Electorate News

Waitakere New Settlers Safe Forum

David Cunliffe

10.05.2008

Tena koutou katoa, Namaste, Ni hao, Salamalikum, Talofa, Malo e lelei, and warm pacific greetings to you all.

Firstly as new settlers I want to extend a very warm welcome to you to West Auckland.

I’m sure you’re starting to adjust to life in New Zealand and in Waitakere. We’re lucky because we have a really diverse mix of peoples and cultures in West Auckland and a real sense of community.

This Forum is a great opportunity to learn a bit about keeping safe. Keeping safe means looking after yourself and your family both within the community and within the home.

New Zealand is a great country and there are many aspects of it that we can be proud of – the environment, our beautiful parks, lakes and rivers, a lifestyle that is unrivalled anywhere else in the World.

Unfortunately, it saddens me to say that there are some things about New Zealand that I’m ashamed of. Topping that list is the appalling record we have of violence against loved ones.

I recently saw some statistics from the Police National Homicide Database. Of the 53 investigated murder cases in 2006, 25 of those cases were recorded as family violence-related – that’s almost half of all cases!

Of the 26 victims (one case included two victims), 12 were women, six were children and eight were men. Of the 12 women, 10 were killed by a male partner or ex-partner (six of these had protection orders in place). All six children were killed by parents or caregivers.

These are not just statistics. These are real people – mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers - who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of family members.

Eliminating family violence in New Zealand is a long-term goal that requires a co-ordinated effort from government, non-government agencies, the community and most importantly from individuals.
We are dealing with a complex social issue. Family members including men, women and children may be victims, perpetrators or observers of domestic violence.

The Government recognises the importance of eliminating family violence. We have set up the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families to advise the Family Violence Ministerial Team on how to make improvements to the way family violence is addressed and how to eliminate it.

The Taskforce’s vision is that “all families and whanau have healthy, respectful, stable relationships, free from violence”. It sets out a strategic framework for eliminating family violence. The framework includes four key areas:

leadership – to transform our society into one that does not tolerate family violence
changing attitudes and behaviours – to reduce society’s tolerance of violence and change people’s damaging behaviour within families
safety and accountability – to ensure people are safe and perpetrators are held to account
effective support services – to provide help and support to individuals and families affected by family violence.

The Taskforce’s “It’s not OK” campaign aims to:

increase awareness of family violence, so that it becomes visible and constructively talked about throughout New Zealand
increase understanding of family violence
increase the personal relevance of family violence, so that we can all help do something about it
promote a greater propensity to act on family violence for victims, perpetrators, families and influencers
create a social climate that supports behavioural change.

Many people have been doing great work against family violence for many years. This campaign supports and builds on that work.

Family violence can no longer remain a private issue between family members hidden behind closed doors.

Thank you

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