Police and Iwi join forces at the marae to to unravel Māori crime. Video / Supplied
A tikanga approach for Māori caught in the justice system will be further strengthened as Te Pae Oranga expands its foothold in Aotearoa.
The Government’s $70 million investment will add another 30 Te Pae Oranga sites by 2024/25. Te Pae Oranga were previously iwi community panels or community justice panels and have been operating on marae successfully for more than a decade.
The marae-based justice programmes give police an alternative approach to court and can refer offenders to marae, like Waahi Marae in Rāhui Pokeka Pā/Huntly where panels of the offenders peers sit in judgment and also in support.
An announcement will take place this morning at Waahi Marae to celebrate the partnership between Māori and Police for the collaboration that’s making a tangible difference in communities through restorative practices, while looking at addressing issues that can lead to reoffending behaviour.
Guests will include Police Minister Ginny Andersen, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, Iwi and Communities Police Deputy Commissioner Wally Haumaha, Waikato District Commander Bruce Bird, Waikato Area Commander Inspector Will Loughrin, Lady Tureiti Moxon, and Tuku Morgan, rangatira of Kiingitanga, alongside iwi, hapū and whānau.
“It’s appropriate that Te Pae Oranga is stood up here on Kiingi Tūheitia’s marae which is supported wholeheartedly by the community. The announcement is being hosted together with the Waahi Pā marae committee and whānau,” says Moxon, managing director of Te Kōhao Health that facilitates panels locally.
In a post-Budget speech in 2021 where Tūheitia, patron of Te Pae Oranga was present, Coster said that Te Pae Oranga that first started in 2013 “is working” and “fundamental to the police goal of preventing crime and stopping people going to prison in the first place.”
Official police data indicates that 17,405 Te Pae Oranga referrals have been made between October 2017 and April 2023. In the Waikato rohe since 2018 more than 500 referrals have been made to panels in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton alone.
Te Pae Oranga panels will sit at Waahi Marae, Huntly. Photo / Supplied
Independent research has found “iwi panels are an effective alternative justice resolution” by evidencing the restorative approach causes a 22.25 per cent reduction in harm.
“This is a great opportunity for communities to be involved in creating positive change outside of the Courts. Being marae-based offers restorative justice within an authentic tikanga Māori context,” Moxon said.
“It is important to disrupt the current pipeline for many Māori who go from Oranga Tamariki into youth homes, prisons and then on to mental health facilities. This pipeline has plagued Aotearoa since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and continues to this day. The referrals into Te Pae Oranga come directly from the police but far too many Māori are pipelined through the District Court and this needs to change”.
As a former lawyer, Moxon believes that the justice system has traditionally been anti-Māori given the disproportionate criminal justice outcomes for Māori who are dealt with more severely.
“We know from research, that the outcome for rangatahi, Māori and non-Māori go before court for the same crime, are often very different.”
She advocates that the solution lies within the community.
To mark the mana of the kaupapa, Andersen will present certificates to those who have recently completed the course to become Te Pae Oranga facilitators on the panel.
“Everyone receiving their tohu are community leaders who have an important to grow their community positively within their own whānaungatanga, whakapapa, whānau, kawa, and tikanga,” Moxon said.
“Te Pae Oranga shows how justice can be effectively brought back into the community so our people can work with those whānau within their hapū and iwi.”
“If we want transformational change in our country, we need to be working in a much more cohesive and connected way. All the government departments need to come together to bring about the changes we want to see in society.”
