Te Hau Āwhiowhio ō Otangarei Trust CEO Martin Kaipo has praised the Government's move to inject funding into the issues of family and sexual violence with a grassroots focus. Photo / Tania Whyte
Te Hau Āwhiowhio ō Otangarei Trust CEO Martin Kaipo has praised the Government's move to inject funding into the issues of family and sexual violence with a grassroots focus. Photo / Tania Whyte
Northlanders working at the coalface of family and sexual violence have welcomed a $131.9 million funding injection they say will open closed doors.
The funding boost was announced by Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Minister Marama Davidson as part of the Government's Budget for 2021.
The investment will underpin kaupapa Māori providers, develop existing safety responses with communities and "extend early support to help people stop using violence" over four years.
Te Hau Āwhiowhio ō Ōtangarei Trust CEO Martin Kaipo said although the funding wouldn't mean an instant end to family violence, the support for existing and successful community-led programmes was monumental.
"It's not going to change it overnight but what it does, is it creates more options for us to offer our whānau. That's the really great thing about it."
Northland, along with much of the country, experiences high volumes of family harm incidents attended by police. Photo / Getty Images
Kaipo has spent the past three decades working with urban Māori communities, high-needs Māori youth and their whanau to support communities to become proactive, proud, and prosperous with whānau enhancing wellness together.
"We can't give our communities false hope. The Government's actions have put these issues back on society - it's society that still has to deliver something beneficial and not just rely on the gravy train," he said.
And Kaipo is more than up for rising to that challenge - a feat he is more than familiar with.
"We deliver every contract in every sector and that's a big responsibility in terms of our accountability for funding and focusing purely on whānau and our communities."
The fact the Government prioritised family and sexual violence - alongside child poverty and housing for Māori, as well as the earlier announcements regarding housing - cemented the willingness for change from the people who often put in the blocks, Kaipo said.
"We're changing our normal to be a new norm. We're addressing the fire and if we keep going at those flames there'll be nothing left."
It is no secret that family and sexual violence consumes a huge portion of policing resources both regionally and nationally.
Police Association president Chris Cahill says police support any initiative that addresses the issues of family and sexual violence. Photo / File
Each week Northland police answer the calls of about 180 family harm emergencies, ranging from heated arguments to savage attacks.
So news the Government had heard the cries of Kiwi families and communities experiencing violence and the frontline staff managing the fallout had the full support of Police Association president Chris Cahill.
"Family harm is a big part of our police work and it also flows into other areas down the track."
Children in homes where family and sexual violence is prevalent often go on to commit crimes themselves, Cahill said.
"So we're supportive of anything that addresses those specific issues."
However the challenge was in the interim with the Budget failing to bring forward funds promised to boost police recruits to 1800, Cahill said.
"That's the conundrum. We're putting money into something that's going to have a great long-term effect for family harm but the reality is, for police, they need staff out there now to attend the current and ever increasing family harm occurrences."
Davidson said the Budget announcement showed the Government was committed to having a safer Aotearoa.
"This approach will enable and support iwi and community leadership to prioritise and design their own responses to family violence and sexual violence: ensuring families and whānau get the help they need, when they need it, how they need it, and from the people they know and trust."
