Wall LouisaLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. Thank you very much for this opportunity to contribute in this the committee stage debate of the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Bill.I do want to provide some context for the relevance of this bill particularly to women. So a third of New Zealand women suffer from family and domestic violence—a third. Let's ponder that. Twenty-four percent of New Zealand women have had some form of sexual assault in their lifetime and 6 percent of men. The police respond to 120000 family violence incidents every year and apparently 76 percent of family violence incidents are not reported. So the actual number is close to nearly 500000 incidents. Context matters. The reason I quote that is because this piece of legislation—and I do want to focus on new sections 69AB and 69ABB set out in clause 7 which actually are about what this bill is trying to do and that is to provide a statutory right to victims—people who are affected by family and domestic violence—to be able to deal with the effects as employees. So let us ponder that.Evidence before the select committee from groups such as the University of Auckland ANZ Countdown The Warehouse—these are employers that actually in some form I call it self-regulation actually haven't required the Government to tell them to implement these policies. They've chosen—Hon Member: Westpac.LOUISA WALL: Westpac. Thank you. They've chosen to do it themselves. And why? Because from their perspective actually it saves them money and resources: sick leave that they can tally up the turnover of staff unexplained absences. And the reality for the businesses that presented to the Justice and Electoral Committee is that this makes economic sense to them—to actually invest in their employees.I just want to focus on new section 69ABB set out in clause 7: (1) An employee who is a person affected by domestic violence may make a request—(a) at any time;—and this is the bit that is the most poignant—"(b) for the purpose of assisting the employee to deal with the effects on the employee on being a person affected by domestic violence." The reason I want us to think about that concept is actually we're asking people to disclose and we have completely ignored the fact of those 76 percent of family violence incidents that don't get reported because these are people who will not tell anybody. They keep it a secret.I managed to find a piece of research called Help-seeking amongst women survivors of domestic violence: a qualitative study of pathways towards formal and informal support. And what that piece of research has said is that domestic violence and disclosure is a long journey of ambivalence. It's a journey of being anxious being depressed self-medicating being unwell. And the other finding in this piece of research was that many women needed an enabler. They needed someone or something for them to be able to disclose. And guess what happens when women disclose family violence? They get help. They can stop the cycle because they are strong enough within a context that they know will support them to disclose. And in fact that is what this piece of legislation is going to enable us to do. It will completely change the game. And for the Opposition not to realise how significant this piece of legislation is is incredibly sad.The other thing that is very clear is that because this provision is specifically for victims of family violence there is a specific need for family violence leave. So Mark Mitchell's Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) that wants to convert annual leave and sick leave into de facto family violence leave completely undermines the whole purpose and intention of this piece of legislation. This SOP speaks volumes about the Opposition's so-called want to be part of a solution. This completely undermines the credibility of the Opposition. So I'd like them to actually think about what they're going to do in the third reading—I'll be presumptive and think we'll get through this phase of the process of making this very good bill into a piece of legislation—because if you really want to help and be part of the solution then go and talk to all those business owners that you're scaremongering and saying that you're opposing this bill because you don't want to impose extra costs on them. Actually go and talk to them. Maybe all of you should go and talk to 10 businesses in your electorates and actually get some evidence and get some voices from—Harete Hipango: Did you consult with them?LOUISA WALL: —the community. I was part of the process. I was in the last committee that heard all these submissions. I've had an intimate knowledge of this piece of legislation and the evidence that has been presented to the House about this piece of legislation.So do I feel I need to get myself more evidence to make an informed decision? No. No I don't because this piece of legislation actually as Suzanne Snively said is so historic. She put this up with women getting the vote in New Zealand; 125 years of women's suffrage in New Zealand this year and what a wonderful way for us as a society to put on the table actually the status of women in this country. And the reality is too many women are victims of family violence and if we really want to change it then we do need a society systems approach to ensuring that people can disclose—as I said before—to get the help that they need and also for the children of those families to get the support that they need too.Unfortunately I think the missing element in all of this is our kids who have to grow up living in households where they witness this violence they internalise it they go to schools. We've got big issues with bullying. Anyone who's been visiting their schools in recesses or on Mondays and Fridays when we're not here—and if you haven't been told that we've got behavioural issues issues of bullying in our schools then actually you aren't constructively engaging with some of the issues that our principals and our teachers are having to deal with. And that doesn't come from nowhere. That comes from a culture and a society where we have internalised violence and made it an acceptable and normal part of how we deal with each other as human beings.And so I do implore the Opposition to please look further at the evidence because I think it would be a wonderful thing. If your only two SOPs for this House are Mark Mitchell wanting to get rid of the 10 days and allow people to use holiday leave and special leave for domestic violence and if the other part is you want the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to engage in an education process—and I quite clearly heard the Minister say that an implementation plan is already under way and that that will be an absolute part of what the Government will do in terms of disseminating this legislation and what businesses are required to do and MBIE will work with those businesses—then there actually doesn't seem to me to be a reason why the National Party will not support this bill. So let's have and continue to have a constructive discussion and dialogue; that's what committee stage debates are all about. But I just finally would like to commend Jan Logie and her work in working with New Zealand First and working with the Greens and working with the Labour Party to present an SOP that actually fulfils all our requirements and also we've had other SOPs tabled from Clayton Mitchell. And I guess that offer is still there. Obviously one of those SOPs is off the table—well both are actually—but if the National Party want to come up with another one and consult with the member in charge of the bill tonight maybe there's still time I don't know. But I really do implore them to change their position because it would be wonderful to see all of Parliament supporting this piece of—Hon Member: Do the right thing.LOUISA WALL: Yeah do the right thing and try and actually end the rates of family violence that we see in New Zealand today. Kia ora."