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NZ Police are seeking feedback on an information sharing agreement related to name changes, deaths, and non-disclosure directions.
The proposed information sharing agreement is between Police and the Registrar-General, Births, Deaths and Marriages. It would allow the Registrar-General to regularly and proactively supply details to Police about registered name changes, deaths, and non-disclosure directions.
The deadline to give feedback is 6 November 2018.
In announcing the consultation, Police Minister Stuart Nash said:
“Under the proposed agreement, Police will use the information they receive to match against the identities held in Police’s system. Where there is a match, Police will add the new name, indicate that the person is deceased, or indicate that the person has a non-disclosure direction in force."
The Beehive release states that Police "receives a limited amount of this information already from contact with the public but is not aware of the majority of people who change their names, have died, or have a non-disclosure direction in force." The Registrar-General can currently legally share this information where it is required for law enforcement purposes. However, this requires Police to be either actively dealing with a person and querying the Registrar-General at that point or confirming information already known or suspected by Police, as opposed to Police being proactively provided with the information. The stated purpose of the proposed agreement is to reduce the risk of offenders using multiple identities, and to contribute to the reduction in the number of events relating to misidentified individuals.
The proposed agreement notes that the personal information to be shared excludes birth, name change, or death registrations with a non-disclosure direction under section 112 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995 (see page 6).
The privacy impact assessment (see page 14) notes "... Individuals who change their name could be more impacted by this information sharing. ... there may be people who wish to have a new identity in order to distance themselves from their previous history or other people (e.g. those escaping domestic or family violence, or stalking)." As a result, the assessment identifies: "There is an ethical, health and safety and privacy risk that people who change their name may not wish to have their data shared with Police."
Police are asking for feedback on four specific questions:
- "The purpose and process for sharing information from the Registrar-General, Births, Deaths and Marriages to Police will enable Police to have accurate records in their national database. Is the purpose and process appropriate, or not appropriate?
- Is the range of personal information about an individual proposed to be shared too restrictive, about right, or too broad?
- How do you feel about the automatic, regular, sharing of death, name change, and non-disclosure direction information by the Registrar-General, Births, Deaths and Marriages to Police under the proposed Agreement: agree, neutral, or disagree?
- Are the proposed privacy protections on the privacy of individuals affected by the Agreement too restrictive, about right, or too broad?"
You can provide feedback in writing by emailing it to dia.informationsharing@police.govt.nz with the subject line “Information sharing agreement consultation” or posting to: Justice Policy Team, Police National Headquarters, 180 Molesworth Street, Wellington 6011.
For more information, see the proposed information sharing agreement, public discussion document and privacy impact assessment on the NZ Police website.
The Ministry of Social Development's (MSD) latest email update for family and sexual violence service providers covers a number of areas of work.
You can view the updates online and subscribe to receive them to your inbox.
The October 2018 update includes:
- Joint venture to address family and sexual violence including the draft strategy and action plan
- Update on family violence funding survey
- Whānau-centred practice in Taranaki
- Next steps on setting up working group on sexual violence national support
- Research to examine what works for male survivors
- Research to examine non-mandated harmful sexual behaviour community-based services
- Progress on evaluation of specialist sexual violence services.
Read all past updates and sign up to receive future updates on the MSD website.
For questions about sexual violence service development email CI_Sexual_Violence_Services@msd.govt.nz and about the family violence work programme contact Family_Violence_CPP@msd.govt.nz
Related news
See our story on the New government "joint venture" approach to addressing family and sexual violence.
The Government has made a number of recent announcements related to pay equity. These include a pay equity agreement for Oranga Tamariki - Ministry of Children social workers, a new pay equity bill and an action plan on the gender pay gap in the public sector.
Pay equity for Ministry for Children - Oranga Tamariki social workers
Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced that Cabinet has agreed to fund a pay equity settlement for Oranga Tamariki social workers. She said it was an 'agreement in principle' between Oranga Tamariki and the Public Service Association (PSA). The settlement would be worth $114.6m over five years. According to the press release, the settlement would apply to more than 1300 Oranga Tamariki social workers. On average they would receive a 30.6% rise over a two year period. After reviewing the settlement in the following weeks, Oranga Tamariki social workers who are PSA members will vote on whether to accept the settlement.
“The agreement for funding the settlement by Cabinet is a recognition that the important role of statutory social workers has been undervalued – and more than that, it has been subject to historical and ongoing gender-based undervaluation."
The PSA press release also notes:
“We believe the process used for reaching this settlement and its application of the principles of the pay equity Joint Working Group is also historical, and that, as previously observed by Minister of Children Tracey Martin it represents a ‘gold standard’ for progressing future pay equity claims. We have no doubt that this settlement will have an influence for social workers in other sectors, and in that sense it is a true trail blazer for the undervalued profession of social work. For social workers at DHBs and NGOs who deliver vital community public services it is a given that discussions about pay equity will be entered into - with strong, continuing advocacy for pay equity from the PSA on their behalf."
Non-government organisations (NGO) have called for the settlement to apply to all social workers, including the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers, Women's Refuge, NZ Council of Christian Social Services, Whānau Ora Services for Manukau Urban Māori Authority, Social Service Providers Aotearoa, Shakti Community Council and the Methodist Alliance.
Many of these NGOs have raised concerns about the impact of widening the existing wage gap between social workers employed by Oranga Tamariki and social workers employed by community organisations, currently around 20% on average. The gap is expected to widen up to 50% with the pay offer, leading to fears that community agencies will struggle to employ social workers facing the choice of better paid jobs with government.
Update: PSA has announced that the pay equity settlement for social workers at Oranga Tamariki has been ratified to go ahead. See the Oranga Tamariki media statement for more information.
Pay equity legislation introduced
The Equal Pay Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament in September 2018. The proposed legislation is intended to make it easier for workers to file a pay equity claim within New Zealand’s existing bargaining framework.
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway said "... the Bill followed all the recommendations of the reconvened and original Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles."
Dr Jackie Blue, Equal Employment Opportunities and Women’s Rights Commissioner, welcomed the proposed legislation. She also called for more proactive approaches to addressing pay equity:
"In order to raise a claim under the new bill, it is vital that workers have the information to benchmark their individual pay situation.
The new bill is complaints based in that women will be required to raise the complaint of unequal pay with their employer. I would also like to see the onus on the employer to do regular pay equity audit checks.
There is also an opportunity to incorporate the gender pay principles that have been adopted by the public service. These principles will cover women in ‘mixed occupations’ where they do not necessarily dominate the sector they work in, but none the less may be paid unfairly."
For more information about the new legislation, see the Fact sheet: A just and practical pay equity framework. Also see the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment website on pay equity.
Background
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter announced in November 2017 that the previous government’s Employment (Pay Equity and Equal Pay) legislation would not be progressed. This legislation was introduced after the government signed the care and support workers’ $2 billion pay equity settlement. The Joint Working Group on Pay Equity Principles was reconvened in January 2018.
Government launches action plan on gender pay gap
Minister for State Services Chris Hipkins and Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter launched the Government's action plan to eliminate the gender pay gap in the public sector. The press release summarises the four key focus areas in the strategy:
- "Equal Pay - By the end of 2020 all agencies will have closed any gender pay gaps within the same roles.
- Flexible Work by Default - By 2020 all agencies will be flexible-by-default.
- Bias and Discrimination - By the end of this year there will be no gender pay gaps in starting salaries for the same roles.
- Gender Balanced Leadership - By the end of 2019 women will hold at least 50 percent of leadership roles in the top three tiers of leadership."
See the Ministry for Women website on the gender pay gap for more information or read Eliminating the Public Service Gender Pay Gap 2018-2020 Action Plan.
Earlier this year, the Government launched new Gender Pay Principles to guide government work on gender pay and to support working environments in the state sector to be free from gender based inequalities.
Related news
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said a majority of Māori nurses won't see the gains of a pay offer for nurses as it will only cover nurses employed by District Health Boards (DHBs). NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said most Māori nurses work in primary health areas such as Māori health organisations and their nurses earn up to 25% less than DHB nurses.
The Employment Relations Amendment Bill was introduced in January 2018. Following the consultation process, in September the Education and Workforce Committee reported back on the Bill with a recommendation that it be passed with amendments.
Chief Social Worker Paul Nixon is leaving his role. He discussed the ongoing work of and challenges facing Oranga Tamariki - Ministry for Children in an interview on Radio NZ.
Selected media
Social workers ditch NGOs for better pay at Oranga Tamariki, Newshub, 22.11.2018
Social workers aim to use public sector pay rise as leverage, Radio NZ, 15.11.2018
Pay equity still an issue for wāhine Māori, Te Karere TVNZ, 22.10.2018
Māori women worst paid, Waatea News, 08.10.2018
Pay deal could help Oranga Tamariki keep staff, Radio NZ, 27.09.2018
Outgoing chief social worker Paul Nixon, Radio NZ, 26.09.2018
Pay equity deal for Oranga Tamariki social workers, Radio NZ, 25.09.2018
Social workers get $114m in Government pay equity settlement, Stuff, 25.09.2018
Welfare League takes on Oranga Tamariki, Waatea News, 24.09.2018
Suffrage small part of wider Māori struggle, Waatea News, 20.09.2018
Stacey Morrison: Mana wāhine embedded in Māori world view, Opinion, NZ Herald, 19.09.2018
BusinessNZ criticises 'unilateral' addition of 'back pay' to pay equity bill, Stuff, 19.09.2018
Government won't use 'positive' sex discrimination law to hire more women, Stuff, 28.07.2018
The Family Violence Death Review Committee (FVDRC) has published information to assist lawyers working with victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) who are facing criminal charges.
The document is an appendix to a recent article in the New Zealand Law Review, Social Entrapment: A Realistic Understanding of the Criminal Offending of Primary Victims of Intimate Partner Violence (Tolmie et al 2018).
The articles describes IPV as a gendered pattern of harm that is a form of social entrapment. The understanding of entrapment is contrasted with traditional approaches to thinking about intimate partner violence in the criminal justice context. The article explores how this model can apply to cases when mothers are prosecuted for failing to protect their children, or when women are prosecuted for killing the person who has been violent towards them.
The FVDRC published an Appendix to the Social Entrapment article to assist lawyers to develop criminal defences for clients who are the primary victim of IPV and facing criminal charges. The Appendix provides a detailed list of questions to help lawyers think through areas that affect the context of the IPV and women's responses. The questions are not necessarily designed to be asked of the victim or to act as a checklist. They are designed to help lawyers develop a comprehensive picture of a woman's experience and the factors that should be considered.
The questions cover the following areas:
- relationship formation
- primary aggressor's coercive controlling behaviours
- parenting
- primary aggressor's lifestyle
- primary victim's offending
- primary victim's trauma history
- primary victim's mental health
- quality of agency responses
- structural inequities.
The Appendix includes multiple examples from the family violence regional death review process to illustrate the kinds of information that can be relevant. There are also suggestions of potential sources of information relating to the context of IPV. The Appendix should be used alongside the concepts outlined in the article.
More information
In 2017, FVDRC published a position brief on the need to address intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect together. The one-page brief sets out Six reasons we cannot be effective in reducing intimate partner violence or child abuse and neglect unless we address both together.
For more background information see our previous news story on the FVDRC position brief.
Related media
Leaving the ‘battered woman’ trope behind, Newsroom, 12.08.2020
E Tū Whānau is holding a poster design competition for the first time.
E Tū Whānau is a movement for positive change developed by the Māori Reference Group. The poster competition is designed to highlight positive change through a focus on the E Tū Whānau values of Aroha, Mana Manaaki, and Whakapapa:
"Art and design are powerful tools to communicate ideas, convey emotion, and inspire action. The values which underpin E Tū Whānau provide endless possibilities for innovative design, so this year for the first time we are running a poster design competition."
To enter the competition posters need to feature one of the following E Tū Whānau values:
- Aroha - Giving with no expectation of return [Gold/Yellow]
- Mana Manaaki - Building the mana of others, through nurturing, growing and challenging [Orange/Red]
- Whakapapa - Knowing who you are and where you belong [Green]
The poster must incorporate the value as a theme, as well as the word and the related colour. More details about the competition are on the E Tū Whānau Poster Competition Facebook post.
In addition to prizes, winning entries selected by the judges will be used to create new posters for the E Tū Whānau values.
You can submit posters from 1 through 21 October 2018. Voting will be open for one week from 22 October to 29 October 2018.
For more news from E Tū Whānau's work see our previous stories:
News from E Tū Whānau: film challenge, videos and song competition results
E Tū Whānau launches 2018 song competition
Update: The winners of the poster competition have been announced on the E Tū Whānau Facebook page. You also see all entries.
Selected media
Winning poster reflects whakapapa and generations, Gisborne Herald, 04.12.2018
The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges has published a report exploring women's experiences of abuse, violence and suicidality.
The report, “There was no other way out”: Exploring the relationship between women’s experiences of intimate partner violence and their self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and suicide events, summarises findings from an online survey completed by more than 1200 people.
The study explored women and gender minorities' experiences with intimate partner violence (IPV), other forms of abuse and suicide. The aims were to increase knowledge of women’s experiences of being both suicidal and a victim of intimate partner violence, and to identify opportunities for development in practitioners’ responses to victims of intimate partner violence who have been or are suicidal.
