Sheree Painter (left), Trudie Flynn and Gary McKernon spoke about family violence prevention at Tararua District Council.
Sheree Painter (left), Trudie Flynn and Gary McKernon spoke about family violence prevention at Tararua District Council.
New Zealand has got a problem, Sergeant Gary McKernon of Dannevirke says, when talking about family harm.
Having spent 11 years in the UK as a police officer, and then 17 years serving with the NZ police, he has seen his fair share of family harm incidents.
In the UK, he would attend probably one incident every fortnight, but he says locally, that number is considerably higher.
Gary, along with Safety Assessment Meeting co-ordinator Trudie Flynn and kaitiaki for family violence prevention Sheree Painter, spoke at a meeting of the Tararua District Council Community and Wellbeing Committee last week.
In the last five months, from the end of March, there were 273 family harm incidents recorded.
Trudie says of those incidents, 44 per cent were in the southern ward, 51 per cent were in the northern ward and 5 per cent were in coastal areas or areas that didn’t quite fit within the wards.
She explained that the Safety Assessment Meeting (SAM) has access to a national database, and when an episode of family harm has taken place, it is processed by police, and those with full access can see if there is a history for anyone who has moved into the Tararua district.
“It all helps contribute to what we can do to help that whanau.”
However, Gary says that it was estimated that only a third of family harm incidents were actually reported, meaning two-thirds went unreported.
Trudie says once a risk assessment is done, a plan is put in place and an agency will make a support call, within its own guidelines, which might mean a home visit from a police officer or a phone call.
Sheree told the committee her role as family violence prevention kaitiaki was a reasonably new role.
She says the Government is putting more money and resources towards family violence prevention “than ever before”.
Te Aorerekura, which was introduced in December 2021, is an action plan for a national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence.
The purpose of Sheree’s role is to help prevent family violence with initiatives, targeting not only families and whānau who have experienced it, but also local communities, government and community organisations who have an interest in wellbeing.
“Our vision is to ensure that the needs of those who have experienced family violence are met, to increase public awareness around family violence as well as community understanding, ownership and leadership of safety and wellbeing of people in the family.”
Some past initiatives include a stall at a children’s day, helping out at the Pongaroa Cyclone Shout earlier this year, helping at the Elder Abuse Awareness Day and having a stall with the Kai Collective.
Sheree says a key focus for her role is networking, building relationships, strengthening connections and offering support where she can.
The White Ribbon committee last year.
There were other plans, including presentations as well as working with the White Ribbon committee.
Gary explained that the White Ribbon committee meets throughout the year, and in the week leading up to White Ribbon Day on November 25 each year, they try to do activities to raise awareness.
He invited those present to consider joining the committee or becoming a White Ribbon ambassador to “make a difference in men’s behaviour”.
“Because men are the problem. We need to do better for ourselves. Better for our sons - teach them a better way.”
