Marcroft JennyJENNY MARCROFT (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to rise and speak on behalf of New Zealand First on this the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill. It's a pleasure to take a call on behalf of my colleague the Hon Tracey Martin. She made a first reading speech back in the previous Parliament but unfortunately isn't able to be here for this today so it has fallen upon me to take the call on behalf of my party New Zealand First.This is a fairly difficult topic for me to traverse and I'd just like to give you Mr Assistant Speaker a little background as to why that is. I've been fortunate to grow up in a family—a whānau—with really loving parents with educated parents who gave us a really great foundation in life. However circumstances changed in our family and I then had a stepfather. And unfortunately although I had this fantastic base which grounded me in great values in life I ended up with a violent stepfather. What happened over the course of the next number of years was very much swept under the carpet. And during the 1970s as what was considered a middle-class white family you didn't talk about those sorts of things. The type of violence that we suffered wasn't just physical although that was pretty horrific; it was certainly emotional and psychological. So I have quite an understanding of what those victims of family violence have suffered not just at the time but ongoing throughout the rest of their lives.One of the things that I really want to say to the victim is that whoever is the perpetrator of the violence do not allow them to steal your power. What matters is how we treat people and if we always have some kindness then I'm sure that's a really good guiding factor. It's tragic to hear about family violence and this bill certainly encompasses that. It is tragic to hear about not just the physical violence but the emotional violence and psychological violence as well not just experienced by predominantly women—men as well—but also most important by children. At the heart of this it's about protecting our children. The level on which this causes all manner of societal dysfunction cannot be overestimated. And if we take into account the rippling effect of violence for children throughout their lives then that's something that we as a Parliament certainly must ensure we can change so that we bring about a change for these people's lives. Looking at this bill preventing and eliminating family violence is one of the greatest opportunities to improve all New Zealanders' well-being. Between 2009 and 2015 alone almost 200 people were killed as a result of family violence and over half a million New Zealanders were directly affected by family violence each year. Looking at the number of women New Zealand women—one in three of these women—experience physical or sexual violence from a partner in their life and more than a quarter of New Zealand children have witnessed family violence. You know that kid that hides under the stairs in a cupboard because they're hearing the violence and the abuse going on upstairs. What are the ramifications for them? How can they live good lives and fulfil their potential?With this bill it's really a framework for a more effective system improving civil orders to better support victims including protection orders and police safety orders. This bill this framework will enable better reorganising the dynamics of the family violence and criminal justice system also creating a more integrated family violence system that promotes coordinated and collaborative responses. You know it was really unfortunate listening to the speeches today that I wasn't actually part of the Justice and Electoral Committee hearing submissions on this bill. I think it probably would have been something that would have been really good for me and for my wairua as I look forward to ensuring that any leftover ripple effects from my situation are clearly and cleanly swept from me and swept from not just my mind and my memories but also throughout—physically and emotionally. It is really part of the healing process so I think it would have been good for me to have been part of that Justice and Electoral Committee. However it is good to read some of these submissions to hear what people are saying particularly the Human Rights Commission in their submission talking about and highlighting—in the commission's submission to the committee on the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Bill. Domestic violence is so prevalent in New Zealand that it's thought there could be around half a million victims. That is a very large group of people. It's believed that only 20 percent of victims report to the police. That was certainly the case in my family history. We certainly never spoke about it outside the family. It went on under the carpet and there was no way we would have ever spoken to police. I'm sure there are so many families that still feel that way: you don't take this and take it outside of the family; you keep it hidden. Keeping it hidden keeps the mamae still enclosed inside the family. The Families Commissioner in the submission said currently the best indicators we have of family violence are reporting of family violence to police and that's also what the human rights commissioner noted. It's a really hard thing to be able to admit not just to yourselves as a family but to the outside world that your family is broken.Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children has been involved through this process through this bill and I'd just like to note some of the points that they have noted. They have been closely involved in the development of the bill. The bill widens the circumstances in which the police safety orders and the protection orders can be used. It will enable young people to be protected in their own right. Oranga Tamariki is working with police to develop guidance and support for front-line staff to help ensure that the well-being and safety of children and young people are always paramount when police issue police safety orders.It is important that there is information sharing as well and the Oranga Tamariki Act and the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill will both introduce information-sharing provisions to help ensure that those working with children and young people have the information that they need to keep them safe—and it is all about keeping the children safe. Oranga Tamariki as well is working with the Ministry of Justice to ensure the interaction between the information-sharing provisions in this bill and those in the Oranga Tamariki Act work together and are well understood by the sector.Those are the ways that Oranga Tamariki is working through this bill to ensure overall that there is safety for our children and that's what it's all about. We need to be a society that has greater heart and any way that we can help and support families to break the cycle of abuse we must do all we can. I commend this bill to the House.