Kia ora koutou, my name is Ruth Money, and I am honoured to have been appointed as the Chief Victims Advisor to Government.
While I am new to this role, I am not new to the lived-experience of victim/survivors, or being an outspoken advocate for their concerns. What I bring to this role is a fresh vision and a deep passion for victims and their voices. My job, as an advisor to Ministers, is to center victims at the heart of the narrative, and to ensure that their voices are heard. My role is not a passive one, it is an active one, and I am a passionate advocate for the rights of survivors, and for active change in improving all systems victims participate in.
For the past thirteen years I have worked as an independent victims advocate, a voluntary role which took me all over Aotearoa New Zealand, supporting victims of crime and their whānau. No two days were ever the same. A typical work week was long hours, supporting victim/survivors in a very “boots on the ground” capacity; my mahi on any given day could include sitting in court as a support person, to helping victim/survivors navigate the justice system and understand their rights within this system, to meeting with Ministers and pushing for better policies for survivors, to media interviews to raise awareness for the complex issues survivors face.
At its heart, my role as an independent advocate put me in a unique position to work very closely with victims, in a victim-focused, trauma-informed way. I have a strong media presence and have supported victims and their whānau through all tiers of the justice system, from the District Courts to the High Court, to the Court of Appeal, all the way to the Supreme Court. I have supported victims through laying complaints with the Ombudsman and the Privacy Commission, to making complaints to the New Zealand Human Rights Review Tribunal. Often, I worked with individuals for years on end, from the point they contacted me for support, to the conclusion of their journey for justice and healing. I am humbled by the strength of the survivors I have supported, and it is this lived experience that informs my new role as Chief Victims Advisor.
In 2020, I was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), for services to victim advocacy. In recognition of my advocacy mahi, I was a finalist in the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards in 2018, 2019, and 2021. From 2018 - 2020, I was a member of the Minister of Justice’s Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora – the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group.
People often ask me what the “ideal world” for victim/survivors looks like. Obviously, the “ideal world” for victim/survivors would be a world in which they did not experience violent crime in the first place, and to this end, the Government has set a goal that within the next four years, they aim to reduce the number of victims of violent crime by 20,000. My role in this is to advise Ministers on the practical steps they need to take to help to achieve this goal. As always, the needs of victim/survivors will be at the forefront. It is crucial to avoid future harm, and to avoid re-victimisation as they traverse the justice system.
It is time for transformational change to the way our system treats victim/survivors. My role, as Chief Victims Advisor, is to amplify the voice of victims and advise the Government as to what is needed – to provide a voice for those who struggle to be heard, but who must be heard, as they traverse a road no one ever expects to take, as victim/survivors of crime.
In February 2025, Ruth was profiled in this 'The Post' article: https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360576491/entrepreneur-advocate-government-adviser-victims(external link)
This page was last updated: