Vine Quick Reads: 29 August 2025

Vine Quick Reads: 29 August 2025

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

Family Violence and Sexual Violence Workforce Pulse Survey now open

The Centre for Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention has opened its 2025 Family Violence and Sexual Violence Workforce Pulse Survey. The survey collects information to better understand the sexual violence and family violence workforces in Aotearoa and to support the Centre’s reporting on progress towards outcomes relating to the second Action Plan. The survey findings will be reported and published online early in 2026. The survey is open until 8 October 2025.

Social Investment Fund Contract Consolidation pathway opening soon

Toi Hau Tāngata | Social Investment Agency will open its Contract Consolidation pathway for expressions of interest on Monday 1 September 2025. This pathway consolidates an organisation’s existing contracts with one or more government agencies into a single outcomes-based agreement to be administered by the Social Investment Fund. For more information, see here. Expressions of interest close on 29 September 2025.

Bill protecting victims giving evidence of family violence in Family Court passes into law

The Evidence (Giving Family Violence Evidence in Family Court Proceedings) Amendment Bill passed into law on 26 August 2025. This extends protection for those giving evidence in the Family Court by automatically entitling them to do so in the following ways:

• in the courtroom but separate from anyone the evidence is about
• in another location outside the courtroom

The entitlement to give evidence by pre-recorded video prior to the hearing was removed from the final version of the Bill. For more, see RNZ’s coverage.

Research on online body shaming and its effect on the brain

A new research article has been published: Differential neural responses to body image-related cyberbullying in adolescent females (2025). The study examined the effect of body-shaming social media posts on young women’s brain activity. For a summary of the research, see the researcher’s piece for the Conversation. For more on the topic, see Te Mana Whakatu | Classification Office and Netsafe’s 2024 report: Digital reflections: the online experience and its influence on youth body image in Aotearoa (2024).

New research brief: Responding to Pacific maternal and paternal mental health (2025)

Moana Connect has releases a new research brief: Responding to Pacific maternal and paternal mental health (2025). The Brief summarises research that looked at three related questions:

• How do Pacific parents experience poor mental health?
• What puts Pacific parents more at risk of mental health struggles around the birth of a child?
• What kinds of support do Pacific parents access to help them deal with mental health struggles around the birth of a child?

New WHO report on the public health impact of corporal punishment of children

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published Corporal punishment of children: the public health impact (2025). The report describes the prevalence, risk factors for, and consequences of child corporal punishment, which it defines as “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light”.