NZFVC Weekly Quick Reads: 29 November 2023

Quick Reads: 29 November 2023

Welcome to our new Quick Reads format. Each week we share selected news bites relevant to family violence and sexual violence in Aotearoa. This is a new format and we welcome your feedback. Let us know what you think at info@nzfvc.org.nz. See all past NZFVC Quick reads.

Government Ministers and coalition agreements announced

The new Government was announced on 24 November 2023 with a 3-party coalition of National, ACT and New Zealand First. Karen Chhour is the new Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Minister for Children. For other appointments, see the full Ministerial list. In announcing the new Government coalition, incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said "The coalition documents between National and ACT, and National and New Zealand First, provide for both ACT and New Zealand First to support the major elements of National’s policy programme including our 100-day plan, our 100-point economic plan, and our tax and fiscal plans, with some adjustments." For specific policy details see the National Party and ACT New Zealand coalition agreement and the National Party and New Zealand First coalition agreement. New Finance Minister Nicola Willis said a mini budget would be released before Christmas.

Update: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has released the new Government's 100 day plan with 49 action points. The Green Party, Labour Party and Te Pāti Māori have announced their allocation of portfolios.

2023 Youth Statement from Race Unity Hui

The National Race Unity Hui is a space for Aotearoa young people and their supporters to build a shared vision of the future of race relations in Aotearoa. The national Hui was held in Auckland in June 2023. Regional Hui were also held in Taranaki, Rotorua and Hamilton. From the Hui a Youth Statement is developed to present the views of participants on the root causes of racism and potential solutions to eradicate racism in Aotearoa. Read the 2023 Race Unity Hui statement: Awhihia Te Rito — Nurture the Young.

Gender-Based Violence Teaching Toolkit (Canada)

The recent Conversation article, Gender-based violence: Teaching about its root causes is necessary to address it, highlighted a toolkit from Canada and the research to support the development of the toolkit. The Gender-Based Violence Teaching Toolkit and resources were developed to support secondary-school teachers in Ontario, Canada. Topics include intimate partner violence, sexual assault, consent and healthy relationships, human trafficking, transphobia and homophobia, gender policing, cisnormativity and heteronormativity, and missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit people.

Research on respectful relationships education (Australia)

ANROWS published findings from research looking at respectful relationships education intervention in the report, A social network analysis and implementation study of an intervention designed to advance social and emotional learning and respectful relationships in secondary schools (2023). The research found students and teachers found the programme useful, but many teachers faced barriers to teaching the programme. The research also identified findings about the gendered nature of student relationships and the influence of those relationships on attitudes towards gender equality and gender-based violence. Learn more in the ANROWS webinar and the Guardian article ‘Desensitised’: calls for better education after research suggests Victorian boys less likely to stop harassment.

Technology Facilitated Gender-Based Violence and AI from UNESCO

A side event of the 42nd session of the UNESCO General Conference looked at AI and technology facilitated gender-based violence. The event included an overview of the UNESCO report, Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in an Era of Generative AI. The report looks at the risk of violence through AI. It includes recommendations for content distributors, content generators, policymakers, platform users, and civil society and researchers. For more information watch a recording of the event and see the UN Women brief overview of technology facilitated gender-based violence.