⁍ New Zealand has long had a progressive reputation and was the first nation to give women the right to vote in 1893.

---

⁍ But women’s rights campaigners say sexism, drug and alcohol addictions, poverty and exposure to violence as a child have all contributed to a poor record on domestic violence.

---

⁍ Police investigated more than 133,000 family harm cases in 2018, the latest year for which data is available.

---

⁍ There were 230 family violence deaths between 2009 and 2017, official data shows, half of them caused by an intimate partner.

---

– “Domestic violence is one of the biggest problems we have in New Zealand and we know it affects educational outcomes and creates mental health problems,” an expert on family violence tells the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “All we have invested in this moment is response. We are still waiting for people to get hurt. We need to recognize the importance of engaging men as they are mostly the perpetrators.” A government-commissioned report in April cited limited support and a lack of professionals to deal with abusive men as among the reasons why violence continues—a gap that some former abusers are now trying to fill. “Nobody is working with perpetrators,” says Lua Maynard, 56, who runs anger management programs for men who are ordered by the courts to undergo rehabilitation. “When men perpetrate violence, they ask the men to get away, and support the victims. But men also need support.” The 0800 Hey Bro hotline has provided advice to about 2,000 abusive men and linked them to other services to stop them harming their partners. There were 230 family violence deaths between 2009 and 2017, official data shows, half of them caused by an intimate partner. Police investigated more than 133,000 family harm cases in 2018, the latest year for which data is available, and were called out to respond to a family violence incident every four minutes. “Domestic violence is one of the biggest problems we have in New Zealand and we know it affects educational outcomes and creates mental health problems,” says Janet Fanslow, an expert on family violence. “We haven’t got our heads around prevention.”