All respondents had experienced IPV and had considered or attempted suicide. Respondents were predominately Pākehā, but almost 20% identified as Māori and approximately 6% as other ethnicities. The majority had children, and were aged 16-65. Nearly 25% identified with sexual orientations other than heterosexual. Most were women, but some identified as non-binary.
The report examines:
- Experiences of IPV
- Abuse and adversity other than IPV
- The relationship between partner abuse and different types of abuse perpetrated by someone other than a partner
- Experiences of self-harm and suicide, including experiences that preceded suicide attempts, and help seeking
- The relationship between IPV and suicidal thoughts or attempts
- Differences between Māori and Tauiwi respondents' experiences
- Differences in experience by sexuality and gender identity.
More than 90% of respondents reported they had experienced at least one form of abuse by someone other than an intimate partner prior to entering a relationship where they experienced IPV. (Categories were: witnessing family violence, child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, child psychological abuse, neglect, rape or sexual assault as an adult, psychological abuse as an adult, physical assault as an adult, bullying, sexual harassment, and homophobia/biphobia/transphobia.) Most respondents had experienced multiple forms of abuse in childhood, and outlined the ways in which these experiences collided, in addition to detailing aggravating factors accompanying this abuse. The report summarises:
"Many outlined the contexts driving them to consider or attempt suicide, including feeling worthless, certain acts of (escalated) violence, the impacts of prior abuse, overwhelming emotion, unrelenting emotion, the hopelessness of their situations, relationship breakdowns, additional stressors, and unresponsive systems."
The dynamics of the IPV often prevented seeking help for suicidality. As well as reduced self-esteem as a result of abuse discouraging help-seeking,
"... many faced additional barriers such as abusers becoming angry when respondents attempted to speak about their feelings, being suspicious about who they spoke to, preventing them from seeing support people, and encouraging them to end their lives. Respondents often spoke about how the vulnerability they experienced was capitalised on by their abusive partners to perpetuate further abuse."
Respondents reported that they disclosed considering suicide to a range of informal sources and professional groups. Overall:
"Experiences of disclosure were pervaded by a sense of shame, by feelings of being unheard, and by the perception that recipients of disclosures were not genuinely interested. On the other hand, having people listen, take accounts seriously, offer belief, and provide practical and emotional support was invaluable to respondents."
Respondents' found the responses they received highly variable. The researchers note that variance of perceived helpfulness or harmfulness even within specific groups of practitioners or informal support sources suggests that responsiveness is heavily dependent on the individual responder rather than being easily generalisable by group. However they note that no single group received a consistently high rating for helpfulness. Child protection workers and family members were rated as the least helpful overall and sexual violence agency workers, counsellors and domestic violence agency workers rated as the most helpful (although showing significant room for improvement).
There were some differences between Māori and Tauiwi respondents' experiences. Māori respondents were more likely to report having attempted suicide (63%) than Tauiwi (48%). There were some differences in help seeking as well. Māori respondents were more likely to disclose to religious leaders/Kaumātua and also reported less helpful responses from disclosures to child protection workers.
Transgender respondents were more likely to report attempting suicide (83%) compared to cisgender respondents (48%). LGB+ respondents were more likely to report attempting suicide (60%) compared to heterosexual respondents (44%). Both transgender and LGB+ respondents discussed negative experiences when help-seeking, related to discrimination, judgment and services lacking the knowledge to meet the victim's needs.
The conclusion of the report includes 10 main findings:
- "The phenomenon of women being abused and then considering suicide or attempting to take their own lives is far from rare;
- The role of childhood trauma in shaping women’s experiencing of subsequent violence and feelings of suicidality cannot be overstated, given the extremely high associations between types of adversity, categories of victimisation through intimate partner violence, and suicidal thoughts and attempts;
- Given the manipulation of children and parenting by abusers and the proportion of respondents who had one or more children, intervention design should recognise the protective capacity of the non-violent parent and prioritise child safety;
- Feelings of worthlessness, perceiving no way out of situations where there is violence, and a sense of hopelessness about the future are all significant risk factors for suicidal thoughts and attempts amongst women who have been subjected to violence by a partner;
- Specific instances of abuse and adversity are associated with different methods of self-harm;
- Current understandings of self-harm need to be expanded to capture the ways in which victims harm themselves that may not involve physical injury and may reflect methods of harm they have previously experienced during abuse;
- The risk of suicide is still elevated after the end of a relationship with an abuser; consequently, mechanisms for support need to be long-term, ongoing, or able to be reactivated when necessary;
- Many women who are considering suicide or who have attempted suicide receive unsatisfying responses from the people they choose to tell, highlighting the need for a robust understanding of the intersections between suicide and IPV by every professional group likely to encounter women who have been victims;
- Social stressors, including inadequate access to housing, financial insecurity, blaming responses from family or peers, and punitive or non-protective responses from agencies and statutory systems exacerbate distress after abuse by a partner and can act as direct precipitants to suicide attempts; and
- Māori women, LGB women, and trans women who have been abused by an intimate partner are all disproportionately at risk of suicide attempts."
