'Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place'

te-pati-maori

Wed Aug 01 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

'Caught between a Rock and a Hard Place'

Wednesday, 1 August 2007, 4:29 pm
Press Release: The Maori Party

Tariana Turia, Health Spokesperson for Maori Party

Wednesday 1 August 2007

Caught between a rock and a hard place

The Government’s new quick fix solution to train health professionals to ask about abuse is being greeted cautiously by the Maori Party.

“We know that many whanau members who have experienced violence, either themselves or of others, will be nervous that in disclosing abuse to a health professional there could be negative repercussions for the whanau” said Mrs Turia.

“I know of constituents who have come to me, nervous that any approach to a government agency for help will end up with ‘CYFS coming to take my kids away’” said Mrs Turia.

“The media reports imply that it will only be women who are targeted with the questions around abuse” said Mrs Turia.

“And yet research also released this morning confirmed that out of 10,000 school students, 16% of males and 10% of females had been physically hurt three or more times over the year”.

“Obviously any initiatives to promote understanding – to talk about family violence – are a step in the right direction” said Mrs Turia.

“But we need to be careful that in rushing into one bright idea after another, that we actually know that real New Zealanders will get some value out of the project”.

“And in the long line-up of players mentioned in the Minister’s speech - the only people that were ignored, it seems, were the very people this new project is supposedly set up to support – the victims of family violence”.

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Investment in Public Health awareness supported

The Government’s public acknowledgments of thanks and encouragement to family violence practitioners, health professionals, health agency officials, writers, DHB members, Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care specialists, midwives, Plunket workers and a long cast of community agencies and researchers is a useful reminder of the complexity of the web around issues to do with family violence, said Mrs Turia.

“While today’s launching was in effect a repeat performance of funding announced in May’s budget, it does serve to highlight the investment that must continue to be made to assist professionals to recognise and act in situations of violence and abuse” said Mrs Turia.

ENDS

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