Stop Playing Politics with Domestic Violence – Kāpiti and Coast Independent

… those who work to end the violence need to have the information released immediately, so we can see the extent of the problem. Otaki Labour candidate, Rob McCann

The need for a serious approach and more funding

Labour Party press release

Carol Beaumont, the Labour Spokesperson for Consumer Rights and Standards and Women’s Affairs, has visited the Otaki electorate to speak about violence towards women.

This is a very serious issue in New Zealand, says Carol Beaumont, and we shouldn’t need another horrific event such as the Roast Busters scandal to raise awareness and get the government to take action.

Agencies involved in stopping violence in the Kapiti area attended a morning meeting with deep concerns being raised about the lack of funding.

What I hear from people who are working at the coal face is that resources being stretched to breaking point and at the same time this government is not releasing data on domestic violence, she said.

This is very concerning and points to a rise in violence which just happens to coincide with the government refusing to release statistics.

Problems getting data and statistics

Rob McCann, Otaki Labour candidate agrees. You don’t need to undertake too much analysis to know that something is not right. The Police won’t release the data on family violence, and requests to Statistics New Zealand come back with a hefty price tag.

What is even more inexcusable is that they will not release requested data as there is only one court in the Horowhenua, says Mr McCann.

…we will have to produce aggregated outputs of this data so that no individual person or court can be identified. Statistics New Zealand.

Why a region should have the extent of domestic violence hidden from them is beyond me. What we know is that more women are ringing the Police, Women’s Refuge houses are full to overflowing and services are stretched.

We should not be playing politics with domestic violence and the public and those who work to end the violence need to have the information released immediately, so we can see the extent of the problem, says Mr McCann.

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STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.