Open letter to the New Zealand Government on the urgent need to fund sexual violence prevention

We, the undersigned, call on the Government to urgently restore funding to sexual violence prevention and to RespectEd Aotearoa specifically, which will be forced to close in August without intervention.

We are writing because we are alarmed. Not only at the imminent loss of a specialist organisation that has spent a decade building irreplaceable expertise and community relationships, but at what it represents. RespectEd Aotearoa is not alone. Across Aotearoa, community organisations doing vital work are being hollowed out by funding cuts. The loss is cumulative, and the cost to communities will be deep and long-lasting.

Sexual violence is preventable. The evidence is clear. Early intervention and prevention education changes attitudes, builds skills, and stops harm before it happens.

It is also far cheaper than the alternative. ACC’s own research estimates the cost of sexual violence in New Zealand at $6.9 billion. Investment in prevention is not a cost. It is the responsible, evidence-based choice.

New Zealand already has some of the worst rates of sexual violence in the developed world. With growing concern about the influence of online misogynistic communities on young people’s attitudes, the need for prevention education has never been greater.

This is not the time to cut the organisations doing this work. It is the time to invest in them.

Halting funding for sexual violence prevention broke a promise to the sector and to every New Zealander who will now experience harm that could have been prevented.

We are calling on the Government to:

• Urgently provide funding to RespectEd Aotearoa so they can continue their vital work
• Recognise sexual violence prevention as an essential service
• Halt the cuts to community sector organisations at a time when people and families across New Zealand are already struggling
• Honour its obligations under Te Aorerekura, the national strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence.

Signed:

• Atamira Platform
• Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children
• Counselling Services Centre - Ngā Whakahaymarutanga o te Hauora
• Dr Merrill Simmons Hansen, MANZASW, Reg SW. PhD, ISSC Therapy, IFS Informed, Supervision
• Dr Debbie Hagar, Disability portfolio, Tauiwi Caucus, Te Ohaakii a Hine – National Network of Ending Sexual Violence Together
• Eastern Refuge Society
• Good Shepherd NZ
• Hui E! Community Aotearoa
• National Council of Women - Wellington Branch
• New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi
• PSA Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi
• Tāhono Trust
• Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland Women’s Centre
• The Backbone Collective
• Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Aotearoa Section
• Women’s Refuge | Ngā Whare Whakaruruhau o Aotearoa
• Women’s Refuge Tāmaki Makaurau
• YWCA Tāmaki Makaurau