This weekend was a cumulation of confusion, shame and hearing from lived experience about the complexities of our justice system in Aotearoa. Wahine Māori are among the most incarcerated of all indigenous peoples of the world and the claimants exposed the system of justice from the inside out to which anger, tears, grief and frustration flowed and legitimised. It was a big and heavy kaupapa steeped in intergenerational trauma.

Sarah gave evidence on the overlap between education and justice and the shared aspects of tikanga Māori that seem to be completely absent in the existing justice sector, specifically asking for the notion of balance be reinstated as the centralised purpose for this part of society. She is not sure if it was helpful to the process, or not, or even sure if the system can change, or not, but we all trust in the work of the pou tikanga, that with our collective words and knowledge contributed may do something. Do anything to get our justice system out of the punitive ideologies of the past and move productively toward balance. As the debate of criminal justice is increasingly politicised, some of the ideas being tabled seem so alarmingly unbalanced and backward in approach.

‍