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Almost $132 million is being invested in community and iwi-led programmes to reduce family and sexual violence over four years.
The funding boost was announced today by prevention of family and sexual violence minister Marama Davidson as part of the Government's Budget for 2021.
Supporting existing and successful community-led programmes is the focus, including those that help perpetrators.
The $131.9 million funding boost will underpin kaupapa Māori providers, develop existing safety responses with communities and "extend early support to help people stop using violence".
"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 people they know and trust," Davidson said.
"It ensures that Māori leadership, Te Ao Māori thinking and an inclusive Te Tiriti framework play a pivotal part in transforming the family violence and sexual violence system to the benefit of everyone."
Minister for the prevention of family violence and sexual violence, Marama Davidson. Photo / File
The Government was committed to reducing and ultimately eliminating, family and sexual violence, Davidson said.
"The impacts of family violence and sexual violence are complex, entangled, multifaceted, interconnected and intergenerational."
Women's Refuge chief executive Ang Jury said she was excited about the way the package pulled initiatives together, and it showed sustained attention to the issue.
"When you bring that together with the investment in Māori housing, kaupapa Māori violence prevention, increase in benefit levels and reinstatement of the training incentive allowance, for the women who use our services, we're creating a picture that has a far brighter future for them," she told the Herald.
Women's Refuge chief executive Ang Jury says the funding is "significant". Photo / Pool
"Anything that we spend on violence prevention has got to be good. That's the only thing that's going to turn the tap off to that destruction that we see every year."
Jury said there had been a close focus on Te Ao Māori in the engagement process around the national strategic plan to tackle violence.
"It appears the minister is serious and the Government is supporting the minister in her intentions."
