7. Question No. 7—Prevention of Family and Sexual ViolenceHon JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual ViolenceQuestion No. 7—Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence7. Hon JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence: How are communities being supported to lead Te Aorerekura – the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence): I thank the member for the question. Empowering communities to build on the solutions they know already work is crucial to reaching our shared vision to eliminate violence. Through Te Aorerekura we are moving away from the transactional ways of working and towards the relational flexible trusted community-based approaches. So we have invested almost $1 billion in the family violence and sexual violence sectors since 2017 to build that capacity we have provided flexible funding for community leaders to support their people in cyclone-affected areas and we have established community groups representing diverse communities. We are investing not just money but time and effort into building trust and relationships that Government has not had before. It is community leading the solutions to the issues that they face and we are here to support them.Hon James Shaw: Who is leading Te Aorerekura in the communities that are impacted by violence?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: Te Aorerekura is—and must be—led by those who are impacted on by violence particularly those diverse communities who are disproportionately impacted and have been underserved by successive Governments. This requires authentic partnership with Government agencies to establish their own community groups. So they include the recently launched Ethnic Communities Network; the establishment of an independent Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group Te Pūkotahitanga; an Expert Advisory Group for Children and Young People where rangatahi are able to specifically have a voice; funding an existing rainbow network to facilitate engagement with LGBTQIA+ communities; an Interim Disability Reference Group and a National Disability Expert Advisory Board which will be formed soon in a way that is being specifically directed by the disability community; regular meetings of Pasifika providers who recently held their inaugural National Pacific Family Violence and Sexual Violence Practitioners' Fono; a pilot regional elder abuse network; and working with those who have used violence to support accountability and behaviour change. The voices of these groups will help lead where Te Aorerekura goes next.Hon James Shaw: Does she agree with the Productivity Commission's finding in their most recent report A fair chance for all that locally led whānau-centred and [culturally] enabled approaches can provide more effective assistance to people and families"?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: Yes. We cannot solve family violence and sexual violence through a one-size-fits-all blanket approach. We must be locally led and whānaucentred. Through Te Aorerekura Government agencies are coming together with tangata whenua NGOs and community to respond to violence through a joined-up collaborative community approach that involves Government agencies and community groups. We know that violence response and prevention is about more than just the individual and an isolated response; it is about that person and their whole whānau having what they need to live a good life. So through that integrated community approach we are starting to deliver that and see those very benefits. We're also funding differently. Recently I announced a flexible fund for communities in cyclone-impacted areas which is allowing for whānau-centred and community-led responses to violence in areas experiencing added stresses.Hon James Shaw: Is Te Aorerekura showing true Crown accountability by helping to address the harm that Government agencies themselves have caused when responding to violence?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: Yes. Very importantly Te Aorerekura means for the first time in 180 years Government agencies are explicitly and directly accountable for the harm that has been caused through unsafe responses and a lack of political courage and will to highlight a problem right in front of us—and I'm really proud of the steps that we are finally starting to take. In particular the steps of ensuring that our workforces across our Government agencies and departments even understand the dynamics of violence can identify them and are able to respond safely so that no matter where someone affected by violence reaches out to for help they need to be safe and supported to heal. So we've developed workforce tools in partnership with community which are already being implemented by key Government agencies such as police justice Oranga Tamariki Ara Poutama the Ministry of Social Development and ACC.Hon James Shaw: Is the Government continuing to rely on police reporting data and conviction rates to understand the prevalence of violence in Aotearoa New Zealand and if not what else has been done to better understand violence?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: We know that relying on police reports and justice data alone never gives us an accurate or full picture of violence because most violence goes unreported. Nearly all of sexual violence is never reported. It also does not tell us about the approaches and the actual interventions that are working for whānau and people. So Te Aorerekura commits us to building a system where survivors even feel safe coming forward to report the violence that has happened to them—whether that is to police their community or their own whānau—where people who use violence also get the support they need to change their harmful behaviour. We are creating a whole new outcomes and measurement framework to support Te Aorerekura which will give us better data and also show us the more evidence-based pathways forward."