NZFVC Quick Reads: 17 January 2025

NZFVC Quick Reads: 17 January 2025

Welcome to our Quick Reads format. Each week we share selected news bites relevant to family violence and sexual violence in Aotearoa. See all past NZFVC Quick reads.

Consultation on Arms Act rewrite

Te Tāhū o te Ture | Ministry of Justice is inviting public submission to assist in their systematic rewrite of the Arms Act which, once complete, will be presented to parliament as a bill for consideration. The rewrite is one component of the government's wider work on firearms reform. The Ministry has provided a discussion document, alongside a summary version in multiple languages, which divides the Act up into 7 themes and provides guiding questions for each of these. Submissions can be made by online survey, by email, or by post and will remain open until 28 February 2025.

Launch of Te Aorerekura Second Action Plan 2025 - 2030

Te Puna Aonui (TPA) has published the second action plan for Te Aorerekura, Action Plan 2025 - 2030. Breaking the cycle (2024). The new action plan sets out 7 priorities for the government. Three of these priorities have been highlighted as the focus of the first 2 years for TPA agencies:

• “Investing and commissioning well”, adopting a social investment approach;
• “Keeping people safe”, with a focus on improving multi-agency responses for those at the greatest risk of serious injury or death; and
• “Stopping violence”, with a stronger focus on the people using violence.

A summary text of the Second Action Plan is also available on the Action Plan’s webpage. You can also read the Te Aorerekura: Closing report for Action Plan 1.0 (2024).

New report on current state of Multi-Agency Responses to violence

Te Puna Aonui (TPA) has published Understanding the current state of family violence: multi-agency responses (2024). The report gathered information from multi-agency response sites across Aotearoa with the purpose of establishing a baseline picture of the current state of operations; it is not a research project, evaluation or review. The decision was made to limit data collection to SAM (Safety Assessment Meeting) tables housed within the NZ Police, or their equivalents. SAM tables do not respond to cases of sexual assault or child abuse. The report highlights 4 key insight areas:

• Sites have developed locally with little national support
• National consistency and local innovation
• Working with Māori
• Value in and outside of meetings

The report also highlights several areas where further work on national consistency is needed, as well as areas of local innovation. TPA have also released a dashboard for data contained in the report.

Te Aorerekura: Outcomes and Measurement Framework - Baseline Report

Te Puna Aonui (TPA) has published Te Aorerekura Outcomes and Measurement Framework : insights summary of family violence and sexual violence over time in Aotearoa, Baseline report, Data tables (2024). This is the first Outcomes and Measurement Framework report for Te Aorerekura and provides a baseline against which future progress can be assessed. The Baseline Report also contains an insights summary of sexual violence and family violence over time in Aotearoa and includes full data tables.

New resource on visa support for migrant victims from Women’s Refuge

Women’s Refuge has published a new resource, Safety and Family Violence: Visa support for migrant victims (2024). The resource focuses on how Refuge can best support migrant victims of family violence who are temporary visa holders. It includes information on what is needed to effectively support migrant women seeking safety alongside information on what abuse towards migrant women on temporary visas might look like. This resource was released as part of Refuge’s Family Violence Risk and Safety Series. For more insights about these issues watch our 2 webinars on the rights and meeds of migrant victim-survivors, part 1 and part 2.

ERO releases research on relationships and sexuality education

The Education Review Office (ERO) has published Let’s talk about it: Review of relationships and sexuality education (2024). A summary report is also available. In their media release, ERO shared that they found "too much inconsistency in relationships and sexuality education[RSE].” Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa responded to the report, welcoming its findings and recommendations. The Government has welcomed the ERO report and have announced that Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education will be developing a new RSE curriculum, with a draft available in the beginning of 2025 and a consultation opening later in the year.

Keeping safe, feeling safe: Easy read reporting form from People First

People First NZ have created an Easy Read incident reporting form to support people with intellectual disabilities to report complaints or abuse. The reporting form allows people with intellectual disabilities to report things that they have been victim to and things they have witnessed. This forms part of People First's Easy Read resource library, which provides a wide range of documents to support people with intellectual disabilities. People First NZ is a Disabled People’s Organisation run by and for people with learning disabilities.