Tuiono Teanau; Upston LouiseFAMILY PROCEEDINGS (DISSOLUTION FOR FAMILY VIOLENCE) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The question is that the motion be agreed to. Hon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): Thank you Mr Speaker. I'm pleased to speak in this debate on behalf of the National Party in support of the second reading of the Family Proceedings (Dissolution for Family Violence) Amendment Bill. I want to congratulate the Hon Dr Deborah Russell for shepherding this member's bill through the House. I do want to also place on record my acknowledgments to Angie Warren-Clark who introduced this bill in the first place on the very lucky last day of the last Parliament. I was fortunate to work with Angie Warren-Clark for several years on the Social Services and Community Committee and I know how tirelessly she worked in the area of family violence and how pleased she would be to know that this bill is progressing.There are many origins of members' bills. As the member before me who is in charge of this bill said sometimes it comes through a petition. In this instance there were two petitions. I want to acknowledge Ashley Jones for taking this issue to her local member of Parliament to my colleague the Hon Chris Bishop. I had the opportunity to meet with Ashley when I was the Opposition spokesperson for family and sexual violence and it was a pretty harrowing discussion when she was talking about her experience and why she felt it was so important to get a change.So I do feel really fortunate to be able to now contribute to this debate that started with an issue that someone who was so deeply affected by family violence and was frustrated by her inability to not just escape the relationship but actually legally escape her marriage that she brought the issue to her member of Parliament took the time and effort to bring a petition to Parliament and then to contribute to this member's bill process. So I want to acknowledge her for that.I think the reality is that we only get a law change when in this case strong women are able to stand up and talk about what they have gone through. It's bad enough that a woman has to endure family violence but then to feel that the very legal system entraps them further and doesn't enable them to complete that process to free themselves of what is just an incredibly awful situation. As my parliamentary colleague who spoke before me Dr Deborah Russell said it is such a significant point for someone—and it is predominantly women so I will use woman"—when a woman makes the decision to leave that abusive relationship to then find that there are significant legal barriers and actually that is when the risk is high. So I think it is incumbent on us as parliamentarians to do everything we can to make that journey faster to ensure that there are sufficient legal protections and although one could say the divorce legislation is completely outdated in the scheme of how bad we are in terms of family violence in this country and  you know does it really make a difference? Well it will for the women who see that the very reality of having to wait for two whole years—that's a very very very long time to continue to be controlled in a relationship that you wish to exit and are powerless to do so. So I think this is a really sensible bill and a really important one.I do think the area of family violence is an area where there are greater opportunities for our Parliament to work across the House across Government across party to actually take sensible practical steps that improve the lives of family violence victims and to take steps and measures that make it easier for someone to stand up to choose to end the relationship and to give them every single support to do that because too often whether it is Women's Refuge or the Backbone Collective organisations like that who give example after example of a system that seems to do everything against a woman's ability to leave. So I do think this is a sensible practical step that we can do to protect those who are our most vulnerable and to ensure that actually our legal system serves them as it should. The reality for many victims is that the prospect of having to navigate a complex and often intimidating legal system to dissolve their marriage or partnership just adds another whole layer of stress and trauma at the very time that they're perhaps least able to take on an additional burden.Family violence is incredibly harmful to the person experiencing that violence but we also need to acknowledge that too often there are children involved in the family who witness it as well. We do know that when children see violence at home it can have implications across their entire life course. So we must do everything possible to break that intergenerational cycle. I think if you think about that additional challenge for a woman who's trying to free herself from a relationship where violence is used then in terms of that process to separate and dissolve marriage where children are involved is that much more challenging. So we cannot in good conscience allow our legal system to add to the suffering of those who have already endured so much.Looking at addressing some of the barriers that are in place I think is important so we don't put additional hurdles in place. This is a very sensible one. It's quite often that people will say "Why isn't this already the law? Like why doesn't this already happen?" because it seems such common sense. But this process and members' bills I think are a really good opportunity to solve some of those problems that everybody thinks is already done and is a common-sense thing to do. You see that with support across the House today.So the proposed changes to the Family Proceedings Act will obviously be a practical step but we do know in the area of family violence that there is so much work to do. This is a simple step but actually a very very important step for the victims of family violence that will find life that little bit easier in terms of breaking the shackles of a violent relationship.My colleague Chris Bishop spoke in the first reading of this bill. We all know that legislative change is only one small step in the battle that we must make which really is about a significant cultural change. That is made more possible when we make law change when we highlight issues and we demonstrate some of the practical steps that we can make as well. We know that in New Zealand we can and must do better to reduce family violence where everybody has the opportunity and freedom to lead happy healthy and fulfilling lives and everyone should have a life and a home that is free from violence. So this very simple step of simplifying the divorce process for victims of family violence we can ensure that they are not burdened further and that we can help break the cycle of intergenerational family violence and abuse.So with that I fully commend this bill to the House. I acknowledge any work that our Parliament can do to make women safer and fewer victims of family violence. Thank you Mr Speaker."