Part 1: Introduction

Meeting the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

1.1
In this Part, we outline:

1.2
Family violence and sexual violence affect hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders every year. This violence has widespread and enduring social, economic, and cultural consequences.

1.3
In June 2021, we published the report Working in new ways to address family violence and sexual violence. In that report, we described how effectively a joint venture involving 10 government agencies had been set up to support efforts to significantly reduce family violence and sexual violence.

1.4
In this report, we describe how effectively those agencies work individually, together, and with tangata whenua, communities, and non-government organisations to understand and meet the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence. We refer to the broad range of communities and non-government organisations as "community partners".

1.5
Since our 2021 report, the joint venture to address family violence and sexual violence has been replaced by an interdepartmental executive board called Te Puna Aonui.1 In December 2021, the Government announced that it had created an interdepartmental executive board to lead government efforts to eliminate family violence and sexual violence.

1.6
The agencies in Te Puna Aonui are:

  • the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC);
  • Ara Poutama Aotearoa Department of Corrections;
  • the Ministry of Education;
  • Manatū Hauora Ministry of Heath;
  • the Ministry of Justice;
  • the Ministry of Social Development;
  • the New Zealand Police (the Police);
  • Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission;
  • Oranga Tamariki; and
  • Te Puni Kōkiri.

1.7
In this report, we refer to these agencies collectively as "Te Puna Aonui agencies".

1.8
There are also four associate agencies: the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Ministry for Women, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and the Ministry for Ethnic Communities. Associate members can be involved in issues relevant to them.

1.9
On 7 December 2021, the Government launched Te Aorerekura, which is the national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence. The strategy's purpose is to eliminate family violence and sexual violence in New Zealand in 25 years. Te Puna Aonui is responsible for implementing Te Aorerekura.

Why we did the audit

1.10
We wanted to assess how effectively Te Puna Aonui agencies understand and meet the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence. We wanted to highlight areas of good practice and identify opportunities for the agencies to improve as they work towards achieving the purpose of Te Aorerekura.

1.11
We looked at how Te Puna Aonui agencies support responses to family violence and sexual violence. In this report, we use the term "response" to describe the actions Te Puna Aonui agencies and community partners take when providing early intervention, crisis responses, and long-term support to meet the needs of people, families, and whānau affected by family violence and sexual violence.

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Responding properly to family violence and sexual violence often involves understanding and meeting the diverse and multiple needs of people affected by that violence. These could include physical and mental health needs, housing needs, income support, ensuring the safety of those affected by violence, and holding those who use violence accountable.

1.13
Therefore, responses to violence do not fit into the responsibilities of individual government agencies.

1.14
Te Aorerekura makes clear that tangata whenua and community partners are essential to designing, leading, and delivering solutions to make change. This suggests fundamental changes to how government agencies work with tangata whenua and community partners, including changes to who is involved in designing policy, delivering responses, and making decisions.

1.15
Te Puna Aonui agencies need to find new ways to work together while creating partnerships with tangata whenua and community partners. As we stated in our 2021 report, partnerships form when the parties involved agree what the purpose of their partnership is, what their respective roles are, and what all parties need to do for the partnership to operate effectively.

1.16
We recognise that meaningful partnerships take time to develop and that eliminating family violence and sexual violence is a generational challenge. We carried out this work during a time of significant change in how Te Puna Aonui agencies work together and with tangata whenua and community partners.

1.17
However, we also recognise that the systemic changes Te Aorerekura calls for need to happen soon to support eliminating family violence and sexual violence within a generation. We wanted to assess how well Te Puna Aonui agencies are progressing with these systemic changes and what challenges they need to address to do it effectively.

What we looked at

1.18
We looked at how Te Puna Aonui agencies support responses to family violence and sexual violence.

1.19
We looked at responses to family violence and sexual violence because the system for preventing, detecting, and responding to family violence and sexual violence currently focuses on this work. However, we acknowledge that responding to family violence and sexual violence effectively is only one part of the work that Te Puna Aonui agencies do.

1.20
Our audit focused on three main points. They are:

  • how well Te Puna Aonui agencies understand the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence;
  • how well Te Puna Aonui agencies are planning to meet the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence; and
  • how well Te Puna Aonui agencies are working to deliver responses in ways that best meet the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

1.21
We also looked at how information about incidents of family violence is shared to support effective responses and how responses are monitored to support decision-making about improving those responses.

What we did not look at

1.22
We did not look specifically at work Te Puna Aonui agencies are doing to strengthen efforts to prevent violence from occurring or to support longer-term healing and recovery. Therefore, this report does not address all the work that agencies are doing to help those affected by family violence and sexual violence.

1.23
However, we consider that our recommendations can help Te Puna Aonui agencies' work on prevention and healing. They focus, in part, on building relationships between agencies and with tangata whenua and community partners. In our view, this will help support work to achieve the purpose of Te Aorerekura more broadly.

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We did not look at policy decisions about the development and implementation of Te Aorerekura or setting up Te Puna Aonui.

1.25
We did not evaluate the merits of individual responses or the effectiveness of individual organisations (including community partners) in providing particular responses. We also did not assess whether decisions to fund or stop funding particular responses were the right decisions.

How we carried out the audit

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To carry out the audit, we:

  • reviewed and analysed relevant documents from Te Puna Aonui agencies and the business unit of Te Puna Aonui;
  • carried out more than 80 interviews with people from:
    • the national offices of Te Puna Aonui agencies;
    • the business unit of Te Puna Aonui;
    • community partners working with Te Puna Aonui agencies and the business unit of Te Puna Aonui; and
    • Te Puna Aonui agencies, tangata whenua groups, and community partners engaged in four local initiatives (see paragraph 2.35);
  • visited organisations working with those affected by family violence and sexual violence in Auckland and Canterbury;2 and
  • spoke with experts and working/advisory group members with specialist knowledge and experience of working with people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

Structure of our report

1.27
In Part 2, we discuss the complexity involved in eliminating family violence and sexual violence.

1.28
In Part 3, we discuss how well Te Puna Aonui agencies understand the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

1.29
In Part 4, we discuss how well Te Puna Aonui agencies are meeting the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

1.30
In Part 5, we look at how well Te Puna Aonui agencies are addressing capacity issues that affect their ability to meet the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

1: The Interdepartmental Executive Board was created under section 26 of the Public Service Act 2020.

2: Restrictions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our travel plans, so we carried out some interviews remotely.