tū Pono’ the Whānau Ora approach to family violence developed across Te Waipounamu, and ‘Tū Pono’ the (ISR) Coalition and how they relate

6.         Explore the potential role, relationship or contribution of Te Pūtahitanga (Whānau Ora Commissioning) to ISR Christchurch. There is a need for ISR and Whānau Ora to be better connected and more joined-up to ensure seamless support for whānau

7.         Increase reporting (and research if needed) about tamariki and rangatahi experiences of ISR to address the lack of visibility about how well ISR is working for children and young people.