One danger with setting priorities as a Minister is that you can begin to sound a little like a cracked record.

Goodness knows how many times I spoke, when I was Health Minister, of the importance of affordable primary health care as the best means of improving our health statistics.

As Transport Minister, I spend a lot of time advocating the importance of public transport.

And as the new Justice Minister, I know I will direct a lot of public attention toward victims’ rights.

I don’t believe that sounding like a cracked record is anything to be ashamed about, however, when it comes to emphasising the issues that need fixing in our society.

That’s why, as Police Minister, I talk so much about the evil of family violence. I believe we are only now beginning to expose the real level of domestic violence in this country, to bring to light what has been New Zealand’s dark and shameful secret.

I saw a snapshot of statistics this week that underline what I mean. Over a 24-hour period last weekend, from 8am on 24 November to 8am on 25 November, police communications centres around the country received a total of 6534 calls. Of these 243 calls were related to domestic violence incidents.

Now, of course, the centres often receive more than one call about a particular incident, so the figures I’ve just used don’t necessarily mean there were 6534 separate incidents in total, including 243 separate incidents of domestic violence.

But the figures do give us an idea, in relative terms, of just what a large chunk of the violence in New Zealand is happening in our homes.

To return to my theme of the cracked record --- there is an upside, if it can be called that, to these statistics.

They also show that more and more victims now have enough confidence in the police and in the system to report domestic violence incidents when they occur.

This trend must continue if we are finally to expose the true level of domestic violence in this country.

Before I talk about what is happening from a government perspective in terms of dealing with and trying to prevent domestic violence, and to protect victims or potential victims, I want to emphasise how important it is for communities and individuals to take more responsibility for what is happening.

Whenever things go wrong in society, and domestic violence is certainly an example of something that is very wrong, there is an almost inevitable tendency to look to governments to fix things up.

Well, the Government can help, but the Government cannot be in everyone’s bedrooms or living rooms. The solutions lie with people themselves, with families, with community agencies who can make a real difference.

The solutions lie in communities recognising the problem for the unacceptable evil it is, and standing up to say violence is never an answer.

In that respect, I have certainly been encouraged by one or two recent events.

Firstly, it was pleasing to note the attitude many newspapers took toward White Ribbon Day. There is now much greater understanding of the issues, and newspapers like the Northern Advocate and Gisborne Herald are two newspapers that can be proud of the coverage they gave to White Ribbon Day activities. So can the Police in those areas, and community and government agencies for also speaking out so forcefully.

Not all newspapers are quite so supportive, however. At the time the fiscal year crime statistics were released, one newspaper actually accused me of failing to acknowledge violent crime other than family violence, almost as if family violence wasn’t classed as serious crime.

Well, as far as I am concerned, it is, and I have written to that particular newspaper editor emphasising that point.

A second encouraging recent event has been the Maori Child Abuse Summit held this week in Auckland.

Everyone here, I am sure, knows how disproportionately Maori feature in child abuse statistics --- they are twice as likely to be abused as children from other groups --- and I want to congratulate the organisers of the summit for taking a lead.

They are taking responsibility for their own communities. As organiser Hone Kaa said, that approach will work because it is not the Government telling Maori what to do, but Maori telling Maori.

A less encouraging development was some of the initial hysteria that greeted one of the first convictions for assault under the law against smacking. The headline in my local newspaper read: Three smacks and he’s ‘guilty’, leaving readers to draw the inference that this was a minor transgression.

A more dispassionate analysis of the facts, published on something like page nine the next day, revealed, however, that the wife of the Masterton man had taken a photograph of her son’s bruises and shown it to a relative, who in turn showed the photograph to police. It wasn’t such a trivial matter, in fact. Violence is never trivial.

It was somewhat more encouraging to read the verdict of the editorial in the Masterton newspaper itself, the Wairarapa Times-Age.

The editor concluded that the law was now in place, the “sky hasn’t fallen in”, and “it’s time to move on”.

Good on him. The reality is that our society will not become a safer one for families, particularly women and children, while the cycle of inter-generational abuse is perpetuated. Violence is never an answer.

