White Ribbon day a time to talk about domestic violence

John McGrath

A Whangarei White Ribbon Ambassador is calling for everyday conversations about domestic violence to be had.

Today marks White Ribbon Day, a day raising awareness about family violence, but ambassador John McGrath said with such a serious domestic violence problem in New Zealand, it needed to be tackled throughout the year.

"It's a good idea but I think White Ribbon Day should be every day. Why a week and then we go back to normal life?"

With the day held so close to Christmas, Mr McGrath was concerned the high level of domestic incidents around Christmas would be forgotten.

"It's almost like it's crossing itself off the list and then Christmas comes. Christmas is the worst time for domestic violence and I can't see it getting any better. Society gets into a rut around Christmas, people get violent because they can't afford food and presents but they can afford alcohol."

Domestic violence is an issue close to Mr McGrath, he became a White Ribbon Ambassador in July after his sister, Patricia McGrath (Wowo), was killed in a highly public case of domestic violence last year.

Mr McGrath said solving the problem relied on the involvement of the Government, marae leaders and community.

"It's like a sticky plaster being pulled off. There's so many fingers being pointed. We need to peel the onion and get to the root of the problem. I call out to the Prime Minister, the ministers, the judges - if it happened to them then they would understand."

Mr McGrath plans to use the Wowo Trust, set up by himself and his wife, as a starting point to raise awareness.

"We plan to go to every high school and talk to them about it, they're becoming our adults. We also want to go to every marae, Maori are the worst when it comes to this. We want to talk to kaumatua and kuia about the good they do but also the bad because in the end it's their sons and grandsons who are doing it."

Mr McGrath said being honest about the domestic violence problem is an important part of tackling the issue.

"Sometimes we need to bring out the negativity for there to be positivity and we can do that by talking about the situation with my sister."