E nga mana
E ng Reo
E nga Iwi o te motu

Karanga mai
Mihi Mai
Aku rangitira mai

Tena Kotou, tena kotou, tena tatou katoa

Good morning everyone and thank you for being here in Hawera this morning and for the duration of this conference.

I am pleased to have been given the opportunity to speak today.  I was originally meant to participate on the panel tomorrow but the Business of the House precluded me from doing so. 

Thank you to Pam for arranging this important conference and for factoring me in to the plans for today so that I may have the chance to have some discussion with you regarding the issues surrounding domestic violence.

A few years ago Ella and I lived in a police house in Stokes Valley. It was jammed into a row of similar aged houses and we felt like we could reach out and touch the neighbour’s house from ours. Our kitchens faced each other and there were only two narrow paths and a six foot high fence between the houses.

This wasn’t so much of a problem except that they used to argue terribly. There was booze involved and the noise would be horrific on occasions.

One night I heard the tea hit the wall and the language and decibels went through the roof. Then I heard the telling words, “right, I’ve had enough…” and there was the sound of rattling around in the knife drawer.  I jumped the fence and went in through the back door.

The male was so surprised to see me walk straight into his house he stood there dumbfounded and when I demanded to know where his wife was he had a sheepish look on his face and a dopey grin, and motioned to the front door. As I walked through the house I went past the bedroom doors of the children and they were sitting on their beds crying and then I found the woman on the front step and she was crying.

I said, “Where are you hurt?”
She said, “What?”
I said, “Has he hurt you, I heard him grab a knife or something?”
She said, “Oh no – he’d never hit me?”

We had a bit of a sit down and funnily enough, just the fact that I’d jumped the fence, and they knew I would again – where nobody ever had before – meant that those incidents stopped as if somebody turned off the tap.

It didn’t matter that nobody was being physically assaulted - the threats, the emotional harm, the conditioning of the children, and the verbal battering meant that this household was about as violent as you could get without lifting a finger.

Another story comes to mind.

I was sitting at home one Saturday night writing a sermon. I was due to preach at our local church when there was banging on the back door and before I could answer it a young 11 year old boy rushed in through the door and said, “Mr Borrows, Mr Borrows – I’ve been sexually abused.”

I knew the young boy from the neighbourhood and so I said to him, “Tell me what sexual abuse is … we’ll call him Nicky.”

He said to me, “I thought you’d know Mr Borrows.”

I felt a bit silly and he looked at me like I let him down badly –  I said “I do Nicky, but I need you to tell me what it means.”

He said, “It’s when your father roots you up the arse.”

There was absolutely no doubt, that this young boy knew what sexual abuse was, and he’d come to someone for help.

We quickly interviewed the boy, and spoke to the father who admitted the abuse of his son. Of course initially the family didn’t want to believe what had been going on, but with the father’s confession, they couldn’t deny it.

The point being that the boy wanted the abuse to stop – and he told somebody who could make it stop. For years we wouldn’t get involved in these incidents. Educators and social workers, and health workers wouldn’t believe children, or even in the light of damning evidence of assaults and sexual abuse, they believed it wasn’t their role to intervene – somehow believing it was more important to preserve the relationship they had with the victim rather than prevent the ongoing violence.

Well, the violence has to stop.

For a significant number of victims of violence, the most dangerous place they can be is in their own home. In 2007/2008, family violence accounted for approximately 39% of homicides, 42% of kidnappings and abductions, 44% of grievous assaults, and 64% of serious assaults.  One woman dies at the hands of her partner or former partner every 26 days in New Zealand.  One in three NZ women experience physical and/or sexual abuse throughout their lifetime at the hands of a partner.

What we also know is that we murder more frequently per head of population that every other western country outside the USA.  We kill each other at more than twice the rate of those in the UK with all their racial tension, terrorism, underworld crime, Class A drug use, social precursors and high alcohol intake – and although we might all have our theories – nobody seems to know why. 