When I spoke to the Wellington Te Rito (Living Free from Violence) Group last week, I talked of the importance of putting whatever resources we can into dealing with the present generation of offenders, but emphasised that the real hope of success in terms of breaking the cycle of violence lies with future generations.

That’s why meetings like this one this week are so important.

As I said earlier, tackling the issue of domestic violence requires government and community partnerships, and I want to talk just a little about some of the initiatives that have been put in place with government support.

I am particularly proud of the work that is being done in both the police and justice portfolios, as well as in the health, education and social development sectors.

The Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families is bringing together government and non-government sectors, independent Crown entities and the judiciary to work together in a coordinated way on the problem.

The genesis for this approach started in March 2005, when the Minister for Social Development and Employment advised the Cabinet that he would be establishing a family violence ministerial team to provide high-level, visible leadership across the State sector, to promote public debate, and to signal the Government’s commitment to addressing this critical social issue.

He asked MSD’s chief executive to chair a Taskforce on Action on Violence within Families to lead and coordinate interagency action to minimise family violence and the abuse and neglect of children and older persons.

By July 2006 the Cabinet had endorsed the taskforce’s approach to family violence prevention, focusing on leadership, changing attitudes and behaviour, safety and accountability, and effective support services.

The first programme of action focused on what needed to be done immediately to better support the victims of family violence.

Its achievements included launching the nationwide Campaign for Action on Family Violence; developing the family violence interagency response system; establishing four Family Violence Courts; agreeing a new process for reviewing all family violence-related deaths; working towards a long-term plan to improve the delivery of services at every point that victims, observers and perpetrators touch the system through the Pathway to Partnership initiative; and developing options for a new funding model for non-government services and a transparent costing tool to inform work toward sustainable funding.

In November this year, the Cabinet agreed to the Taskforce’s ongoing programme, which focuses on actions that:

•Recognise that leadership operates at many levels, in different contexts, across all our communities and that we need to enlist and harness this in our vision to change attitudes and behaviours to eliminate violence within families;
•Empower New Zealanders to take personal and collective responsibility for eliminating violence within families;
•Improve protection and accountability systems to immediately and effectively meet the requirements and expectations of victims, observers and perpetrators wherever and whenever they come to light;
•Support and train those who are in a position to recognise and respond to family violence.

From a legislative perspective, the Justice Ministry is carrying out an issues-based review of the Domestic Violence Act 1995; and I will soon release a discussion document into which I hope many of you here today will have an input.

One matter in the discussion document relates to the issuing of interim protection orders by police, and I am sure you will want to have input into that.

And, of course, in September a nationwide campaign was launched to change attitudes and behaviours towards family violence.

Recently NZ Police advised me that Police, as the lead agency of the Family Safety Team (FST) initiative, is undertaking a governance review to put optimal FST processes and structures in place to service the teams on an ongoing basis.

NZ Police have proposed the following timetable --- research and design to be completed next month; planning for implementation to be completed and agreed with stakeholders by next February; and new governance arrangements for the Family Safety programme to be implemented from March to June next year.

I cannot emphasise strongly enough, however, that real, lasting success will only come from working together. No agency, government or otherwise, can go it alone.

We must draw on our well-established networking mechanisms across the whole range of agencies to ensure we start to turn the statistics around.

I am sure many of you here are familiar with the poignant tale that has become known as Lisa’s story.

I will not repeat it today, but this story of a young woman who was assaulted and finally murdered by her former partner affects me greatly whenever I read it. Lisa should still be alive today.

Lisa gives a real name and a real form to family violence. The wives, children, husbands, partners, aging parents and extended family members who are the victims of family violence are not just statistics.

They are people we’re supposed to love and care about. They are people to share lives with.

New Zealanders like to think of our country as a nation where people are open and friendly, where common decency and respect for each other are values to hold dear.

Yet New Zealand has harboured a deep and dark secret that is only now becoming recognised and understood.

Thank you very much for inviting me to join you today, and for the work that the Police and other government agencies and community organisations are doing to make a real difference.

It is too late for Lisa and many thousands of others. But there are many more Lisas in New Zealand society. Together we can try to ensure it is not too late to help them survive and lead the sort of lives we would all want for ourselves. Thank you.