20 May 2020

Calls for government to better resource kaupapa Māori services

From Midday Report, 12:42 pm on 20 May 2020

A Maori sexual violence prevention provider is calling for the government to better resource kaupapa Maori services if it wants to see structural change in the sector.

Eight-thousand people were questioned over the past year for the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey, to form what the Ministry of Justice calls the most comprehensive picture of crime in the country.

Advocates say its results, which shows 94-percent of sexual assaults are not reported to police, could help lead to radical change. 

The co-director of Korowai Tumanako, Russell Smith, told Māni Dunlop the under-reporting of sexual violence is an historic and well-known issue.