Flavell: Corrections’s Maori Strategic Plan
te-pati-maori
Tue Apr 28 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Flavell: Corrections’s Maori Strategic Plan
Tuesday, 28 April 2009, 11:08 am
Speech: The Maori Party
Succeeding for Maori and the Corrections Department’s Maori Strategic Plan
Te Ururoa Flavell, Speaking on behalf of Dr Pita Sharples, Associate Minister of Corrections
to the Corrections Department’s Leadership Forum
Tuesday 28 April 2009
There is an important distinction made in the Department’s strategy and planning, which is summed up by two words.
The first word is the word FOR.
This is the concept inherent in the Department’s commitment, “to succeed, we must succeed FOR Maori”.
It is a concept that dominates my every thought.
Are we succeeding for our whanau, hapu and iwi when we look at the facts which confront us – including that Māori comprise 40% of all Police apprehensions, and are apprehended for committing at least three times the number of offences as non-Māori?
Are we succeeding for our whanau, hapu and iwi when the proportion of the prison population who are Maori has been persistently around the 50 percent mark for the last twenty years?
Are we succeeding for our whanau, hapu and iwi when on any day in the last decade, an average of three percent of all Maori males between the age of 20 and 29 years were in prison – either on remand or as sentenced prisoners. For non-Maori, it was less than one sixth of that.
This is not the definition of success.
We can no longer continue to manage offenders, particularly Maori offenders, the way we have been. Not enough headway is being made. Maori representation as offenders within Corrections has been on the rise since 1986 showing no sign of abatement whatsoever. Today is the right time to commit to changing that pattern.
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
And so, based on all these prevailing failures, let us built a new, and different, and better, recipe for success
I have heard of a Japanese proverb which says that the definition of success is to fall down seven times, and stand up eight times.
And so this is where I come to the second word, WITH.
Succeeding WITH Maori.
Maori communities want to be involved in making this system work for Maori.
Maori communities are adamant they too have a solution to offer. Given the current relentless rates of Maori re-offending facing us today, is it not time to take that offer seriously; to listen, and to learn?
Working with Maori might well mean the involvement of the whole whanau in identifying the issues and in leading the solution from the beginning through to the end.
Working with Maori enables this Department every opportunity to link into already existing programmes and services delivered by Maori.
Working with Maori recognises the power of whakapapa to re-ignite cultural identity and responsibilities on the part of both the offender, and members of the wider whanau, as mentors and role models.
My office has been inundated with programme proposals and I have had numerous meetings with potential providers as they each describe how the Department works within silos and with one prescribed rehabilitative view that prevents them from contributing.
So in coming here today, I was powerfully aware of their concerns; and of course the sickening reality of over-representation at every stage of the criminal justice system – through apprehension, prosecution, conviction and sentencing to imprisonment.
We have fallen down seven times. Today, we stand up an eighth.
In standing up, I want to acknowledge the leadership of the Minister of Corrections, the Honourable Judith Collins. Minister Collins and I are working closely together to guide and support the Department towards developing a world class Corrections system.
Standing up with us, are all of you here today; - the managers, the movers and shakers and decision makers; the teachers, mentors and some time preachers who each makes such investment and commitment, to ensure that this Department performs better.
And I am relying on that commitment to make sure that the world class system we want this Department to be, will work better for Maori than it currently does.
I understand full well the constraints of the current environment surrounding the Department.
The pressure being felt by the Community Probation and Psychological Service as they manage around 40,000 offenders on a daily basis.
The issues faced by the Prison Service as forecasted figures demand an increase in the size of the prison estate.
This and much more in the face of an uncertain economic future.
There is no better time to be innovative, effective and efficient than now, in the midst of upheaval and change all around us.
I want us all to invest in courage; to take bold steps towards success FOR Maori, WITH Maori.
Corrections has a well-established history in the development of tikanga Maori approaches in the treatment of offenders.
I have been a staunch supporter of the Maori Focus Units since my involvement in the very first one, over a decade ago now, in the Hawkes Bay.
I want us to build on the success of these initiatives. I am currently developing some strategies around MFU’s and will make some announcements in the near future.
You may also have heard about my model of Maori habilitation, ‘Whare Oranga Ake’, and that scoping work has already started.
Another stream of work I am pursuing is the management of private prisons. The Maori Party strongly supports the private management of prisons as providing another means by which Maori communities, hapu and iwi are actively able to be involved in the management and day-to-day operations of prisons.
It’s an obvious demonstration of working with Maori to reduce the extremely high rates of recidivism and reconviction by Maori offenders.
In addition to these initiatives, I also have overall responsibility for the success of the Maori Strategic Plan. With the commitment of Barry, EMT and all of you here today, we’ll achieve that success.
The indicators of success, as outlined in the Maori Strategic Plan, are clear and well linked to your overall Strategic Business Plan. With that, I look forward to seeing your upcoming Statement of Intent and in particular, how you will contribute to the success of the Maori Strategic Plan for this next financial year.
It all looks very impressive on paper. The most significant outcome we need to have our sights firmly focused on is, however, making a difference to those appalling statistics we all know so well.
My other Ministerial delegations include leadership on a new crime prevention approach to address Maori over-representation in the criminal justice system.
As a starting point, the Minister of Justice, Hon Simon Power and myself recently hosted a ‘Drivers of Crime’ Ministerial meeting.
I also have plans to visit the state of Victoria in Australia to look at a Justice Sector partnership model currently operating with Koori Aborigine communities.
There is much work to be done if the justice sector is to work together with Maori to achieve better outcomes for Maori across the whole of the justice sector.
It is about leadership, collaboration, engagement, working together.
To support the engagement of Maori communities I am working closely with my colleagues, including Minister Turia, who has Ministerial responsibilities for the Community and Voluntary Sector, social development, disability issues and health – all of which have important roles to play across the justice sector.
Just as in Community Probation and Psychological Services, Kaiwhakahaere have been appointed to assist fellow probation staff in establishing effective relationships with Māori offenders and their whānau; or within prisons a network of Māori volunteers or Kaiwhakamana provide cultural advice and support to Māori offenders in prison; on the outside, we too must place priority and value on the connections that we can achieve through working together, across the sectors, across Government, across our communities.
Succeeding FOR Maori is at its essence about succeeding WITH Maori.
We all have a part to play in investing in success - to reduce offending and reoffending; to achieve effective reintegration and rehabilitation; and in working with our communities to ensure justice prevails at all levels.
Kia ora tatou katoa.
ENDS
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}
Using Scoop for work?
Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.
Join Pro Individual Find out more
Find more from The Maori Party on InfoPages.