McKee Nicole; Dean JacquiNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of the ACT Party to support this the third reading of the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill. The reason why we support this bill is because it puts in our mind the rights of the victims at the centre of our justice system. But in saying that we did have a number of concerns that we wanted addressed in order to ensure that we could have a good balance and a fair system for all. When you look at the legislative statement the purpose of the bill was to reduce the re-traumatisation that sexual violence victims experience in court. That is admirable as a way to move forward to allow many more victims of sexual violence the confidence to speak out and speak up. We agree that the bill was seeking to improve sexual violence victims' experience in court while preserving the fairness of a trial.We must admit that we did have concerns about that second aspect of that last statement I just made: the fairness of the trial. While we still want to keep the victims at the centre of the justice system we need to make sure that the justice system is kept fit for purpose. So we supported this bill along its first reading second reading and committee of the whole House stage with some reservations which we've made quite clear and we'd like to take this time to acknowledge the efforts of the select committee in actually hearing from submitters and being able to put forward some good ideas to address the issues that have been raised. We wanted to make sure that there was the right to a fair trial. Some of the concerns that had been raised were including the inability for the defence to participate in the cross-examination the ability of the defence to—well the inability actually of the defence to keep their defence until trial and having to put it forward on the table. We thought that this would not allow a full and fair trial.The reason why we thought it was important to bring this up is because there has been an increase in the number of vexatious litigants that bring cases to the court which ultimately ends up having an impact on the real victims of this type of crime. There was concern that the impact would stop a fair trial from occurring and I'm really pleased that Minister Faafoi saw this and with his team came up with Supplementary Order Paper 105 which has been voted in which addresses many of those issues. Some will say it doesn't go far enough but when we need to balance the rights of our victims to be the centre of our justice system there is only so much that you can do and we must rely on the justice system itself to be able to point to where fairness needs to be instigated. We did agree with the National Party member Chris Penk's Supplementary Order Paper 11. It did not go through but we do believe that when it comes to sexual violence cases the relationship between the two parties is relevant to a case. But nevertheless that didn't go through.To conclude we've heard tonight that there are a large number of victims that do not come forward that they're scared to come forward and that they are worried that the alleged offender may be the one that ends up cross-examining them. It's really important that those that are seeking justice actually are able to get it and furthermore encourage others to stand up speak out and take a case. But with the increasing number of innocent people that are brought through the system it's crucially important that our judicial members are able to find that balance and to instigate it in a way that both the victim and the defendant have that fair trial. It's really important that the judiciary are able to use their powers in such a way that both parties are heard adequately through this.So in that respect we commend the House for coming together to be able to put together a bill that does put the victims at the centre of our justice system but still balances that right for a defendant to have a fair and just trial. On that note ACT support this bill.Dr Emily Henderson: Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Emily Henderson—Dr Emily Henderson apologies.