Recreation plays an important role in Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s a way for us to enjoy nature, have fun and stay healthy with friends. Recreation happens in our gyms, swimming pools and community spaces, our parks and playgrounds, our sports fields and the great outdoors.  But how do we make sure that recreation spaces are safe and respectful? Enter the Integrity Code, a tool that helps raise the bar for integrity across the sport and recreation sector.

We sat down with Sarah Murray, Kaiwhakahaere Matua Chief Executive at Recreation Aotearoa, to talk about her recreation experiences, the risks she sees for the sector, and how the Integrity Code can help.

I head up Recreation Aotearoa, the peak body for recreation organisations in New Zealand. We support, empower and enable organisations who provide recreation opportunities in communities across New Zealand. Our members include local councils, private providers, Regional Sport Trusts, outdoor education centres and more. We're here to help recreation organisations create great opportunities for New Zealanders to be active.

I’ve been involved in recreation from the beginning of my working life. Since studying Recreation Management at Lincon University. The first part of my career was working for the Department of Conservation helping manage recreation opportunities on the conservation estate – things like short walks, tramping tracks and great walks. Then I moved into local government and into a role with a broad focus across community sport, play and active recreation. I was lucky enough to meet a lot of people running interesting, often under-the-radar activities, like skateboarding and parkour, all focused on getting people active.

Personally, I’m an average athlete but an enthusiastic participant. I didn’t play in any sport teams at school, but got involved in physical activity, nonetheless. I think that’s why I moved into the world of recreation, participating in things like tramping, kayaking, and mountain biking. I’m an active person, but not a sporty one. I think a lot of New Zealanders are like me – they like being active, getting outdoors, participating in lots of activities, but you’ll never find them in an environment with a referee and a lot of rules.

To me, integrity means fair, inclusive, safe spaces for everyone. Integrity is important whatever setting you’re in. It’s the things we know in our heart that make us feel safe and included in a space.

For recreation specifically, it’s about making sure that positive cultures exist when we are participating in organised activities or in group setting. As I've mentioned, there are lots of different ways we participant in physical activity.

I worry most about complacency. The worst thing we can do as leaders is to think that integrity issues won’t happen to us, that they don’t apply, that they’re not something we need to think about when leading and managing our organisations.

Conversely, the most important thing we can do is to be mindful and aware of threats to integrity whatever our environment, whether we’re a community provider or a nationwide organisation. All of us need to be aware of the threats to integrity that exist in the world we live in. And to think about how we lead in a way that creates the type of environments that we need and want in our organisations.

I’m confident that the work of the Commission of and the Integrity Code will deliver tangible benefits to the sport and recreation sector.

It’s important that we have a collective understanding of what a positive culture looks like in sport and recreation spaces. One reason I think the work of the Commission is so critical is that it supports all organisations, including recreation organisations, to understand the standards they need to set and how to deal with any issues that might arise.

A lot of the time we feel like we know what’s right, what good culture is, what good behaviour is. Unfortunately, we know that things can move away from that ideal over time. The Integrity Code is an anchor that helps people recognise what good looks like.

The Commission’s work is incredibly inclusive. It recognises all the ways that New Zealanders choose to be active and says that all of those spaces need to be safe, fair and inclusive. We’re unique internationally in that regard.