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Weekly Media Roundup

December 07, 2017 at 4:58 PM

Abused children face 12-month wait for investigation due to police backlog

Child abuse investigations face a backlog of up to 12 months as police struggle to cope with their workload.

Some officers in Northland are handling twice the recommended number of cases, and aren't beginning enquiries until months after they've received an assignment.

Police have announced they will hire three extra officers to help deal with child abuse complaints in the region.

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On The Beat: Arming yourself with information before potential trouble

OPINION: It takes on average between 70 and 80 minutes for two officers to attend and carry out tasks associated to a reported domestic incident.

Responding to domestic violence incidents accounts for about 40 to 50 per cent of a front-line police officer's time, and on average police nationally respond to a family violence incident around every five minutes.

After working in the domestic violence field for eight years, I can assure readers that the police, government agencies and community agencies are working tirelessly to assist victims and their families to draw the cycle of violence to an end.

Potential victims of domestic violence now have the right to know about a partner or potential partner's violent past. There are steps that you, your family or friends can do to help and prevent yourself or others becoming victims of domestic violence.

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Why we shouldn't celebrate child poverty falling for first time in years just yet

Child poverty has dropped for the first time in nearly a decade, and experts are cautiously attributing the turnaround to a lift in welfare payments under the previous Government. 

But the Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft has emphasised an 18-month lag in the data, so the full effect of a 2016 increase to the incomes of beneficiaries with children had not yet been measured. 

But it was a "major positive step", though work had to remain intensely focused to ensure improvement on New Zealand's shocking child poverty rates. 

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Briefings to incoming ministers: Highlights

Hundreds of documents briefing new Government ministers on key policies have been released.

Herald journalists have been analysing the Briefings to Incoming Ministers (Bims) which were released today on the the Beehive website.

Bims are released after a general election or a change in minister.

They provide an introduction to each portfolio and summarise key areas of policy and policy issues.

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Tonga to trial 24 hour helpline for victims of violence

The women and children's crisis centre in Tonga is preparing to trial a 24 hour helpline for victims of family violence in conjunction with its commemoration of the 16 days of activism against gender based violence.

The helpline trial, which is funded by UN Women, will be launched on the 5th of December and will run until February.

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Fiona Vera-Gray - women on porn

New Zealand-born Fiona Vera-Gray is a research fellow in the Law School at Durham University in the UK.

Her work draws together feminist philosophical approaches and empirical research on violence against women and girls, and is based on her work at Rape Crisis South London.

Dr Vera-Gray is currently leading a study called Women on Porn - the largest ever study solely focused on the range of women's experiences and views of pornography in the United Kingdom.

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Man jailed for trying to harm partner by driving into power poles

A Northlander who smashed a ute into three power poles to hurt his partner has been sentenced to more than six years in jail.

Peter John Orchard's actions left his partner with bruises all over her body and she had to spend three days in hospital. The couple's children, who were in the back seat when Orchard deliberately crashed, were unhurt but traumatised.

The 38-year-old was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail when he appeared in the High Court at Whangarei this morning.

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Samoa judge says smacking children encourages more violence

Samoa Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, has called for an end to smacking of children to break the cycle of violence in society.

Presenting a paper at the Youth and Family Violence Forum in Apia this week Justice Vui said the child learned from its parents.

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Hopes family violence film will spark tough conversations in Timaru

A film illustrating how family violence harms a community is being shown at a Timaru marae to spark conversations about the issue here.

Waru is a New Zealand film focusing on the tangi of a boy of the same name who has died at the hands of his caregiver.

At the tangi, how he died and the effect his death has had on those around him is told from the perspective of eight different people.

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Moko's legacy: New tribute song for child abuse victim

Moko Rangitoheriri died a violent and terrifying death in 2015.

But a song launched today is set to make his legacy Shine, rather than fade.

The 3-year-old died on August 10 that year from injuries he received during prolonged abuse and torture at the hands of his caregivers.

Kiwi singer Tina Cross penned Another Little One after hearing Moko's sad story.

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'Repulsive' Playstation game slammed over child abuse depictions

A video game depicting child abuse and domestic violence has been condemned as "repulsive".

In one harrowing scene, a girl aged about ten is heard screaming as her father apparently beats her to death in her bedroom, the Daily Mail reports.

The multi-million dollar game, Detroit: Become Human, is likely to be a hit when launched next year by Japanese games giant Sony.

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Former girls' home social worker loses appeal on sex charges

It was decades after being raped in a church before Kay* would set foot in another one.

The next time she went to a church was for her mother's funeral.

That was a month after finally seeing her attacker, social worker Edward Anand, convicted of offending against her and seven other girls from the Elliot St home in Dunedin.

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Man sentenced to home detention after punching child in the head

A man who punched a child in the head has avoided jail as a judge believes he will get better help for his issues in the community.

Nga Hau E Wha Maru, 23, assaulted the child just months after he was released from prison after serving time for child abuse.

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Jarrod Gilbert: Our prisons are in crisis

To say we have a crisis looming in our prisons is not quite right. It's probably worse than that.

Our prison muster is rising at a rate scarcely imaginable. In 2003, we had around 6100 prisoners. A year ago we hit a record 10,000, and a week or so back we ticked toward 10,600. If the Auckland housing crisis is the gold standard example of the realities of demand and supply, our prisons are platinum.

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Man who allegedly assaulted Jay-Jay Harvey banned from taxi driving

The taxi driver accused of indecently assaulting radio host Jay-Jay Harvey has been banned from driving any kind of public service vehicle. 

The 27-year-old West Auckland man was arrested and charged with indecently assaulting Harvey, a host on The Edge breakfast show, in his taxi on October 1.

He appeared in the Auckland District Court on Thursday and was granted interim name suppression.

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Pacific police urged to apply strict zero tolerance to violence

Civil society organisations working with survivors of gender-based violence in the Pacific are urging police in the region to apply zero tolerance approaches to gender based violence.

The Fiji and Tonga Women and Children's Crisis centres in partnership with the Australian Federal Police are hosting police executives from all around the Pacific in Fiji this week, training them in best practice when dealing with survivors of violence.

The Fiji crisis centre's Shamima Ali told Koroi Hawkins cultural and religous belief systems are the biggest obstacles to justice for women.

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Category: News Media