The researchers provided eight recommendations focused on improving service responses. These are:
- All practitioners become familiar with the impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the ways in which these are believed to influence subsequent vulnerability to abuse, social situations and support mechanisms, and capacity to cope with later adversity;
- Extensive training be delivered to all counselling, mental health, domestic violence, and sexual violence practitioners in order to progress the quality of screening to jointly address the often co-occurring issues of IPV and suicidality;
- The forms and periods of time in which suicidality is believed to present be challenged by practitioners, so that victims do not experience an expectation of coping or the anticipation of a shaming or blaming response to suicidality;
- Relationships between possible recipients of disclosures are strengthened, with joint training and clear referral pathways facilitating effective collaborative work so that all aspects of victims’ experiences are addressed effectively and expeditiously;
- Family violence practitioners develop processes for working with the risk of suicide across time, and use the analysis of informal lines of questioning relating to specific emotional experiences across time to inform their understanding of risk;
- Responses that incorporate the safety of children be prioritised, with emphasis on building parenting capacity of the non-abusing parent to care for the child;
- Services that may have contact with victims ensure a wide range of methods and times for engagement are available to them and explore potential IPV-specific barriers with clients ahead of time; and
- Mental health and domestic violence providers grow their awareness of constraints to service access that may result from suicidality or from abusers’ control tactics, and target service design initiatives to engage with all victims.
Dr Ang Jury, CEO of Women's Refuge, discusses ways to improve responses to IPV victims and suicidality in article by media outlet Stuff. She said women were reaching out for help then being faced with the potential losing their children as a result and that barrier needed to be addressed. She planned to send the report to Oranga Tamariki. Ang Jury also said:
"There's a stark need for much closer linkages between the family and sexual violence agencies and mental health services. Traditionally we have worked on a referral basis but there's not been enough co-ordination on this. We have been working in silos too much."
She discussed the importance of more in depth training:
"GPs, lawyers, police – they all get some training but it's time compressed. It's a matter of people knowing how to respond. They need to know what's going to hurt and what's likely to help.”
She also noted that because victims are often traumatised and struggling to articulate what they are experiencing and feeling, they may not come across to agencies as well as the person abusing them. It was important to understand this and not judge the women or dismiss what they said.
Related information
The Government is currently conducting an Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction - Oranga Tāngata Oranga Whānau. The Inquiry Panel is now preparing for delivery of their report to Government in late October.
The Clearinghouse published a reading list on the links between abuse/violence, trauma, mental health issues and addictions.
Previous New Zealand research on suicidality and violence includes:
Exploring risk factors for suicidal ideation in a population-based sample of New Zealand women who have experienced intimate partner violence (Gulliver & Fanslow, 2013)
He drove me mad (DVD)
(Hager and Mental Health Foundation, 2011)
He drove me mad: an investigation into the relationship between domestic violence and mental illness
(Hager, 2001)
See also The Backbone Collective Submission to the Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction (2018)
In 2017, Le Va launched a new suicide prevention training programme called LifeKeepers. This programme is now available online.
A number of our previous stories have highlighted research and coroner's reports linking family violence with suicide:
VAWnet resources: economic abuse; forced marriage; adults exposed to childhood violence (see the guide Responding to the Long-term Needs of Adult Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Exploring the connection to suicide risk)
Inquest into youth suicides finds exposure to family violence
Coroner finds exposure to domestic violence major stressor in teen's suicide
Suicide mortality review committee gains ongoing funding
Related media
Study reveals link between domestic violence and suicide attempts, Radio NZ, 10.09.2018
Victims of partner violence see death as an escape: report, Stuff, 10.09.2018
Time to Acknowledge Family Violence as a Health Issue, Press Release: Aviva, Scoop, 10.09.2018
The Education Review Office (ERO) has published a report on their review of sexuality education in schools.
The review identifies examples of good practice in sexuality education but a continued need for improvement and action in schools.
The report, Promoting wellbeing through sexuality education (September 2018), explores the question "How well does the school use sexuality education to support and promote wellbeing for their students?" ERO was also particularly interested in the extent to which schools were providing an inclusive environment for sex-, gender- and sexuality-diverse students to support their wellbeing.
