Family violence: The hidden epidemic in Kiwi homes that costs the country billions

RNZ News

27-07-2025

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123rf.com
Every four minutes, New Zealand Police are called to a family harm incident. That's up to
400 call-outs every single day
.
It's a staggering and disturbing figure in a country that prides itself on kindness, community, and whānau. Yet, behind too many closed doors, the silent war rages, leaving victims bruised, broken, and often voiceless.
The Detail
looks at the alarming rate of domestic violence in New Zealand, and potential solutions, speaking to Auckland University professor of law Mark Henaghan, who was on the Family Violence Death Review committee for nearly decade, and Emma Powell, CEO of Te Puna Aonui, which has launched the government's Action Plan to eliminate domestic and sexual violence.
"I would probably use the words hidden epidemic, basically," says Henaghan. "Nearly 50 percent of our murder cases involve family violence.
"We only really detect ... about 20 percent [of domestic violence incidents], so there's a whole lot ... that doesn't get to the surface."
He says something needs to be done, and immediately.
New Zealand's rates of domestic and family violence are
among the highest in the OECD
.
On average, 13 females and 10 males are killed every year.
Māori women are particularly at risk - more likely to be killed by a partner and less likely to seek help.
The
financial cost to the country
, Henaghan says, is huge.
"They reckon it's worth, like to the country ... between $8 to $10 billion, probably more ... in terms of time off work, and how people suffer from it so they can't be productive, how children get into difficulty because all the costs of it, the medical costs, and all the rest of it, are massive.
"But they're never talked about much in any political campaign, I think it's because ... we don't want to know about it.
"We do need to hear about it; we need to have our eyes wide open to the realities of it."
Powell, who is also a key member of the Executive Board for the Elimination of Family Violence and Sexual Violence, tells
The Detail
, "if you look at the numbers, the rates are stubbornly high", but she says the government is taking action to address the crisis.
Late last year, it launched part two of Te Aorerekura - the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence - a 25-year strategy designed to achieve intergenerational change. Part one was introduced in 2021.
Powell says over the next few years it's keying in on good investment and commissioning, how effective funding is, freeing up frontline workers to get them into the community and more productive places, getting into the regions, intervening earlier, focusing more on children, confronting perpetrators, and building an information sharing platform.
"I really believe that the only way forward is doing things as collectives, and that's tough, it is hard, hard stuff to do, but it's really important," says Powell.
"I think taken together and executed really well in a community, we should start to see a real shift."
Last week, the government announced that, as part of the Action Plan, more training to help staff support in family and sexual violence responses will be rolled out across frontline services, with the goal of reaching 10,000 workers in the next two years.
Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour says, "this will ensure victim-survivors receive best practice support, and will empower staff to safely recognise, refer, and respond to family and sexual violence".
"This training is an important part of our response to family and sexual violence. I am proud of our progress against the second Te Aorerekura Action Plan, it shows the benefits of a multi-agency response and the dedication of government departments to best supporting victim-survivors."
Powell says while change can be slow, a recent experience in Rotorua provides proof that it is starting to happen.
"I was spending time on the ground with a multi-agency collaboration ... and I was talking to one of the leads there and she was telling me about just a story - stories that they [are] starting to see more and more - where 'she has left him', and we don't count that, we don't count that in government as an indicator of success.
"But they are seeing more and more that women are feeling empowered, supported, and safe to actually leave very violent and difficult situations. And so, there are lives being changed by the work that we are doing."
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