Urgent Debate: Ministry for Social Development Job Cuts
Rahui Katene; MP for Te Tai Tonga
Wednesday 1 July 2009

Earlier this month, the 2009 Global Peace Index results were released, which measured 23 indicators of peacefulness.

To our amazement, Aotearoa was named the most peaceful nation in the world.

Amazing, because we recall not too long ago, the UNICEF report ranked New Zealand 23rd out 25 OECD countries for child deaths; and 25th out of 25 for child injuries.

Mr Speaker, there would be no-one in this House that would deny our international status in confronting the crime of child abuse is deplorable.

There would also be none in this House that would deny the horrendous and harrowing impacts of child abuse.

The short and long terms outcomes of child abuse have been revealed in a tragic list of consequences spanning from physical aggression and anti-social behaviour; mental health issues; sexually inappropriate behaviour, violent offending, suicide and a host of emotional and behavioural problems.

The challenge, I believe, is one that all parties are united about - that is the challenge, indeed the responsibility, to ensure all our tamariki are loved and grow to their full potential.

It’s not about the why – the debate is all about the how.

The former Government put considerable focus on social marketing and communications campaigns.

The Campaign for Action on Family Violence, with the primary focus on the concept, “it’s not ok”, has been a very effective strategy for raising awareness about what family violence is, and who is affected by it.

Recent research, tracking surveys and media audits have some fairly staggering results. In November 2008, tracking revealed that there was a 95% awareness of the campaign.
The highest recall of the campaign was by Maori females and Maori males, at 99% and 98% respectively.

One wouldn’t think there could be better evidence of a successful campaign than those statistics.

But the key sticking point to progress is in the fact that only 22% of people surveyed say they have taken some action as a result of the Campaign.

If only one in five people reported taking action as a result of having seen the advertisement, clearly, we still have work to do, to translate words into action.

If we were to look over to the education sector, there are many awareness campaigns such as Keeping ourselves safe’; ‘Eliminating Violence : He Whanau Piripono he iwi pakari”; the Buddy Programmes, to name a few.

While the evaluations are fairly consistent in recording the success of child abuse prevention programmes in equipping children with skills and knowledge; what is not known is exactly how effective this new knowledge is in real life –in actually helping children to draw upon these skills to address real life situations.

The evidence is lacking as to whether children, even when equipped with an impressive knowledge base, can carry the new behaviour over to high risk situations.

Mr Speaker, the complex nature of child abuse can not possibly be responded to by any one fix, any one solution.

There is no one answer, no right response that fits every situation.

The announcement yesterday to disestablish the administrative service centres is part of an approach by Child, Youth and Family to put more investment where it counts – at the front line.

The 18 community liaison social workers have done an excellent job in promoting greater awareness, but it is time now to look for another strategy, to move from the awareness campaign, to make the difference in behaviour.

As a first point, the challenge now, is to mainstream the awareness, so that in effect every social worker in CYFS, every frontline worker, every member of the family knows exactly what to do when child abuse is suspected.

The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse has been a key proponent in advocating for a focus on preventing violence and abuse, which demands wide-scale ownership and cooperation.

They talk about the need for multi-agency coordination, with a consistent and comprehensive response to services for individuals, families and whanau.

The impact of the recession, Mr Speaker, has made it even more critical that we take a responsible look at all of the strategies and interventions being promoted in the name of preventing child abuse.

Paramount in our considerations, must be how whanau ora is maintained – so that collectively, families are able to meet their responsibilities to create positive futures for our children.

I want to firstly mihi to all of those amazing organisations out there, who do the mahi, everyday, in protecting the wellbeing of our whanau.

Groups like the Amokura family violence prevention strategy; the national network of stopping violence services; Project Mauriora; STOP services; the Safe network, Wellstop; Te Kahui Mana Ririki, and others.

They do an incredible job in supporting families to take ownership of these critical issues facing our nation.

We must mobilise all of our energy towards ensuring our whanau can find their own solutions to addressing these horrific issues of abuse and violence.

It is about everybody taking responsibility and acting now.

I want to make it quite clear. There will still be key advocates for children caught up in the storm of family violence.

While today’s debate has a focus on the 18 community liaison social workers based in the administrative service centres, I do not think we should overlook the vital and continuing presence of some 45 full-time equivalent advocates sitting within community agencies, with a single focus on children affected by family violence.

These advocates provide independent advice and support; determined to ensure that children and young people exposed to family violence are protected from witnessing or experiencing further abuse, and to minimise the risk of poor outcomes later in life.

But probably the most significant strategy any state could employ, is to actually realise the key advocates for protecting and investing in children, are the cause champions we can find in every family.

An Auckland study of women’s attempts to be Free from abuse, showed that many Maori women continue to look first to their whanau for help.

Our investment must be focused on families taking action; families being empowered to make the difference that counts.

We have done well in raising awareness and encouraging the recognition that violence and abuse is not ok.

But clearly, we are not achieving the progress we need, by awareness campaigns alone.

We must be bold, and take action.

In the Whanau Summit held last year, entitled E Tu, Taking Action, Moana Jackson in his inimitable way, laid out the steps to build a strong whanau and hapu base in order to address the issues that afflict too many of whanau, especially that of violence,

He issued the challenge: “Stop the hurt; explore the reason; deny the presumption; and address the causes”.

We must all rise up to the opportunity for leadership, whether within our families or across our communities, in knowing that we can make a difference in addressing all aspects of violence.

We must not leave it to community liaison workers to take on the task of achieving wellbeing.

We must not sit, noho puku, in front of the tv, and ignore issues which are bringing our families down.

We must take action which shows it is not ok to sexually abuse children, to destroy their future, to damage their life chances.

We need to start from families up, transforming our homes into sites of safety; encouraging the family champions to stand up against abuse, to invest in the protection of our precious children.

And if the restructuring of the Ministry of Social Development helps make that happen, then surely all parties across the House would extend unanimous support to take the action required to put a stop to the horrendous levels of abuse that shame us all.

ENDS

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