7. SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) Link to this
to the Minister of Justice
Does she stand by her statement that “I think family violence is being reported more often because people feel more confident to come forward and report it.”?
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) Link to this
Yes, because of the reported increase of 6,000 offences in the violence category in 2007, 5,800 were family violence offences. Many of these would not have been reported but for domestic violence awareness campaigns such as the very successful It’s Not OK and the increased funding that the Government is putting into both agencies and voluntary sector support for victims.
What confidence can victims of family violence have in reporting, when an evaluation of family safety teams, the Government’s flagship policy for responding to family violence by getting agencies to work together and share information, has found that they are struggling, precisely because the agencies involved will not collaborate or share information?
The member, both in his press release exclusively to the Dominion Post and therefore its misleading headline, and in what he said today, does not reflect accurately what the report states. I will quote from the conclusion of the report; this was a report a year into the implementation—it is what is called a formative report: “All three Teams had achieved some early progress, but they had encountered some difficulties.”; again, “Such challenges are not unexpected when implementing inter-agency collaborations.”; and, thirdly, “The National Steering Committee … has since developed measures to provide greater support to the Teams.”
Louisa WallKia ora, Madam Speaker, tēnā tātou katoa. What feedback has the Minister had from non-Government agencies closely involved with victims of domestic violence about the progress and direction of the Government’s policies on domestic violence?
Contrary to what the Opposition spokesperson suggests, there has been very positive feedback from people who are actually trying to work to resolve the problem, as opposed to those simply trying to make political capital out of it. Let me quote Heather Hēnare, head of Women’s Refuge, for example. She said that there is enormous support for the initiative that the member tried to rubbish in his comments, that she welcomes the collaboration between agencies, and that she is very happy with the direction of the initiative. Heather Hēnare should know; she works in the area trying to improve the situation, rather than the member Mr Power who simply tries to exploit it.
Does the Minister stand by the statement of her predecessor, the Hon Phil Goff, in launching the family safety team pilot on 18 July 2005, when he stated: “a lack of co-ordination and information sharing between agencies has been identified as a critical factor in high-profile domestic deaths … such as those of James Whakaruru and Saliel Aplin and Olympia Jetson.”; if so, does not the same lack of collaboration outlined in this evaluation show that this policy is not getting off to the start that the Government thought it would?
To answer the two questions: firstly, the Hon Annette King always stands behind what Phil Goff, whom she deeply admires, has said. The second answer is that the very reason that family safety teams were set up was that there was a problem with a lack of collaboration. In a formative evaluation, the ministry found at the start of the programme that that problem was still there. It has since addressed those problems and it reports that there has been very significant and positive progress.
Te Ururoa Flavell Link to this
Tēnā koe, Madam Speaker; kia ora tātou. Does the Minister agree with the Minister of Māori Affairs in his speech about a Māori response to family violence in August 2007, which ended: “Let’s invest the same energy into this critically important kaupapa as what we invest in economic development.”, and what was the scale of investment in the 2008 Budget in the critically important area of kaupapa family violence?
The two things are not inconsistent. They are, in fact, complementary. We need economic development; that takes economic pressure off people. That is why I am very proud that this Government has achieved the highest levels of economic development and growth of any New Zealand Government in the last 30 years. Secondly, I am also proud of this Government because it has invested in this area, as the member knows, and in the very programmes where the Opposition is now complaining about our advances on what used to be done, or rather, what was not done, in the past, when National had the opportunity and did nothing.
Can the Minister confirm, despite her alleged deep admiration for the Hon Phil Goff, that the 227-page independent evaluation of family safety teams was actually completed on 31 August 2006, but was only released publicly nearly 2 years later, after the ministry added a 12-page summary and only after an Official Information Act request from National; and would this report have remained “an internal working document” if it had not been so critical of Government policy?
To the last question, the answer is absolutely yes. It was, if the member had chosen to listen before, a formative evaluative report done right at the start of the project, so that one could work out what the teething problems would be and address them. That was produced for internal consumption. It was, of course, made available under the Official Information Act, and the member would have done well to quote accurately, fully, and in context from it, instead of trying to make political capital out of it.
Can she confirm that the evaluation into family safety teams found that one of the biggest problems was the turnover of members from the agencies involved, as well as the delays in replacing vacant positions; if so, can she confirm that things have not improved since then, when, a year after the evaluation, one-fifth of the positions on the family safety teams were vacant and some were vacant for as long 6 months—if the Minister wants to talk about accuracy?
Yes, I can confirm that, and I can confirm it for two reasons. This country has had the tightest labour market that it has had in 28 years. That affects all of my portfolios with a higher level of turnover and a level of vacancies. I can also confirm that the people who work in this area—and in the area of corrections, for example—do a very difficult job in trying circumstances, and it would be better if that member were to try for a moment to support them instead of constantly slandering them in the efforts that they are making while he simply tries to make political capital out of those efforts.