Hipango HareteHARETE HIPANGO (National—Whanganui): E Te Māngai good evening sir and to members of the House. I'd considered that this was going to be a brief call but if I am permitted some extra time I'd certainly be indulged. So having dedicated a good part or a significant part of my professional working life as a lawyer to helping others in this space—children youth women men families communities victims the afflicted and perpetrators of violence—it is somewhat poignant that I do have the ability to be able to address the House this evening.So Mr Speaker and members what started out at the first and second readings as the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Amendment Bill has since been changed through the committee of the whole House as everybody is well aware and been divided into two pieces of proposed legislation or bills. So we have the Family Violence Bill which is an overhaul of the Domestic Violence Act 1995 and then we also have a Family Violence (Amendments) Bill. That's an omnibus bill of amendments to the Bail Act the Care of Children Act the Crimes Act the Criminal Procedure Act the Evidence Act and the Sentencing Act—all pieces of legislation that I've represented clients under. National supports these bills as is well known this evening.So this third reading is a debate and a speech summarising the bill. However with the indulgence of the Speaker this evening and prior to commending the passage of the bill into law I reflect back to a passage in time 23 years ago one year before the introduction of the Domestic Violence Act. It was a time when the New Zealand public—our consciousness was confronted and challenged by an epic New Zealand movie exposing a brutal and raw face of violence in New Zealand society. A number of us may remember Once Were Warriors. It exposed to a sanitised New Zealand mainstream the raw and repugnant vicious brutality of violence in Aotearoa New Zealand in our landscape and in our familyscape" and this is the scape that I've committed and dedicated my professional working life to. So this movie many people deemed to be a fiction. However it was so real and so raw for many families in Aotearoa and perhaps for some of us as members of Parliament who have experienced that if not directly indirectly through our family lives. I now turn to the bills. So as was stated the Family Violence Bill is an overhaul of the Domestic Violence Act. Twenty-three years that has been in the making. So the key messages that come about are that the reforms contained in the bill strengthen family violence laws for a better understanding and response and that response is about earlier and more effective intervention better services to reduce and prevent future violence and keeping victims safe. Undoubtedly family violence has a devastating impact on our society. So in summary the changes in the bill are about making it easier for victims to apply for protection orders. Over the decades I represented many women and at times men—but seldom—applying for protection orders and sometimes children as counsel for the child. The bill is also about clarifying that the protected person can consent to contact with the respondent or the perpetrator of the violence whilst supporting the victims and their children to have ongoing relationships with the perpetrator if they choose. This is something that again having advocated and represented children as well as women—when those orders were made it would often be a blanket prohibition for children preventing any form of supervised contact with the perpetrator and that in itself often victimised a number of child clients or children.Another element of the bill is about improving the effectiveness of parenting orders to better recognise the risk of violence and protect the victims. Also I've noted within the bill itself that it states there is a purpose and there are also principles. When I glanced at this the format the formula was very similar to what had been outlined in the Care of Children and previously the Children Young Persons and their Families Act at a time when I was representing and advocating for clients. So there's a particular provision under clause 4 of those principles and paragraph (l) is about increasing the provision of tikanga-based and culturally appropriate services for victims and whānau experiencing family violence. This was not an element or a principle previously within the domestic violence legislation. So clause 4 paragraph (l) talks about: "responses to family violence should be culturally appropriate and in particular responses involving Māori should reflect tikanga Māori (Māori customary values and practices)".Importantly also in the principles under the bill there is recognition that decision makers should collaborate and something that I experienced again in the time when I advocated and practised was the difficulty in accessing information from respective Government departments that would be of benefit as evidence placed before the court in terms of a child's interests and welfare. So "decision makers should collaborate whenever appropriate to identify stop prevent and otherwise respond to family violence". Importantly clause 4 paragraph (o): "access to the court should be as speedy inexpensive and simple as is consistent with justice"—such significant principles to change the shape and the face of what previously were our domestic violence laws.So may I just in closing share with members of this House and our public the simple message that I put out to us all—a simple yet powerful message: Kaua e patua. [Stop the hitting.] Kaua e mamae.[Stop the hurting.] With that simple yet poignant message may I commend this bill to the House. Kia ora."