6. Question No. 6—Prevention of Family and Sexual ViolenceHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual ViolenceQuestion No. 6—Prevention of Family and Sexual ViolenceHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and asks: when did she say that I am a prevention violence Minister and I know who causes violence in this world and it's white cis men"? Why—sorry.Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence): Mr Speaker is that different from the primary question that was listed?Hon Louise Upston: Why.SPEAKER: Yeah it's meant to be "Why" at the beginning not "When".Hon Louise Upston: Sorry do you want me to ask it again?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence): Please—thanks.6. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence: Why did she say that "I am a prevention violence Minister and I know who causes violence in this world and it's white cis men"?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence): I know that to transform generations of hurt and trauma and to stop violence from happening in the first place as a country we must have the hard and uncomfortable conversations. We need to talk about the power imbalances and gender narratives that underpin much of the violence that occurs in our country. As the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and Sexual Violence I will continue to have those conversations. I acknowledge that I could have been clearer in my remarks on Saturday. What I was doing was pushing back on the harmful and false narrative that trans people are one of the biggest risks to women. This is simply not true. Violence happens in every community; any person can be a victim of violence but we cannot get away from the fact that the perpetrators of sexual violence or family violence are mostly men. So now that I have clarified what I intended to say let's have a conversation about what to do next to build an Aotearoa New Zealand—SPEAKER: Order! Order! You well and truly answered; you're now going into a speech on the matter.Hon Louise Upston: Was she asked by the Prime Minister to apologise to the public and if so when will she do that?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: It was really important to me that I clarify what I intended to say and so in a public statement I have appealed directly to the community to the field experts and to victim/survivors and clarified what I intended to say and affirmed and acknowledged victims and survivors who may not have seen themselves in my comments.SPEAKER: That's definitely not an answer to the question that was made. The member can have two additional supplementaries.Hon Louise Upston: Was she asked by the Prime Minister to apologise to the public and if so when will she do that?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: No.Hon Louise Upston: Does she agree that the statement was factually incorrect?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: What I have done is clarified what I intended to say. What I need to be really clear about is that violence is enabled by socially accepted hierarchies of power that include sexism racism towards minority communities colonisation ableism ageism homophobia transphobia and classism. I am really clear about those drivers of violence and that we must change those structures of inequality and power.Karen Chhour: Does she accept that her words "I know who causes violence in the world and it's cis men." were offensive and highly inappropriate to victims of family and sexual violence and will she apologise today to them for making a mockery of such a serious issue?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: What I have done is clarified what I intended to say directly in a public statement and made it really clear that I was wanting to push back hard on the untruth and harm about trans people being the biggest threat to women—and this is simply not true—and that my intention was to highlight the structures of power that are behind the drivers of violence. I will continue to make that point.Hon Louise Upston: Does she stand by her statement in Te Aorerekura which is the action plan for the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence which quotes her words "to enable safe communities where all people are respected" and why does she not accept that her words did not respect cis white men?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: I absolutely stand by every single word in Te Aorerekura that was created by and with the community with victims with survivors with sector experts with tangata whenua and diverse communities and again state that this is why it was important to me to clarify what I intended to say.Karen Chhour: If she can apologise to the Prime Minister for saying "I know who causes violence in the world and it's white cis men." why can't she apologise to the victims of family and sexual violence for belittling their trauma for political gain?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: What I have said to the Prime Minister is that I clarified that those are not the words that I normally use.Hon Louise Upston: Why will she then not apologise to New Zealanders for the offensive words that she has used?Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: It is important to me to clarify especially directly to victims and survivors who may not have seen themselves in the words that I used and this is why I have made it clear what I intended to say."