Speech: Dr Sharples: Working with Child Sexual Abuse - Strengthening and Informing Practice

I have to admit to wondering ‘why me’ when I was invited to provide the opening address at this important hui.

The topic of ‘working with child sexual abuse’ was not one which would generally fall within my portfolio areas as a Minister.

In fact, I struggled to think how did I earn the honour of opening your hui? My doctorate in anthropology and linguistics didn’t appear particularly relevant.

My previous career as a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland may have been the opening.

And then it struck me.

Sexual abuse is not often talked about in the circles in which I mix.

But this is nothing new to all of you here.

Sexual abuse, despite the high rates of prevalence, is still something that society fails to recognise as being a significant and devastating influence on far too many New Zealanders.

And yet, a World Health Organisation study in 2007, found that one in four New Zealand girls is sexually abused before the age of fifteen, the highest rate of any country studied.

One in four New Zealand girls.

Who are these girls? Where do they live? What effect does this horrific statistic have on their health, their educational options, their career? How has their lifepath been altered?

I am an extremely proud grandfather of six mokopuna; a father of five.

I listen to those statistics and it cuts deep to the very heart.

How often have we been told, as New Zealanders, that we are known for our friendly ways, our generosity of spirit, our warmth?

What has happened to us as a nation, if such criminal acts impact on the lives of our children, and yet we remain strangely silent, awkward, uncomfortable about these hideous levels of abuse?

Is it because of the secrecy that accompanies abuse of children? The lengths that offenders go to, in order to avoid detection? The web of fear and confusion they weave around their victims, to render them unable to defend themselves?

Or is it that we are unwilling to confront the truth? At a personal level, do people sometimes dismiss their suspicions of abuse because the implications and the consequences are too terrible to contemplate?

Do the rest of us fail to act on the evidence of statistics and the horror stories emerging from our courtrooms, because the picture is somehow a reflection of our society and the way we live?

The University of Auckland’s research from Dr Janet Fanslow revealed that 86 percent of male perpetrators of child abuse were family members.

It seems to me this overwhelming majority tells us something loud and clear. So this is where to start the search for solutions.

When I started looking across my portfolios, I found there were varying levels of programmes and activities across Government.

As Associate Minister of Corrections we have the Kia Marama special treatment unit based at Rolleston Prison and the Te Piriti Special Treatment Unit based at Auckland Prison.

Both of these units offer a specialist prison treatment programme, a 60 bed unit for child sex offenders. The units have been established to treat men who have committed sexual offences against children, and to help participants avoid re-offending.

I am told that rehabilitation programmes such as these units can produce significant reductions towards the rate of re-offending for child sex offenders.

And so that’s all good. If we can stop those who have already offended from offending again, then that, to me, is a very positive outcome.

But of course the other glaring fact I am faced with in the Corrections setting, is the appalling levels of sexual abuse that are a feature of the childhood backgrounds of so many offenders. Some reports have suggested that it is as high as 90% of all women in prison, have been sexually abused – and that to me, is a horrific fact of the offender profile that the system must respond to.

In another of my responsibilities, that of Associate Minister of Education, we hope to have lasting success in terms of overall prevention and health promotion.

Child abuse prevention programmes have been a feature of New Zealand schools for many years now, with the hope that they will equip children with skills and knowledge to minimise the risk of abuse occurring.

We have programmes such as ‘Keeping ourselves safe’; ‘Eliminating Violence : He Whanau Piripono he iwi pakari”; the Buddy Programmes, amongst a few.

But what we also know is that while there is some evidence that such programmes lead to changes in knowledge, the jury is out on whether our children can actually carry over the new behaviour to real life situations.

And so this is where I come to my responsibilities as Minister of Maori Affairs.

A year ago, an Anglican Minister within our midst, Reverend Hone Kaa, spoke out, urging any Maori who are aware of any sexual abuse to speak up.

Hone, as chairman of Te Kahui Mana Ririki, described sexual abuse as a “festering sore in our society and if we do not get to the root of it with some kind of scalpel it will always be there”.

I want to mihi to the leadership of people like Hone, people within our communities, who are saying enough is enough.

My colleague, Tariana Turia, has talked with me about the evaluation of the social marketing campaign within the family violence area.

What the reports tell her is that the success of the campaign has been evidenced in the increased levels of awareness that “it’s not okay”; and the heightened demand for services that providers are now seeing.

But what Tariana is talking about; what Hone Kaa talks about; what I am committed to is not actually about laying all of the responsibility at the door of the social service agencies.

Of course Government must ensure there are quality services available, that there is timely and effective programmes in place which provide the immediate support that whanau need.

