KEY POINTS:
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said men were responsible for most of the violence within Maoridom but it was women who were left to pick up the pieces.
Of the 60 social workers and police participants at a Maori whanau violence conference in Otara yesterday, just a handful were men.
The Maori Party co-leader said men were responsible for the majority of violent acts but it was women who were left to find solutions to the problem.
"A lot of men speaking on the paepae [on the marae] are perpetrators of violence and we continue to allow it," said Mrs Turia.
"At some point we as a people have to stand up and say we are not going to allow it any more."
She said violence was not an ethnic problem, it was a problem all societies faced despite the hundreds of vitriolic emails she received every year whose angriest lines blamed violence in Maori culture for the depressing Maori crime statistics.
Mrs Turia was part of a panel which included respected South Auckland youth worker and former transgender prostitute Mama Tere Strickland and Destiny Church's leader Bishop Brian Tamaki.
Organiser Suzanne Pene from South Auckland Family Violence Prevention Network said the country's tolerance for violence hit the streets during the furore over Sue Bradford's smacking bill. "I know that violence is not part of my tikanga but when I look at New Zealand marching [against the act] I think what have we become?"
Counties-Manukau police are one of the partner groups of the conference.
Iwi liaison officer Maryanne Rapata said a vigil planned for 5am today was to remember homicide victims of family violence in the police district.
Last year 11 of the district's 14 homicide inquiries were related to domestic violence and Counties-Manukau police received more than 10,000 calls a year for help, she said.
"It's not about tikanga, it's about a real lack of humanity.
"I wish that 60,000 Maori would march down to Parliament to keep us violence-free."
