Auditor-General report looks at work of Te Puna Aonui agencies calling for 'more urgent focus'

Auditor-General report 

The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) completed their second audit of Te Puna Aonui, formerly the Joint Venture. This audit focused on how the 10 agencies involved with Te Puna Aonui worked individually, together, and with tangata whenua, communities, and non-government organisations to understand and respond to the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

The Auditor-General says the agencies are doing a lot of work to understand and address the complex problems of family violence and sexual violence. However, he also called for urgent improvement in how they work individually, collectively, and with others to foster new ways of working, saying:

“I am concerned that, after nearly five years working together under new structures, Te Puna Aonui agencies have not made more progress in the way they operate. This work needs more urgent focus.”

He also said:

“Although individual agencies’ work might improve some current responses to family violence and sexual violence, that work is not consistently supporting the changes needed to achieve the aims of Te Aorerekura.”

The report, Meeting the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence (2023), shares the findings from the audit. The report is divided into several parts. Parts 3 - 5 broadly focus on how Te Puna Aonui agencies understand the needs of people affected by violence (Part 3), meet the needs of people affected by violence (Part 4) and address capacity issues that affect their ability to meet the needs of people affected by violence (Part 5).  

The report makes 6 recommendations for Te Puna Aonui agencies:

• "work together and with advocacy groups for those affected by family violence and sexual violence to find safe and appropriate ways to hear directly from people who experience or use violence, to improve how responses to family violence and sexual violence are provided;
• support the transformational change set out in Te Aorerekura by working with tangata whenua and community partners to agree on how they will develop and implement a partnership approach and clarify their respective roles, authority, and accountabilities;
• each ensure that they are better connecting work taking place at the national and local levels to support the development of local initiatives and ensure that these initiatives are informing the development of responses to family violence and sexual violence more generally;
• work together and with community partners to agree on legally appropriate and robust protocols for sharing information about incidents of family violence and sexual violence to support responding in ways that best support the individuals, families, and whānau affected. The protocols will need to ensure that people whose information is being collected understand why their information is being collected and who can use that information;
• gather information from their monitoring of programmes and initiatives, share it with communities and non-government organisations, and together use this information to improve existing responses or design new responses; and
• work together and with local initiatives and community partners to identify, prioritise, and manage the capacity constraints that currently affect the ability of the family violence and sexual violence system to respond effectively. Te Puna Aonui agencies, tangata whenua, and community partners could consider including this work in the next action plan for Te Aorerekura."

This report follows the OAG first report, Working in new ways to address family violence and sexual violence published in 2021.

The report is a part of the OAG ongoing work programme on how public organisations are working to reduce family violence and sexual violence. 

Update: The July e-update from Te Puna Aonui includes comments from Minister Marama Davidson about the OAG report and a range of updates.

Related news

The Annual Te Aorerekura Hui took place on 14 June 2023. As part of the Hui, Te Puna Aonui agencies and Te Pūkotahitanga recorded video updates on progress. You can view the videos on the Te Puna Aonui website or Te Puna Aonui YouTube Channel. Videos are available from:

• Te Puna Aonui Update - Chief Executive Emma Powell
• Manatū Wahine Update - Dr Kathie Irwin 
• Manatū Hauora Update - Deputy Director-General John Whaanga
• Ministry of Social Development - Deputy Chief Executive Marama Edwards, and General Manager Mark Henderson (also see MSD’s role in Te Puna Aonui)
• Ministry of Justice - Secretary for Justice Andrew Kibblewhite
• Oranga Tamariki - Deputy Chief Executive Māori, Darrin Haimoana
• Corrections - Deputy Chief Executive Health Juanita Ryan
• Te Pūkotahitanga - Chair of Te Pūkotahitanga Dr Maria Baker, and members Tā Mark Solomon and Kim Eriksen-Downs
• Social Wellbeing Agency - Chief Executive Renee Graham
• Ministry of Education - Ellen McGregor-Reid, Hautū Te Mahau - Te Poutāhū
• Police - Assistant Commissioner: Iwi & Communities Chris de Wattignar
• ACC - Chief Executive Officer Megan Main, Deputy Chief Executive Tane Cassidy, Sector Partnership Lead Eleanor Butterworth, Injury Prevention Partner Isa’ako Isa’ako, and Manager Māori Health Eldon Paea (also see additional information on the ACC website).

In May 2023 Ara Poutama Aotearoa | the Department of Corrections launched their Implementation Plan (2023) responding to Te Aorerekura: The National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence. In launching the plan Ara Poutama Aotearoa said:

"Our Implementation Plan outlines how we will build on our existing work, recognising that a significant proportion of people on sentences and orders have lived experience of violence. Grounded in mātauranga Māori, the plan acknowledges the need to be driven through the lens of te Ao Māori."

Minister Marama Davidson and Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis spoke with Waatea News about the Ara Poutama Aotearoa implementation plan.

Related media

Report finds Government agencies aren't working together for sexual, family violence victims, Newshub, 02.07.2023

Make the move - shifting how the public sector can work better with communities - Inspiring Communities, Voxy, 13.06.2023 (see the report, Make the Move – shifting how the public sector works with communities)