Bishop ChrisASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The House is resumed. Members when we broke for the dinner break the House was considering the Family Proceedings (Dissolution for Family Violence) Amendment Bill. I call the next speaker Chris Bishop.CHRIS BISHOP (National): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Can I just start by acknowledging Angie Warren-Clark the sponsor of this member's bill. Isn't it a lovely thing that in the final two days of the Parliament we can come together in a collegial good-spirited way and pass through at first reading a member's bill that is very worthy and has quite a storied history?I want to acknowledge Angie Warren-Clark for the work that she's done on this which I know is something that she cares very deeply about. I'd also like to acknowledge Ashley Jones who has had a bit of involvement with both Angie Warren-Clark and myself. A couple of years ago Ashley approached me to accept a petition—she was a local Hutt Valley resident at the time—around essentially what has become the Family Proceedings (Dissolution for Family Violence) Amendment Bill. I was very pleased to accept that petition on the steps of Parliament alongside my colleague Chris Penk who's our shadow Attorney-General and courts spokesperson and also the Hon Simon Bridges who was our justice spokesperson at the time. It's feels like Simon left a long time ago actually and it has been quite a while since that petition was accepted.We were very pleased to accept it and we indicated then that the National Party would support measures to make it easier to get a divorce in the case of family violence. I set upon writing a member's bill and little did I know that my colleague across the House—Angie Warren-Clark—was also writing a member's bill. I was all set to lodge it in the members' ballot and then a press release appeared from Angie Warren-Clark saying Bill to make it easier for victims of family violence to get divorced." And I thought "Oh I've been beaten to it! This is terrible!" It sat in the ballot for quite some time and it's been pulled out and I'm very very pleased that it can get a first reading just at the tail end of this Parliament. Angie Warren-Clark and I have met with Ashley this afternoon and this evening and we got a photo by the Kate Sheppard statue on the black and white tiles which I think is appropriate because I think this will go down as "Ashley's law". That's highly appropriate and I hope that it will be able to make its way through into law in the third reading in the new Parliament.I also want to acknowledge Rachel Williams from the Hutt Valley Women's Refuge who has done an enormous amount of work on this issue and supporting Ashley as it goes through the process of the petition. It's not easy for people to present petitions to Parliament. It's easy to get something up online these days—you don't have to go through the forms—but it's not an easy process to present it and then speak and have it considered by the committee. Actually I think we need to do a bit of work on making it a bit easier actually but that's a side point. But I acknowledge Rachel and all the work she's done.The thing about this bill—and the issue—is that when you explain to people the origins of it they say "But I thought that was the law already." They're genuinely astonished and stunned to discover that victims of family violence have to go through the quite convoluted proceedings to get a divorce and they have to wait the two-year standdown period. People are genuinely astonished. I have talked to so many people in the community who say "Oh that can't possibly be the law." But it is. The Family Proceedings Act is now 43 years old—so 1980—and it's probably in need of a rewrite which someone will have to do at some point.Anna Lorck: Hear hear!CHRIS BISHOP: That was a "Hear hear!" was it? Very good. See look at this crossparty bonhomie breaking out across the Parliament. It will need a rewrite but this brings the law into line with community expectation. That is really important: the law should always keep pace with the desires and expectations of the community and that's ultimately what the Parliament is all about. I think many people are shocked to discover that it's not the law already.Can I say that it is too hard for victims of family violence to get a divorce in New Zealand and that is the fundamental aim of this bill. Angie Warren-Clark has outlined for the Parliament the background to the bill and I mihi to her for her quite harrowing explanation of some victims and the experience that they have gone through. I don't traverse that again but just acknowledge her and the words that she said and acknowledge Ashley whose story is on the public record. Family violence is a scourge in New Zealand and as I think Angie Warren-Clark said in her contribution on the bill it's not really an issue that should be political actually. It's not really an issue that should be the subject of party political debate. The solutions are challenging and multifaceted across multiple different parts of Government and actually one of the good things this Government has done is to pick up a lot of the work that the last National Government did around family violence and continue the cross-Government coordination efforts across the social services justice police and multiple Government agencies involved in that space. That has been a good thing and Marama Davidson has led some of that work; Jan Logie before that in the Parliament before now.There's no one simple solution to this issue. If there was a politician would have sorted it out a long time ago. There is no one silver bullet to it. What it will take is sustained effort over many many years across multiple agencies. As Amy Adams who did a lot of work in this space from the National side of the benches used to say it will also take a lot of cultural change as well and that is harder to do. The Parliament and the law can lead culture but it's also the other way around and we need our communities to step up as well. I don't say that in a way that disparages all of the extraordinary community efforts that are going on in many communities around the country—many many community-led efforts that frequently are more effective at addressing this problem than Government is. It is a scourge and it is a blight on our society. This bill falls within the ambit of improving the situation for let's face it women—almost overwhelmingly women—who are affected by family violence and that is a good thing.Finally can I just say in my final couple of minutes that I do think we need to improve the way our court system operates in terms of accessibility and usability; I say that cognisant of the comity between Parliament and the courts. But at the end of the day it's Parliament that funds the court system and Parliament I think—and the Government—is entitled to expect a certain level of service from the courts. Too often in my experience as an MP for nearly nine years now people find it too hard to engage in the court system. I don't mean the filing fees and legal fees; they're too expensive as well. I just mean the simple act of engaging with the registrar and visiting the court to file documents and forms—the endless forms that people are required to fill out which are sometimes available electronically but more often than not are not available electronically—and the times they are required to be filed. I think the system could be easier and I think there could be more of a customer service ethos in the court system.I know that my colleague Chris Penk has been doing some thinking about that. I don't say that to disparage the staff at the courts in particular; they work hard. It's just that the system needs an improvement and the IT needs an upgrade. The system has not kept pace with technology. The general usability of the courts needs to be better. I have been talked to by many people including those who have dealt with the Family Court and divorce law generally who have found it very difficult. I think that's something we could all aim to improve on over the next few years no matter who is in Government or indeed in Parliament. But tonight is all about this bill—this important bill—to make a progressive step forward for family law and divorce law in New Zealand. And in particular it's about Ashley who brought it to Parliament's attention and showed that one person with a good idea who's prepared to speak to it and prepared to show determination and enthusiasm for something that is important can help change the law. Thank you very much."