March 10, 2021
Te Pae Oranga comes to Taranaki
Taranaki will today become the 16th district to set up Te Pae Oranga iwi community panels.
The panels are a joint initiative by police and iwi aimed at allowing community leaders to bring their knowledge and experience to the table to help offenders change their ways.
Police Deputy Commissioner Wally Haumaha says while Te Pae Oranga uses tikanga and kaupapa Māori and restorative justice practices, it is available to people of all ethnicities if they meet the criteria.
"Any offences of six months imprisonment or less, there will be an opportunity to send to a panel and look at the attitude, the behaviour and preventing people from coming back into the system. There used to be a saying 'once in the system, always in the system.' We've wanted to change that for years, so our people are working really hard in terms of the partnership," he says.
The Taranaki Te Pae Oranga will be launched at Aotearoa Marae at Okaiawa, South Taranaki this morning.
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