Maori must take responsibility for their "horrific" child abuse statistics before they can build a safer future for their young ones, says veteran Maori activist Hone Kaa.
Two generations of changing attitudes and a relevant family abuse preventive strategy would be needed to be rid of the violence deeply ingrained in some families, said Dr Kaa, chairman of Te Kahui Mana Ririki Trust.
He was speaking at Hinepare Marae at Rangitukia, on the East Coast north of Gisborne, yesterday in an effort to promote alternatives to smacking.
"The statistics are not pleasant, and some have accused me of blaming our people by focusing on the negative, but as Maori we must stand up and be counted. We must take responsibility for these issues," he said.
"We believe that smacking is merely another expression of violence against children, which also includes sexual, physical and emotional abuse, as well as the maiming and killing of our children." More than 60 health professionals and social service workers gathered at the marae to develop models of non-violent parenting that could be relevant to Maori.
"We must take responsibility for the violence in our whanau," Dr Kaa said.
Maori children are four times more likely to be hospitalised as the result of deliberately-inflicted harm than other ethnic groups in New Zealand.
While rates were trending slightly downwards, New Zealand had the third highest rate of infanticide in the OECD, with around a third of these deaths Maori children, Dr Kaa said.
In his own childhood, Dr Kaa was disciplined by violence, usually at the end of a broom, stick or the end of an adult's boot.
"It didn't always work because all it did was to make us learn how not to get caught. It also taught us to be brutal and violent with our younger siblings and younger cousins," he said.
"Our dream is to make every marae a smack-free place. We want this message to be a strong part of every marae's kaupapa."
The trust's strategic manager Helen Mountain-Harte said talking in negative statistics only was never going to help progress.
"We absolutely need to look at Maori potential and keep the message positive, but we post these statistics so we have to own them first," she said.
"We cannot say is it because of colonisation or poverty, because there are a lot of people in poverty who never beat their children."
Mrs Mountain-Harte said resources developed by the Ministry of Social Development were not appropriate for many Maori families.
"They have some really good stuff in them but they are made in Auckland and Wellington for middle-class parents," she said.
"The big flaw in these resources is that they presume everyone is reasonable, that they have their anger in control."
Trust director Anton Blank said resistance, by Maori men particularly was not unexpected.
"We know we have to a long journey ahead of us, it will take two generations before the message will be widely supported.
"But we have to start supporting the message and proposing it in a way so that people do start to think it is not OK."
Te Kahui Mana Ririki was formed in January this year with the aim to eliminate Maori child maltreatment.