The review examined practices at 116 schools as part of ERO's regular external evaluation. ERO also visited ten schools that had been identified by external stakeholders as having good practice in sexuality education, and/or doing a good job of including sex-, gender- and sexuality-diverse students.
The review found ongoing concerns with school sexuality education, stating "overall ... curriculum coverage is inconsistent. Some schools are not meeting minimum standards of compliance with current requirements. Most schools are meeting minimum standards, but many have significant gaps in curriculum coverage."
The two least often covered topics in sexuality education are sexual violence and pornography. These are covered in less than half of the secondary schools examined. The report states more in depth coverage is needed for aspects such as consent, digital technologies and relationships. Biological aspects of sexuality and puberty are well covered.
The review found teachers have a range of experience, training and capability to deliver programmes and variability in evaluating and using external providers. In a few schools, "... teachers were not aware of the policies and procedures around reporting abuse or handling disclosures."
The most common barrier to implementation was not planning for a comprehensive approach to sexuality education. Only a few schools conducted regular evaluation of their sexuality education provision, or undertook robust analysis of the perceptions and needs of their students in this learning area.
In addition, the 2007 review had identified that schools were not meeting the needs of Māori and Pacific students, international students, students with strong cultural or religious beliefs, students with additional learning needs and students who were sex-, gender- or sexuality-diverse. The 2017 review finds these students "... remain less well catered for, despite being at higher risk of negative wellbeing outcomes."
Some school leaders told ERO they appreciated the publication of the Ministry of Education's 2015 Sexuality Education guidelines. However "ERO found wide variance in their level of uptake and implementation. A few school leaders were not aware of the guidelines."
In discussing the findings, the authors write:
"To meet the needs of young people in our current context, sexuality education needs to be more comprehensive and the variability across schools needs to be reduced. This evaluation found some schools were failing to meet minimum standards of effectiveness, and many more were only just meeting these standards. Given the complexity of the issues involved, and the impact sexuality issues have on young people’s wellbeing, this performance is not good enough. The publication of the Sexuality Education guidelines is a good starting point, but ERO recommends the Ministries of Education and Health provide more support for implementation of the guidelines and targeted professional learning and development to increase teacher confidence and capability to deliver sexuality education."
The report also documents "narratives of good practice." These narratives typically paid attention to the voices of their communities, and especially their students, around what they knew and what they wanted to learn more about. These schools found that most parents and whānau were supportive of comprehensive sexuality education once they were fully consulted and informed. It states that some parents' choice to withdraw their child from sexuality education should not impede the development of a comprehensive programme for other students in the school.
Additionally, leaders in these schools had established an environment of collective responsibility for inclusion of sex-, gender- and sexuality-diverse students. These schools were proactive, rather than reactive, and did not simply rely on more general policies and practices but made this explicit.
The report concludes with 14 recommendations for government agencies and schools. These include recommending that the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health work together with expert partners to:
- provide greater support for implementation of the 2015 Sexuality Education guidelines, including teachers’ professional learning and development needs
- promote sustainability by prioritising funding and support for external providers of sexuality education that include a focus on building teachers’ and other school staff capability
- support the development of sexuality education resources and programmes that address the needs of diverse populations currently under-served by existing provision
- over time, evaluate the use and usefulness of the recent guide to supporting LGBTIQA+ students
- further investigate the impact of pornography on young people in New Zealand
ERO has also published a two page summary and a series of short information sheets for whānau, Boards of Trustees and senior students.
Background
Sexuality, relationships and violence prevention education come under Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum (2007). However schools can decide how they teach it, after consultation with their school community which they must carry out every two years. The last Education Review Office audit of sexuality education was in 2007 and found that most sexuality education programmes were not meeting students' needs effectively.
In 2015, the Ministry of Education released a revised guide on Sexuality education: a guide for principals, boards of trustees, and teachers. This updated the previous edition published in 2002. However, students, advocates and academics have continued to call for mandatory education in schools focused on consent and healthy relationships.
In 2017, the Ministry of Education released new guidelines to help support the inclusion, safety and wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ students. The guidelines cover: understanding sex, gender and sexuality diversity; creating a school culture where all students are included, visible and valued; addressing immediate environmental, physical and social needs of students; and creating an inclusive classroom that supports all students to achieve.
Related news
In July 2018, ACC committed $18.4 million to make the Mates & Dates healthy relationships programme available in more schools nationwide. Mates & Dates is a healthy relationships programme for secondary school students in years 9 to 13, delivered over five years.
The Office of Film and Literature Classification recently launched the research project Youth and Porn: How and why young New Zealanders are viewing pornography.
