Kerre Woodham: Better use of Women's Refuge money

Tariana Turia. Photo / Mark Mitchell

During the past couple of weeks, we've been discussing the issue of child abuse through this column.

One of the most obvious ways a woman can protect herself and her children is to leave an abusive partner - but it isn't as easy as walking out the door.

Often Women's Refuge are the ones who provide support and sanctuary for terrified, isolated women. So it was concerning to read that funding to Women's Refuge will be cut.

I contacted the office of Associate Social Development Minister Tariana Turia to ask why, at a time when family violence is so bad, services would be cut.

They told me funding for frontline services had not been cut - funding has gone from $8.3 million in 2007/2008 to $11.9 million in 2010/2011.

Although funding for advocacy services has been abolished, operational funding will not be touched. Turia spent some time talking to Family Court judges and those working at the coalface dealing with domestic abuse and was told that education programmes were all well and good, but the best use of the money would be spent on helping families in crisis, not on posters, balloons and duplicated services.

For those who say that Maori are over-represented in all the worst statistics, a whanau intervention service, run in conjunction with Shine, a violence prevention organisation, has also been established and will run over the next three years.