ABSTRACT
Mana Social Services Trust was established in 1996 to deliver social services, counselling and programmes to the Rotorua community free of charge. The Trust was the first approved programme provider in New Zealand for Māori ‘protected persons’ under the requirements of the Domestic Violence Act 1995 and later provided programmes for Māori children who had experienced or witnessed intimate partner violence. The Trust staff at that time were mainly Māori but included some Pākehā (people of predominantly European descent). All were well trained and supervised to carry out their work and the Māori staff were actively involved in their marae (buildings associated with a Māori community) and iwi (tribal) affairs. Most of the Māori staff and four members of the Board of Trustees were manawhenua (of the Te Arawa iwi). In 1999 the Trust began a pre-sentence restorative justice programme which was conditional upon a guilty plea by a perpetrator. The restorative justice team consisted of two female facilitators (one Māori and one Pākehā) and a male court coordinator who attended court daily. The coordinator was available to meet with and assess perpetrators for their suitability to be referred to the restorative justice programme. The programme was Ministry of Justice funded. Initially court referrals to the Trust covered a wide range of charges including theft, burglary, disorderly behaviour causing damage, driving offences and male on male offences of assault, assault with a weapon, and threatening to kill. But intimate partner violence was excluded. There were no intimate partner violence referrals. At this time, levels of intimate partner violence in Rotorua were reported as being extremely high. Alcohol and drug use were also often found to be associated with incidents of intimate partner violence, with Māori figuring prominently in both categories.
