A new Auditor-General report has looked at how 10 government agencies are working to understand and respond to the needs of people affected by family violence and sexual violence.

These agencies are working to better understand the needs of people affected. However, urgent improvement is needed in how they work individually, collectively, and with others to foster new ways of working.

The Joint Venture for Family Violence and Sexual Violence (the focus of a 2021 report by the Office) was replaced in 2021 by Te Puna Aonui – an “interdepartmental executive board” set up with the intent to make it easier for government agencies to work together. Te Puna Aonui is responsible for implementing Te Aorerekura – the 25-year national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence.

The 10 Te Puna Aonui agencies are focusing on two significant challenges:

• understanding and addressing the complex problems of family violence and sexual violence; and
• transforming the way agencies work together, and with tangata whenua and community partners, to achieve this.

Auditor-General John Ryan says the agencies are doing a lot of work on the first challenge. However, establishing new ways to work together and with others effectively remains difficult.

“I am concerned that, after nearly five years working together under new structures, Te Puna Aonui agencies have not made more progress in the way they operate. This work needs more urgent focus,” Mr Ryan says.

“Although individual agencies’ work might improve some current responses to family violence and sexual violence, that work is not consistently supporting the changes needed to achieve the aims of Te Aorerekura.”

Staff in Te Puna Aonui agencies are working hard with tangata whenua and community partners to build effective working relationships. However, the agencies need to address trust issues that can get in the way of building these relationships.

Shortages of staff also affect the ability to respond to family violence and sexual violence. Work by individual agencies to address constraints has resulted in competition for staff in crucial areas such as mental health, addictions counselling, and social work.

“Those working in the system are not co-ordinating efforts to address these pressures as well as they could be. Without adequate resources, it is difficult to see how they will achieve their outcomes,” Mr Ryan says.

The report makes recommendations to support agencies to build on the cross-agency approach’s strengths, foster trust, address capacity challenges, and maintain better connections between all parties. Te Puna Aonui agencies have said that they are working to address the recommendations.

“If these efforts are successful, they will help to introduce a system that places the needs of individuals, families, and whānau affected by family violence and sexual violence at the heart of decision-making. They should also help the agencies, tangata whenua, and community partners to work better together,” Mr Ryan says.

A summary and video are also available with this report.

Additional notes

Te Puna Aonui agencies

The agencies that are part of Te Puna Aonui are:

• Accident Compensation Corporation
• Ara Poutama Aotearoa Department of Corrections
• Ministry of Education
• Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Social Development
• New Zealand Police
• Oranga Tamariki
• Te Puni Kōkiri
• Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission

Previous work by the Office on family violence and sexual violence

This report is a part of our ongoing work programme on how public organisations are working to reduce family violence and sexual violence. Other reports include:

Working in new ways to address family violence and sexual violence (June 2021): In September 2018, the Government announced the formation of the Joint Venture for Family Violence and Sexual Violence. The joint venture is accountable for significantly reducing family violence and sexual violence and involves new ministerial arrangements, new public service governance arrangements, and new ways for agencies to work. We carried out a performance audit of this new way of working.

Experiences of the family violence system in Aotearoa: An overview of research 2010 to early 2020 (July 2021): We asked Carswell Consultancy to carry out a literature review of research and evaluation reports from the previous decade on family violence and sexual violence in New Zealand. The literature review includes an annotated bibliography (271 pages). If you would like a copy of the complete review, including the bibliography, please email us: enquiry@oag.parliament.nz.

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