EDITORIAL: Stopping fists doing the talking

LOUIS PIERARD
Saturday's UN-sponsored White Ribbon Appeal Day was a useful way of raising money to prevent family violence as well drawing attention to the rejection of that domestic malaise.
However, it will take more commitment than a day's condemnation of violence in the home for it to cease.
On Saturday we published a report showing that Hawke's Bay recorded a dramatic increase in domestic violence and that police in Hastings had dealt with 35 incidents in three days. Police, who must attend an average of 120 incidents a month, predict it will be a hard summer. At Christmas, when drunkenness aggravates disputes over household spending, violence in the home rises about 20 percent.
If domestic violence is to be reined in, a critical shift is required in the way it is perceived.
Like it or not, intervention has become a critical part of policing. Only police have the training and skills required to defuse or break up violent altercations. However, they - and the many organisations committed to reducing family violence - cannot go it alone. It is a community problem that demands a concerted, community response.
Domestic abuse flourishes where it is tolerated or excused by inaction. While Alan Duff's book Once were Warriors was a work of fiction it accurately portrays a terrifying, brutish ignorance to be found in many homes in which violence is a common form of expression. Conditioning, in which fists are the preferred way to communicate, starts from infancy. When the film first screened, some cinemagoers said they had no idea people could live in such circumstances. Evidently they don't read the court pages.
While children from such homes must be schooled to be wiser and kinder than their parents, neighbours, families and friends (if they are serious about preventing abuse) need to adopt a policy of zero tolerance and report it to police or Children and Young Families. Where violence is suspected it needs to be exposed and dealt with to reinforce the view that bashings should be unthinkable.
Effort has to be unrelenting and the campaign needs unequivocal support from the state. That it is appropriately recognised as "a community issue" does not absolve departmental funders of the responsibility of ensuring that worthwhile initiatives to prevent or to treat physical abuse are properly resourced.
After expecting the usual annual funding of $6600, Presbyterian Support East Coast has returned the paltry $500 it received for its Rangatahi programme to help teenagers hurt by family violence. Such indignation is entirely understandable. It is an insult.