Media Release
4 April 2008

Families Commission Praises Warriors Players

The Families Commission is welcoming the initiative of Warriors league players who have introduced an anti-bullying campaign in South Auckland schools.

“No violence within our communities is OK and it takes leadership such as that shown by these Warriors players to help change the way we think and act,” said Commissioner Sandra Alofivae.

A recent survey of secondary school students found that about half were deliberately physically hurt by others at home or at school.

It showed just how pervasive violence is within Kiwi culture, said Ms Alofivae who is a Family Court lawyer and youth advocate and has close links with the South Auckland community

“Our children should not grow up expecting and tolerating bullying or other violence. Nor should they be growing up feeling that it is acceptable to treat other people this way. I congratulate Dean Bell and the other Warriors for standing up for the children of South Auckland and offering to help reduce bullying in their schools,” she said.

She said programmes such as theirs were an important element in the drive to change New Zealand’s culture of violence.

“We need to address the violence within our families – we need to be good role models for our children. Yelling, screaming and hitting simply teaches them that this is acceptable behaviour.

Our attitudes need to change so that we are very clearly saying that violence is not acceptable,” she said.

The Families Commission is a leader of the national Campaign for Action on Family Violence was launched on 4 September and is working with communities and agencies around the country to change the way New Zealanders think and act about family violence.

ENDS

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