Vine Quick Reads: 1 May 2026

Vine Quick Reads: 1 May 2026

Welcome to our Quick Reads format. Each week we share selected news bites relevant to family violence and sexual violence in Aotearoa.

New report: Social Cohesion in New Zealand 2026

The Helen Clark Foundation has published their second annual Social Cohesion in New Zealand (2026) report. Researchers surveyed the public about five different dimensions of social cohesion:

• Sense of belonging
• Sense of worth
• Social inclusion and justice
• Participation
• Acceptance and rejection.

This year’s survey includes additional questions about the use of social media and its impact on society. For an overview, see the reports landing page and the Foundation’s press release. For media coverage, see Stuff NZ.

Public Service Commission releases Performance Improvement Review of the New Zealand Police

Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission has released their report, Performance Improvement Review of the New Zealand Police (2026). The report outlines three major challenges currently facing Police that require immediate intervention:

• Police integrity
• Police capacity to address traditional crime while adapting to increasingly complex, digital and transnational emerging threats
• Police corporate performance in the face of fiscal pressures.

See Police’s media release, which includes their response to the report, their implementation plan of the report’s recommendations, and their Integrity Action Plan 2025-2027. For more, see RNZ’s coverage.

Amnesty International release 2026 report on state of the world’s human rights

Amnesty international have published The State of the World’s Human Rights: April 2026. The report assesses national, regional and global developments taking place in 2025 across a wide range of human rights themes. It documents human rights concerns in 144 countries, including in Aotearoa New Zealand, connecting global and regional issues and looking to the future.