Bridges Simon: Domestic Violence Amendment Bill Sentencing Amendment Bill (No 2) Bail Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Bridges Simon: Domestic Violence Amendment Bill Sentencing Amendment Bill (No 2) Bail Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 20 October 2009. Volume:658;Page:7367. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SIMON BRIDGES (National—Tauranga) 
: 
 Like Kennedy Graham my colleague from the Green Party who is also on the Justice and Electoral Committee I do not intend to use all my speaking time; I will probably not even use most of it. That is in no way to give an indication of anything other than the seriousness with which I approach this issue and the significance of this legislation which will soon be law. This is a very happy occasion in many ways. It is serious yes but it is happy. Although there are some issues and some points that Opposition parties seek to bring out in the debate nevertheless it is a time when the whole House becomes united against domestic violence. As I apprehend it we will all be voting for this legislation to become law. 
I agree with some of the things that Kennedy Graham spoke of. There are issues in our society concerning violence. It can be cultural and it can be a product of what is being watched on television—our media and our culture. I suppose this is not in contradiction to that but I agree with what the Minister Simon Power said; there are also issues of intergenerational violence of violence spanning families over generations which make up the undoubted problem of domestic violence that we have in this country. No one would argue that it is anything other than a problem even if following on from Kennedy Graham following on from the Minister we can also acknowledge how undoubtedly complex the causes of it are. 
With all that as the background domestic violence is a complicated causal issue. Domestic violence is an undoubtedly large problem in our society with 80000 or so police call-outs a year. But as I say this is a happy time because we are united against domestic violence. It is a happy time because this legislation is in favour of victims. It puts victims where they should be in the process at centre stage with their concerns at heart rather than marginalising them as has historically been the case in New Zealand and in the Westminster tradition. 
With those few thoughts I will say that a majority of the select committee’s time was spent in relation to the police safety orders. We originally called them “police orders” but I think “police safety orders” more accurately reflects what they are what they do and what their purpose is. As I said during the Committee stage the police safety orders address the immediate safety issues that may arise for the families and whanau. It may be that the police at that time do not have sufficient evidence to arrest but nevertheless they are presented with a situation where there is a likelihood of violence. They can defuse the situation with a police safety order. They can effectively solve the situation for a period of up to 5 days. During that time they can look at the options they are presented with which may include prosecution of the alleged offender. 
In conclusion I think this is a happy moment for this Parliament. We have come together on a piece of law notwithstanding some of the comments from some members in the House. This is another step forward for victims in New Zealand.