1. Question No. 1—Social DevelopmentJAN LOGIE (Green) to the Associate Minister for Social DevelopmentORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Social Development1. JAN LOGIE (Green) to the Associate Minister for Social Development: Will Budget 2020 make our communities safer by supporting family violence services in Aotearoa New Zealand; if so how?Hon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister for Children) on behalf of the Associate Minister for Social Development: Budget 2020 includes nearly $203 million in funding for services and support for all those affected by family violence. This includes victims and survivors people who use violence and want to change their behaviour and people who have experienced non-fatal strangulation. This sector has done and continues to do incredibly important work but they have done so without adequate funding for far too long and we are beginning to fix that.Jan Logie: How will these Budget initiatives support family violence services such as Women's Refuge?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: For decades family violence and sexual violence services have not received the funding they need to do their work. We are changing that and finally beginning to fund organisations based on the actual costs in delivering their services including provision for fairer wages training supervision and management of staff. I acknowledge under-secretary Jan Logie who said yesterday We want these services to be able to focus on their work not running sausage sizzles to survive." and Dr Ang Jury of Women's Refuge who said "This will mean they can recruit and retain workers without burning them out."Jan Logie: Why is it important to fund services for people affected by elder abuse? Hon TRACEY MARTIN: Data from the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing concluded that 10 percent of people aged over 65 and living in the community experience abuse. Elder abuse is a form of family violence. It can be physical psychological spiritual or financial but it is often not recognised when we speak of family violence. I know that my colleague the Minister for Seniors has advocated consistently and is particularly pleased that we are now doubling the funding over the next four years for specialist organisations to respond to this specific sector of an overarching problem.Jan Logie: Why is the Government putting funding into the response for non-fatal strangulation?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: It is well documented that strangulation or suffocation is a significant risk factor for future violence. People who are victims of non-fatal strangulation can be up to seven times more likely to be killed. This Government building on the work begun by the Hon Amy Adams made non-fatal strangulation or suffocation a distinct offence at the end of 2018. The funding announced as part of Budget 2020 will support our police health and justice systems to provide victims with the psychosocial help they need and properly resource and train forensic services to ensure successful prosecutions.Jan Logie: And how significant is this funding in the context of the whole-of-Government response to family and sexual violence?Hon TRACEY MARTIN: These initiatives represent the second-biggest Budget package for family violence and sexual violence in the history of New Zealand. It is only surpassed by last year's Budget which contained $320 million in funding over four years. It is also significant because of the joined-up all-of-Government approach which has been taken and which is essential to properly responding to and ending this terrible violence. I commend all the Ministers under-secretary Jan Logie and the respective chief executives who have come together to take collective responsibility for addressing it."