Walking our streets: Let’s make it ok
Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health
Saxton Field Stadium; Nelson
Friday 30 July 2010 : 9.15am

Three weeks ago I was with a group of women who had come together to make change happen in their lives.

They shared stories of experiences they had endured in their life journey – the regularity of domestic violence meted out to them; the impact of impoverished and unhealthy circumstances, the legacy of inter-generational cycles of abuse, inadequate housing, issues of power and control.

But there was one story which I can remember as clearly now as when the words first exploded into the air.

A letter was read from a woman in prison, locked up on her second life sentence for murder.

The letter retold a life of a young soul damaged from early years. By the time she was ten she had been sexually abused by eighteen different men.

And so, at that tender age of ten she abandoned her so-called home, and chose to live on the streets.

It was from her home on the streets that she was eventually taken in by the gang; the abuse became more persistent, eventually leading her into a pathway which ended inside.

This is a story that I think will stay with me for a very long time.

But it is not an isolated story by any means. It is well-known that sexual violence is prevalent in our communities – and that it can have severe and long-lasting impacts for victims; costing the New Zealand economy anything between $1.1 and $5.3 billion per year as a result of the significant long term health impact.

I tell this story – as distressing as it is – because it is a story that we must hear and we must do something about.

Every child maimed must be our collective concern.

We can not avoid the savage reality of violence as it is manifest in our communities, our families, our nation.

We must enter the fray, eyes wide open, to every challenge in front of us.

It is only through walking our streets, and truly understanding the costs of violence, that we can really know the scope of what we are dealing with.

By keeping our eyes wide open, we will know the devastating impact on all socio-economic groups, all cultures, all communities.

We would understand the dynamics of family violence as they occur in different ethnic communities, and in particular the issues confronting refugee and new migrant communities.

We would work with Maori leaders, practitioners, iwi and whanau from right across the motu in seeking the most appropriate actions to meet the aspirations of whanau.

We would take on board a strengths-based approach driven from within Pacific communities to prevent and address violence in Pacific families and communities. We might appreciate the complexities stemming from the concerns that disabled peoples currently experience violence, neglect and abuse at much higher rates than non-disabled persons.

We would ask whether they are accessing the same social service assistance, or whether there is safe accessible accommodation and information.

We would want to ensure that the special needs and priorities of elders are taken into account in any programmes, services and initiatives.

We might confront the bizarre anomaly that for the men who seek to self-refer, unless they come up in front of the Courts there is no funding available for them.

We could encounter the culture of a revolving door – recidivist offenders being put back onto programmes, despite the huge drop out rates for some men in programmes – anything up to 69% non-attendance.

We might become entangled in the inherent contradictions of complex contracting systems with multiple funding silos and competing priorities.

And possibly the biggest question of all, is whether we have sufficient information to understand the extent of the outcomes being achieved.

Facing the challenge of family violence is, however, not just about having our eyes wide open to the current programmes, services and initiatives.

It is also about seeing things through mokopuna eyes.

There is a wonderful resource that I would recommend to you all, entitled Aroha in Action. It is a resource for whanau, put together by Di Grennell, asking us to keep our focus firmly placed on keeping our mokopuna safe.

I want to share some of her priceless words with us:

“Mokopuna hold the wisdom of the world and they can teach us the power of unconditional love. They remind us how each one of us began and they are our connection to our tupuna and our future. The centre of their world is their whanau and they learn from us.

When we love them, they learn to love; when we respond to their needs they learn to respond to others; when we are peaceful then peace flows through them. Everything they learn, they learn from us. They are our aroha in action”.

Seeing things through mokopuna eyes reminds us that mokopuna will learn respect when they are treated with respect. It reminds us that every child of ours carries the mana and the tapu of their genealogy; and their ancestors.

And so I come back to the situation for that young girl at ten years old – and the circumstances that could have been so different.

This is the challenge that this conference sets up – how do we make it ok to walk our streets, to create an environment in which all families and whanau have healthy, respectful relationships, free from violence?

How do we demonstrate aroha in action, helping our babies and rangatahi alike, to know that the whanau is the centre of their world?

I think the concept of walking our streets is a pretty good place to start, as we gather our thoughts about the mobilisation campaign we so definitely need to do.

Up in Flaxmere there is a wonderful initiative being upheld by Henare and Pam O’Keefe and with the full support of Te Aranga Marae.

It is a mobile BBQ – the community tunutunu – in which this wonderful couple literally park up in the streets of Flaxmere, offering free sausages and a sprinkling of advice, engaging Flaxmere people over fried onions, and linking them in to helping agencies and neighbours.

Meanwhile here in te Wai Pounamu, this year Ngai Tahu, celebrates ten years of their Māori language strategy Kotahi Mano Kaika, Kotahi Mano Wawata (1000 Homes, 1000 Dreams).

Street by street, Ngai Tahu has taken up a brilliant initiative which is designed to halt the rapid decline in the use of te reo Māori in Te Waipounamu by encouraging homes to take on the opportunity to learn te reo Maori.

And of course in many communities throughout New Zealand, the concept of a street party has been introduced to commemorate significant events or to respond to a particular community need.

So I think the time has come, for us to take back the streets, and to take up our responsibility in our own homes.

Just as agencies need to be vigilant in identifying situations of risk and following up, so too we should make preventing family violence everyone’s responsibility.

We must make this our greatest chance ever – to challenge ourselves to become the first nation to eliminate family violence. There is no acceptable level of family violence other than zero.

Of course, innovation and courage are nothing new to Nelson – and I want to congratulate the amazing initiative of the students from Nelson College in establishing SAVE - Students Against Violence Everywhere. This is a wonderful initiative, driven by the aspiration of a violence free generation.

In my capacity as the Minister responsible for Government’s response to family violence, I want to congratulate SAVE for their recent recognition, in being awarded the only Nelson group award at the recent Youth Volunteer Awards; and the Supreme Overall Trustpower Community Award for Nelson.

SAVE has initiated some brilliant ideas, including a conference held in April this year, to bring together youth leaders from Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast to consider how to tackle the challenge of violence.

Other exciting initiatives by SAVE include the ‘don’t stand for it’ postcard and banner campaign; and the challenge of the Big Photo-shoot at the steps of the cathedral – showing in force that Nelson men do not tolerate violence towards women.

I have every confidence that these initiatives provide a very secure footing for now walking our streets to make it ok. In taking on a street approach, what we are really doing is taking up the opportunity to make a positive difference, for the whole family and whanau.

We must focus on building whānau wellbeing and capability; drawing on whanau solutions that ensure the safety of victims, the accountability of perpetrators and the restoration of whānau.

And to be confident that we are making the difference we need to measure progress through an outcomes framework.

I have every confidence that we can build the capability and the confidence to act as a catalyst to local action and community leadership.

We must inspire ourselves, and empower our whanau and families to know that we can be powerful beyond belief, that we can restore ourselves to the essence of who we are.

We must walk our streets, holding our heads up high, knowing that we are motivated by the outcomes we all want for our children.

We must uphold a vision of whanau ora; driven by our aspirations of strength, safety, identity, integrity and prosperity.

And we must believe the transformation is possible; that there are many alternatives to violence; that every child, every parent; and every family members deserves to bask in the joy of the perfect moment in which they know they are loved and can love in return.

I am delighted to open this one day conference, and to wish all of us, the strength of heart and firmness of resolve, to know that the foundation for change rests within each and every one of us. Tena tatou katoa.

ENDS

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