But responsibility also rests with us.

Hutia te rito o te harakeke
Kei whea, te k
mako e ko
Ki mai ki ahau
He aha te mea nui o tenei ao
Maku e ki atu; He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

When the heart is torn from the flax bush
where will the bellbird sing?
You ask me what is the greatest thing on earth
My reply is it is people, people, people.

In our traditions, we often talk of the flaxplant as a metaphor for whanau. The survival of the harakeke depends upon the protection of the rito – the central shoot – but it also depends on the stabilising and solid strength of all of the flax leaves that are embraced around the heart.

So too, whanau ora, the wellbeing of families, is the fundamental difference that we know can have to keep all of our whanau members safe.

Whanau ora is the means by which we promote the collective strength of the family to care for its own. It is the central mechanism of identity and provides the opportunity to create the foundation for relationships which are healthy, respectful and free from violence.

The reality is that sexual abuse not only tears out the centre shoot of the flax bush, it uproots the whole plant and rips it apart.

The capacity of the adult leaves to stand together and protect the core is completely compromised.

And what of the fact that 86% of male perpetrators of sexual abuse are whanau members?

The integrity, structure and identity of the family is violated, damaged almost beyond recognition. Our primary source of strength, protection, support and healing is in tatters, and has to be rebuilt.

In this situation, professional support can be vital. The shards of a shattered family must carefully be looked after as they are gradually pieced together. As the family is reconstructed, and relationships restored, healing can begin to take place naturally.

At a wider level, the statistics and news reports tell us this is the situation we are facing as a society.

It is not just the nuclear families at the centre of the storm who are in disarray, it is the wider network of the extended whanau whose strength and integrity is being tested. How did the uncles and cousins not know? Did the neighbours see anything suspicious? Why did no-one outside the immediate family intervene?

Whanau ora is about all of us, understanding the importance of connections, appreciating the value of being open, honest and united about the vision of wellbeing for us all.

In that respect, when I saw top NRL boss, David Gallop blasting what he called a “culture of sexual abuse” I was pleased that essentially what his message was, was that if anyone in the rugby league game through sexual offending was ok, then they would need to find another career.

I want to see that same message being part of our dinner-time conversations; I want to see these stories talked about in our staff rooms; I want the messages that “sexual abuse is not okay” to be talked about on our paepae – and I want the issue to be considered across all sectors, all agencies, all communities.

Just as other tentacles of the family violence atrocity are being exposed to the light; so too, must sexual abuse be publically condemned.

It is indefensible to know that abuse is going on, and to do nothing about it.

The cost of sexual abuse is seen in so many aspects of life. It impacts on the educational chances; it destroys the health and wellbeing of individuals and families; it is played out in courtrooms and prison cells and hospital beds and drug and alcohol treatment units and psychiatric institutions.

But most of all, sexual abuse causes the rito, the child, to fade; the glimmer of life to be shrouded in pain; the enduring effects of trauma cutting short the very potential of our babies, our tamariki, our mokopuna.

When the heart is torn from the flax bush where will the bellbird sing?

All of us are casualties of sexual abuse within our midst.

But, we can and do have our own solutions.

We can and will take responsibility and act now.

We can and must shift our focus from secrecy and shame to restoring our homes as sites of safety and love.

For Maori, we have a literal treasure chest of traditional tikanga which provide a foundation for change. We can learn from the success of our ancestors in valuing relationships, in respecting whanau, in protecting whakapapa.

These skills and strategies that we can call on, are no doubt similar to the strengths and solutions that can be found in every culture, in every history.

It is time for us to universalise our opposition to sexual abuse.

We must pull together, in the common pursuit of whanau ora, to change that which is ours to change – the opportunity for every child to be the leaders of our future by experiencing the wonder of being loved and cherished and valued today.

I wish you all a very productive and challenging couple of days. The programme looks packed full of positive responses and programmes and solutions to help us in addressing and preventing child sexual abuse.

I congratulate the Auckland Regional Symposium – the Safe Network, Rape Prevention Education, the Counselling Service Centre and the Auckland Sexual Abuse Help Foundation – for bringing together the community of people who have done so much to improve our response in Aotearoa.

I want to acknowledge the personal efforts of the professionals among you, the counsellors, the therapists, the social workers, who make such a huge personal investment in the safety, well-being and healing of the most vulnerable among us.

I want to thank the support network around the front-line workers – the researchers and community activists, the fund-raisers, the trainers and mentors, who keep the crisis services operating, and who mobilise public support and attention on this most difficult issue.

And let me thank you, for asking me to open this hui, and to be provided with an opportunity to share in the transformation that we must make happen.

Tena tatou katoa.