One of the most frustrating things for people outside a battering relationship is trying to understand why a woman doesn't just leave.  The most important thing to keep in mind is that extreme emotional abuse is always present in domestic violence situations. On average, an abused woman will leave her partner 6-8 times, but often many more. The reasons they return or stay in the relationship vary from case to case, and can include anything from fear, financial dependence, social isolation, a lack of support from family or friends, or saddest of all, the notion that violence is in some way acceptable or deserved - the violence escalates slowly over time until living with constant abuse numbs the victim so that she is unable to recognize that she is involved in a set pattern of abuse.

In homes where domestic violence occurs, children are at high risk for suffering physical abuse themselves. Regardless of whether children are physically abused, the emotional effects of witnessing domestic violence are very similar to the psychological trauma of being a victim of child abuse.  We teach our boys it’s their right and role to beat their partners and we teach our girls it’s their role to put up with it.

Younger children do not understand the meaning of the abuse they observe and tend to believe that they “must have done something wrong.” Self-blame can precipitate feelings of guilt, worry, and anxiety.  Adolescents are at risk of academic failure, school drop-out, delinquency, substance abuse, and difficulties in their own relationships.  And so even in a family home where the children themselves are not the physical victims of violence, the effects that witnessing violence between the parents will have on them is long-lasting and damaging, and violence will quite possibly pass down from generation to generation.

So having taken a look at the bleak picture violence in the home presents us with, what can we do to address the issues and how can we improve on the work that has already been done?

The Leitner Report highlighted several areas where there was clearly scope for improvement, for example, tension between Maori and New Zealand Police in some parts of New Zealand hinders Maori from calling police.  The police value the relationship with Maori and are focused on addressing the position of Maori both as offenders and victims. Maori women are over-represented in family violence statistics, a source of concern for all agencies involved in the issue. New Zealand police have engaged with Iwi Service Providers to work on key initiatives which vary across the country.  We know that Maori and in particular Maori women are reporting violent crime in greater numbers than ever before.  Since 1996, the New Zealand police have invested considerably in connecting with Maori Communities, seeking opportunities to work together on crime issues where Maori have been over represented.  Partnerships with Maori are consolidated across the 12 Policing Districts, providing police with a conduit for taking advice on issues affecting Maori Communities. 

Police acknowledge that working with Maori sometimes requires a personalised style of policing, which allows a free flow of information based on integrity, honesty and trust.  There are times where police carry out their lawful duty which may not always gain the consent of sectors of our communities, however despite the challenges that confront police, there is always a genuine willingness to resolve issues through alternative means that is satisfactory to everyone.

After 24 years as a police officer my feelings are very strongly in favour of doing all we can to prevent violence and prosecute offenders while at the same time empowering victims to be strong enough to assert their right not to be the victims of violence.

The Leitner Report also identified police training as an issue.  Police have lifted our response in the area of family violence and protection orders specifically in the last 2 years especially in the area of staff training and the appointment of additional full-time family violence co-ordinators.  The increase in the number of reported incidences of family violence is a positive trend and reflects the increasing intolerance of New Zealand society towards domestic violence.  Police have also developed a specialist module and qualification for family violence coordinators and investigators. But we still have a problem with the perceptions of family violence being treated in different ways between police districts. Until recently, and I don’t have current figures – 70% of family violence reports into the Counties-Manukau Policing district was recorded – that is coded and documented as something other than family violence. At the same time in the Wairarapa district 95% of family violence incidents reported to the police were recorded as that with family violence codes.

So is this about perceptions, resource management, training, a perceived acceptability of family violence, community tolerance, laziness … who knows.  But until we treat family violence as a crime every time – we are perpetuating the myth that on some level it is acceptable. 

A police prosecution policy on Family Violence has been developed as part of the Government Taskforce for Action on Violence Within Families established in 2005. This includes policy on protection orders, and guidelines for police prosecutors.  An example is the diversion policy for family violence incidents that can only be made available on the authority of a Commissioned Officer.

We recognise there is continued work required in this area to ensure that family violence is responded to appropriately and to ensure we provide reassurance for women and children who are confronted with violence in their homes.  In the last 2 years there has been a significant increase in staff training around domestic violence and there have been full-time family violence co-ordinators appointed.

The Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Amendment Bill 2008 introduced by the National Government and currently at the Select Committee stage is predicated on the belief that there is still more that can be done to protect victims of family violence, and help prevent them from becoming just another statistic.  For example, on-the-spot protection orders will provide police with an immediate response to dangerous domestic situations, and ensure that potential victims are protected in situations where prosecutions will not or cannot follow. It also allows for Courts to impose a Protection Order at Sentencing when charges do follow family violence incidents.  We think empowering the police to take immediate action will ensure potential victims are protected until courts are able to fully deal with the matter. In turn, it is incumbent upon the police to treat breaches of protection orders with the severity they deserve.  Each year, there are approximately 2,500 protection orders issued, with police responding to 4,500 breaches.  We note that the report also says that in many cases we get it right, responding quickly and decisively and as a result women felt safer. Probably the most worrying trend has been the increase in family violence offence reports, and an increase in arrests – but a decrease in the number of Protection Orders sought by victims – and the Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill seeks to address this issue first and foremost.

Previous concerns such as response to 111 Emergency Calls due to centralised call service centre with dispatchers who may not know locations or  pronunciations of rural places and women not receiving assistance in a timely manner due to distance from main centres, have been addressed to an extent.  Domestic violence is categorised as a Priority 1 call for service regardless of where the call is received from.  The Communications centre staff are trained to locate and verify an address to assist in rapid response to rural districts.  All information about location is dispatched to local police responding, who have the local geographic knowledge required.  New Zealand police employ a culturally diverse range of staff linguistically skilled in languages including Maori and other international languages.

The Sexual Violence Taskforce was established to investigate and report to Government on what actions it should be taking to address adult sexual violence.  An important part of this work has been a consideration of how to prevent adult sexual violence, including what sort of campaigns (if any) might be effective.  The Taskforce is due to report to the Government in July 2009 with its recommendations.

Whilst we have clearly made progress and awareness of the issue of domestic violence has been raised, there is still much work to be done.  The recent Fordham Law School’s Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice report (released on April 14th) concluded that levels of domestic violence against women in New Zealand have remained high in spite of the nation’s commitment under international law to prevent and punish such acts. 

The group went to several towns in New Zealand to meet with lawyers, judges, legislators, members of government and ordinary citizens, among others.  The Report’s findings were presented on TVNZ and I am hopeful that as this issue is prevalent in the media again we can make further progress.

We recently held a Drivers of Crime Forum at Parliament to talk to those on the ground about what the drivers of crime are and how we can combat these drivers.  We continue to consult with attendees.

The position is that we have in the first few months in government moved in quite punitive ways to address shortfalls in the ability to address crime especially crimes against the person.

We have also moved to enhance the ability of Police to fully investigate such crimes so we have seen increases in the maximum penalties for crimes against children:

enhanced ability to deal with organised criminals and especially gangs;

introduced laws to increase the ability to cease DNA from those arrested recognising that DNA is just the modern fingerprint;

we’ve promoted better access to justice for victims by initiating a victims fund and Victims Centres;

we’ve introduced legislation which will raise the tariff sentences for the worst repeat violent offenders;

and the ability to issue “on-the-spot-protection orders” as previously outlined.

So as the Minister of Justice, Hon Simon Power has said, it is now time to change the debate. To look at the drivers of crime and how we intervene early enough so that those young people who are in to crime almost as an inevitability – are detoured into more productive and life enhancing practises.

What we know is that we can identify the at risk foetus. We know that the mother of a child who grows up to offend and go to jail was pregnant at an early age – often mid-teens and usually pregnant three times before she is twenty and usually to multiple partners; that she has no positive role models and is disengaged from her family; left school with no qualifications; smokes tobacco; is dependant of alcohol and some other substance; works in low paying jobs on the minimum wage or doesn’t work at all; and we know that if we can identify dad he is from the same demographic.

… And if we can know all of this and fail to address it in preventative rather than merely punitive terms – we are not addressing the problem at all.

The challenge is before us all. I thank you that you have recognised the challenge and yet have not deferred from it but have come here to this conference to address some of the most difficult realities of life in modern day New Zealand.

I wish you well for your conference.

Tena kotu, tena koutou, tena kotau, katoa.