Arbuckle JamieJAMIE ARBUCKLE (NZ First): Thank you Mr Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak on the Victims of Family Violence (Strengthening Legal Protections) Legislation Bill. Like many things in the Justice Committee being a first-time member being exposed to some of the stuff that does go on in our legal system this has been quite a learning for me actually going through this bill and actually learning some of the difficulties people face in our court system.It's important if we just go to the purpose around the bill and it gave some examples around filing excess documents with the courts that requires a response from a party to a proceeding and how that can become intense for someone—a victim who is trying to get justice and having to go through that process and also forcing victims to attend multiple court sessions to respond to an application. And for many of us probably the last place we want to find ourselves is in a courtroom. Unfortunately some people force people multiple times under duress into the courts.What I would like to say is we did hear from 21 submitters; seven of them were oral submitters. And some of those submissions that we did hear from were quite powerful and I've got a few of them here that I'm just going to touch on briefly. One was from the Victim Support and they talked about the number of cases that they deal with but they made a very powerful statement in their submission that courts become playgrounds. And that is something that we do not want to see in our courts where they become playgrounds and people become further victims because of the use of the court.Ruth Money was another submitter we heard from. She said the court is often used against victims and that is again something here we don't want to be seen repeated. We heard from other submitters—the Federation of Business and Professional Women New Zealand—and they talked about a number of different examples and especially the abuse in the wider community but also going through the court system. And Anna Baxter was a very well-sought-out submission where she talked about family violence having devastating impacts on the physical mental and emotional wellbeing of victims and their children as well as the wider society. She also talked around filing with further steps if they have to file two or more proceedings under the current legislation where you would have to actually go through multiple stages of this. And she was actually saying—Anna Baxter in her submission—that under this bill the judge would be able to make an order a lot more quickly.So those submissions really helped the committee as we knuckled down. New Zealand First finds that the Victims of Family Violence (Strengthening Legal Protections) Legislation Bill was designed to combat the misuse of the legal system by abusers to further victimise individuals involved in family proceedings. Litigation abuse involves tactics such as filing those excess documents or forcing multiple court appearances; thereby harassing annoying or harming another party. The bill aims to provide the courts with the statutory powers needed to address and prevent such misuse ensuring that the legal process cannot be weaponised against victims of family violence.Now New Zealand First's position and our principles around this bill are New Zealand First is committed to protecting victims of family violence and ensuring that the legal system is not used as a tool for further abuse. We believe in upholding the integrity of the judicial process and safeguarding the welfare of individuals especially the vulnerable. Our principles emphasise justice fairness and the protection of those who are most at risk. By supporting this bill—and it's great that all parties across this House will be supporting this bill—we reaffirm our dedication to creating a safer and more just society for New Zealanders.When we looked at this bill we picked out three major areas: the protection for the victims the judicial efficiency and alignments with our values. I'm just going to go through each one of those. The protection for victims. The bill provides essential protections for victims of family violence preventing abuses and misusing the court system; empowers judges to identify and stop litigation abuse ensuring that the legal process cannot be exploited to inflict further harm on victims. This protection is crucial for reducing the emotional and financial burdens placed on victims allowing them to navigate the legal system without fear of additional harassment or intimidation.Around judicial efficiency by addressing litigation abuse the bill enhances the efficiency and the fairness of Family Court proceedings. It helps streamline the judicial process by reducing unnecessary and malicious legal actions allowing the courts to focus on the genuine cases—and we know that there are many of those cases that are genuine that require attention. This not only benefits the victims but also improves the overall functioning of the legal system making it more responsive and effective.The alignment with the New Zealand First values. This bill aligns with New Zealand First's values of justice fairness and protection of the vulnerable. It ensures that the legal system serves its intended purpose of delivering justice and upholding the rights of individuals without being manipulated by the malicious intent. By supporting this bill New Zealand First demonstrates its commitment to maintaining a just and equitable society where the rights and wellbeing of victims of family violence are prioritised and protected.So going through the bill we did make those changes—and there was a major change that we did make around litigation abuse of a party to the proceedings rather than the court. That was a major change from when the bill was first introduced—that it is about the victim rather than the abuse or things happening in the court but it's actually to the party or the victim that the litigation abuse is happening to.Around the definitions we replaced abuse of court" and changed it to "a litigation abuse". Importantly section 12(4)(ba) was around the outside things happening outside the court. Often we know of the attempts inside a court but it's also what's happening on the outside and it's around that harassment or being annoying or harm.So what the committee did do after hearing submissions we wanted to keep that term from being on the outside—litigation abuse—keep that quite broad and we have done that.Our last member from ACT who spoke we also talked about the protections of children and how this Act interacts with the section 4 of the Children's Act. Importantly we did hear submissions about stalking and this bill does not deal with stalking issues but there is a bill in the member's tin that will deal with that so hopefully that gets pulled out soon. But that is a major concern for a number of the submitters who did submit to the bill.So on that New Zealand First supports the bill. It is common sense and it is good that all parties across the House support this. So I commend the bill to the House. Thank you.Debate interrupted.The House adjourned at 10 p.m."