Iwi push home drug and alcohol ban

By Sandra Conchie
No violence. No drugs. No alcohol.
That's the promise from concerned Western Bay kaumatua who agreed at a weekend hui to tackle these issues head-on in their own homes in the hope others in their communities will do the same.
The move came as 30-40 members of three local iwi and Tauranga police gathered at Maungatapu marae on Saturday to help raise awareness of the escalating problem of family violence.
They looked at ways to help cut the violence, which often stemmed from the misuse of drugs and alcohol.
Hui facilitator Rahera Ohia said the meeting, the brainchild of three iwi - Ngaiterangi, Ngati Ranginui, Ngati Pukenga and Tauranga Moana police liaison officers - was planned two months before three-month-old twins Chris and Cru Kahui died and aimed at taking ownership of the increasing incidents of family violence.
Ms Ohia, a Ngati Pukenga representative, said there was a mix of people at the hui, which included ordinary concerned members of the community, kaumatua, and social service providers, but everyone agreed that there was something each person could personally do to tackle the problem.
"Everyone agreed that we needed to be proactive in turning this around and that everyone can do something, that is, taking a personal stand in our own situation by taking a zero tolerance approach to drugs, alcohol and violence in amongst our whanau and in our homes.
"We also want to encourage everyone to do the same."
Ms Ohia said the second approach was to also look to declare Bay marae as places which are drugs, alcohol and violence free and the members at the hui would take that position back to their own iwi to seek agreement.
Ms Ohia said the third was for Ngaiterangi, Ngati Ranginui, Ngati Pukenga to work together using their collective resources to help promote the "peaceful warriors" anti-violence approach to conflict resolution. "Fundamentally our whole message is around ways to change people's attitudes and behaviours to drugs, alcohol and violence, and when conflict does erupt there is a peaceful way to reach a resolution [that's] not fuelled by alcohol or drugs."
Ms Ohia said these move were the first of raft of strategies being looked at to address not just violence in the home, but other anti-social behaviours which were often exacerbated by abuse of drugs and alcohol. We started with the premise that any solutions must start with addressing the personal well-being and safety of whanau in our homes."
Ms Ohia said the iwi members at the hui agreed to work together and over the next two months would take their resolutions as a starting point and begin drafting a Tauranga Moana iwi anti-violence approach to adopting a raft of practical initiatives.
"We were all reminded at the hui that the three iwi do have quite significant numbers of service providers and the capacity to deal with this issue and if we all collaborate and refocus our efforts we can make a significant difference in helping effecting a change," she said.
One initiative also being considered was launching a whanau helpline, she said. "Everyone felt very positive about the outcome of the hui but we are certainly not wearing rose-tinted glasses and under no delusions that change won't happen overnight but we have started by putting a stake in the ground."
Western Bay of Plenty area commander Inspector Murray Lewis, who attended the hui, said the resolutions arrived at by the iwi were a large step forward in addressing the problem. "I look forward to working closely with the three iwi as we all work towards reducing incidents of family violence."