Te Whāriki Takapou has made two resources available online to support inclusion of te reo Māori and te ao Māori in sexuality education:
- Te Aitanga a Tiki: Māori dimensions of sexuality - an online collection of te reo Māori and English language resources related to sexual and reproductive health
- Te Ira Tangata - a te reo Māori resource guide for a kaupapa Māori sexuality education programme.
Netsafe launched an updated Kit for schools and kura in July 2018. The Kit includes a set of tools and resources to create and maintain a safe online environment. Netsafe also published a two page guide to help schools respond to online digital incidents, such as bullying, harassment, threats or other harmful behaviour. NetSafe is the Government appointed key agency for online harassment, information and support for victims.
The New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA) released a discussion document, Affirming Diversity: Inclusion for sexuality and gender minorities (2017) about achieving safe, welcoming and inclusive schools for all young people, community members and teachers.
Selected media
Parents' And Caregivers' Survey Released, Family Planning NZ media release, 15.01.2020
Education Review Office tells schools: teach more about porn, NZ Herald, 12.09.2018
NZ sex ed was bad in 2007 - it's still just as bad, report shows, Stuff, 12.09.2018
Sex education inadequate at many schools - report, Radio Live, 12.09.2018
Sexual violence and non-consensual sex rising due to porn, finds survey, NZ Herald, 12.09.2018
Principal: Schools can't fix social issues such as pornography, Newstalk ZB, 12.09.2018
The Government is consulting on reforms to the public service.
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said the proposed changes are a major shift in the way the public service operates.
"On a system wide level, the changes would see the Public Service operate as one, joined up system to tackle the big, complex challenges facing New Zealand. The Public Service would have more capability to wrap multiple services around the needs of citizens.
“Under the current model individual departments deliver services that they have sole accountability for. This doesn’t work as well when agencies need to be working collectively where citizens often must deal with a number of different agencies on a single issue."
More information is available from State Services Commission. Submissions are open until 12 October 2018.
The Q&A on the recently announced family and sexual violence joint venture says:
"Government has placed a strong emphasis on cross-agency and cross-portfolio actions to improve wellbeing. The joint venture uses existing powers, and an explicit Cabinet mandate, to work in new ways across government.
Proposed changes to the State Sector Act 1988, as recently agreed for consultation by Cabinet, would formalise this type of arrangement, allowing for a group of chief executives to collectively own and govern a formal joint venture. The joint venture approach offers the potential to transform the way government operates through new ways of working collectively on complex issues that extend beyond single agencies.
Currently, the government is focused on ensuring the success of the joint venture that will lead efforts to reduce family violence and sexual violence. It is likely that this joint venture approach will also be adopted in other policy areas."
Comments on the Government's proposed state sector reforms are available in the media below. These include comments on the loss of specialisation and subject matter expertise in the public service.
Selected media
Max Rashbrooke: How to build governments which work, NZ Herald, 28.09.2018
Geoff Bertram: A public business, not a public service, Stuff, 13.09.2018
Simon Chapple: Govt commissions experts because departments are run down, NZ Herald, 05.09.2018
The Government has announced a new "joint venture" approach to addressing family and sexual violence. The joint venture’s role is to "lead, integrate, and provide support for everyone to ensure an effective whole-of-government response to family violence and sexual violence."
The announcement on the Beehive website (including a Q&A) and a special edition email update from the Government’s cross-agency family violence and sexual violence work programme (28 September 2018) provide the information below.
An early action will be to develop an ambitious national strategy and action plan. This will set a clear direction for our collective commitment to reduce family violence and sexual violence, clarifying the most critical strategic objectives and identifying the actions required across the system.
The joint venture will lead the preparation of a single, whole-of-government package for Budget 2019 to align and prioritise resources to reduce family violence and sexual violence.
The joint venture will also lead the preparation of a collective annual report across all agencies to create a collective account of performance towards shared outcomes and a single point of accountability to Parliament and the public.
The joint venture’s work will be done by a business unit reporting to the chief executives on the Social Wellbeing Board: the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Oranga Tamariki, Health, Te Puni Kōkiri, Social Development, Education, Justice, with the addition of Police, ACC and Corrections.
The joint venture will be informed by an independent Māori body (Te Rōpū) and wider external advisory group to support the government to work in partnership with the sector and to learn from the experience of victims, perpetrators, and children affected by violence. Building Māori partnership into the model, and ensuring those affected by violence are integral to our work, will help drive significant improvements in the system.
The joint venture will also work with existing advisory groups, reference groups, boards and panels to ensure wider stakeholder input. This will include groups such as Rainbow, disability, the E Tu Whānau reference group, and Pasefika Proud.
