Keeping whānau and communities safe.
The Green Party will make sure everyone can live a life free from violence and heal from trauma.
Our homes, whānau and communities should be places of aroha, care and safety — free from fear and harm.
Aotearoa has among the highest rates of intimate partner violence, sexual violence and child abuse. This disproportionately harms people in vulnerable professions and communities, and can have long-lasting impacts that are passed down through families.
The current Government has stalled progress on work initiated by the Green Party to prevent violence from happening. They have failed to deliver action, instead cutting funding to critical community-led services.
The Green Party will invest in stopping violence before it starts. Our approach will be safe, accessible and integrated, building on people’s strength and with Te Tiriti o Waitangi at its heart. We will mobilise our communities to help and ensure our workforce is skilled and culturally competent.
New Zealanders deserve a government who are committed to ending violence in Aotearoa. We will invest in tailored specialist and whānau-centred services for victims and survivors focused on prevention, healing, recovery and restoration. This includes services to support those who have used violence to take accountability and change their behaviour.
The Green Party vision is an Aotearoa where everyone feels safe and supported.
Our plan
- Fund the implementation of the action plan for Te Aorerekura: National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence, centred on Te Tiriti.
- Resource kaupapa Māori solutions and community-led solutions to family and sexual violence, that have have been developed by disproportionately impacted groups, including women, Pasifika, rainbow, and disabled communities.
- Prioritise violence responses and prevention by improving workforce and broader public understanding of the drivers and signs of violence, and how to respond in ways that enhance safety and healing.
- Amend the Crimes Act to criminalise coercive control, amend the definition of consent, and preclude a defence of reluctant consent to affirm that consent must be free and voluntary, and can be withdrawn at any time while ensuring these changes cause no further harm.
- Restore relationship and sexuality teaching guidelines — including education on healthy relationships, diverse identities and sexualities, and affirmative consent — in all schools.
- Increase funding for counselling and mental health support for victims, whānau, witnesses, defendants and legal professionals engaging in the justice system.