The Social Wellbeing Board Chief Executives are operating as the joint venture now.
The Multi-Agency Team on Family Violence and Sexual Violence is transitioning to the business unit supporting the joint venture, with an acting Director. There will be a new identity for the business unit and a formal launch will take place before the end of the year.
The Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice, Jan Logie, will be the Lead Minister for Family Violence and Sexual Violence, responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the work programme for the joint venture.
The Lead Minister will be supported by a Ministerial group comprising the Minister of Justice, the Minister for Social Development, the Minister for Children, the Minister for Seniors, and the Minister for Māori Development.
The Cabinet Social Wellbeing Committee will have overall ministerial oversight of the joint venture, reflecting that the impacts of family violence and sexual violence sit across government.
Te Rōpū
An interim Te Rōpū is being established to work in partnership with the Crown, Ministers, and the joint venture to help develop and shape initial work on a national strategy to prevent and reduce family violence, sexual violence and violence within whānau.
The interim Te Rōpū will be appointed by the Minister of Māori Development and the Lead Minister in consultation with the Minister of Māori/Crown Relations. It will comprise up to ten members who bring appropriate skills and expertise and who can reflect communities, rangatahi and whānau, urban and regional Māori and wāhine Māori. The group will help inform the terms of reference of the permanent Te Rōpū, with advice due by April 2019.
Nominations to the interim Te Rōpū will be moving quickly. If you’d like to nominate somebody for the pool of potential appointees or want to know more about the Te Rōpū, please contact: Kim.Aiomanu@justice.govt.nz.
National strategy and action plan
A draft strategy and action plan will be developed before the end of the year, through a design process that will involve victims, perpetrators and community experts.
The interim Te Rōpū and a range of Māori experts will be invited to provide early advice on the design and development of the strategy. The Māori experts and wider stakeholder advisory groups will also have important roles in preparing the strategy, prioritising actions, informing effective responses, and holding government to account.
The strategy and action plan will also draw on the information communities have provided to government during past consultations on family violence, sexual violence and violence within whānau.
The draft strategy will be refined and developed through a formal consultation process early in 2019. New Zealanders will be invited to contribute their ideas and aspirations.
This work will be cross-referenced with the development of the Child Wellbeing Strategy.
Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice (Domestic and Sexual Violence Issues) Jan Logie made the announcement about the joint venture at the annual conference of the Māori Women’s Welfare League in Gisborne. Jan Logie said: “Everyone should be able to live free from violence, but too often people don’t know where to go for help, or don’t have the right kind of help available to them. As a society, we have tragically failed to provide sustainable support or put resources into preventing family and sexual violence from happening in the first place. We have to stop splitting this issue up into half a dozen unconnected silos. Family and sexual violence are complicated, affect every part of our community and demand a coordinated, committed response.”
Sector organisations are invited to stay in touch with the joint venture business unit via the current Multi-Agency Team email, until the new identity is confirmed: familyandsexualviolence@justice.govt.nz
You can sign up to receive the email updates direct to your inbox by emailing the Multi-Agency Team. The updates are also posted on the Ministry of Justice website.
Sector responses to the announcement about the joint venture are in the media articles listed below.
Related news
The Government is currently consulting on reforms to the state sector. Submissions are open until 12 October 2018.
The Q&A on the recently announced family and sexual violence joint venture states:
"Government has placed a strong emphasis on cross-agency and cross-portfolio actions to improve wellbeing. The joint venture uses existing powers, and an explicit Cabinet mandate, to work in new ways across government.
Proposed changes to the State Sector Act 1988, as recently agreed for consultation by Cabinet, would formalise this type of arrangement, allowing for a group of chief executives to collectively own and govern a formal joint venture. The joint venture approach offers the potential to transform the way government operates through new ways of working collectively on complex issues that extend beyond single agencies.
Currently, the government is focused on ensuring the success of the joint venture that will lead efforts to reduce family violence and sexual violence. It is likely that this joint venture approach will also be adopted in other policy areas."
Selected media
Integrated plan to tackle family violence, Waatea News, 01.10.2018
Media statement from TOAH-NNEST, Press Release: Toah-Nnest, Scoop, 28.09.2018
Shine delighted with new Government joint venture, Press Release: Shine, Scoop, 28.09.2018
<p">Women's Refuge welcomes joint venture to tackle violence, Scoop, 28.09.2018
A new strategy to combat family and sexual violence, Māori TV, 28.09.2018
Cross-Government plan to prevent family and sexual violence announced, Newshub, 28.09.2018
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