Radhakrishnan Priyanca; Rurawhe AdrianPRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair. It is indeed a privilege to stand and take a call at the committee stage of this bill. I thought I'd begin with a little bit of an overview as to what this bill would actually—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): I'm sorry to interrupt the member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: Thank you Mr Chair. As I said before the dinner break it is indeed a privilege to stand and take a call at the committee stage of the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Bill. This is a bill that gives victim survivors of domestic violence options for flexibility at work. It includes leave entitlements that allow them to access support. It is a bill that actually provides financial security and in fact gives victim survivors the option or removes a pretty significant barrier to women leaving situations environments of abuse which is financial security. I was part of the select committee that considered this bill—not the submissions but of course came in sort of part way through the process—and I know there was a submitter who talked about her personal experience of being subjected to domestic violence requesting the flexibility the leave that she needed to be able to access the types of support that she needed and not being allowed that and having actually her job taken away from her through no fault of her own. That often becomes a barrier to women being able to leave.The other thing this bill does that is phenomenal is that it allows for the routine or the schedules of women who are victim survivors of domestic violence to be disrupted. In many cases it's not just the incidents that make up domestic violence—that is domestic violence—it is a pattern of power and control that these women are subjected to. The way that translates into reality—and I'm thinking of many women that I've supported through my years working in the sector—the way it plays out is that the abuser knows what the routine of this woman is. He knows that she will go to drop the kids off at school at a certain time. He knows that she goes to work at a certain time. He knows where she works and therefore he knows how to stalk her and how to continue to exert that pattern of power and control. We know working in the sector that that time when a woman decides to leave is the most dangerous time. So that disruption of schedule is what this bill allows for.There are a number of changes—a number of Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs)—that are being considered as well and I'll just go through them very quickly. There are two from the member Clayton Mitchell: one that deals with extending the time within which an employer is required to deal with a request for flexible working short-term arrangements for those who are affected by domestic violence—the SOP will amend the bill from five working days to 10 working days; the other amendment is to reduce the time that an employee has to make a choice of procedure. What that means is: if an application is put through for the flexibility or the leave and it isn't given there are methods of redress for the employee. This SOP will change that amount of time from 12 months to six months. They're two reasonably minor SOPs that I'm quite happy for us to support.There are two others however in the name of the Hon Mark Mitchell that I will speak to as well. This has been brought up by members opposite time and again: the fact that there are other mechanisms for victim survivors of domestic violence other pathways that they can take or avail themselves of—annual leave sick leave. We on this side have said ad nauseam: those are not appropriate. Annual leave is supposed to be for holidays. It's supposed to be for some rest and relaxation. It's supposed to be for when people need to take a break. It's not for when you're subjected to domestic violence and you need to access support; that's not what it's for. That's not what sick leave is for either. Many women especially those who've been subjected to physical or sexual violence have often used up that leave. Many times children are sick and therefore women have used up that leave. Victims of domestic violence I would argue—[Bell rung]—actually need annual and sick leave perhaps more than most.CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): Order! Is the member's seeking another call?PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: Yes Mr Chair. So that particular SOP by the member Mark Mitchell honestly is lidicrous—ludicrous; I blame the cold. Annual and sick leave already exist for all of us. They're not appropriate for domestic violence victim survivors because that's not what they're for. What we're seeking is for leave so that a woman can actually apply for the time that she needs to go and access medical care access legal care. Sometimes it's about having to leave the city that she lives in because of the danger that is posed to her and to her children. So this is actually a bill that would allow a woman to seek the safety that she needs both for herself and for her children.The other SOP in the name of Mark Mitchell is about an educational campaign. Basically he says that within six months of this particular bill coming into force the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment must undertake an educational awareness campaign throughout New Zealand to advise small and medium businesses on how to comply with the changes contained within [this] Act." Honestly I think this is an insult to everyone's intelligence especially to those who run small businesses because if you know how to comply with the other aspects of leave that you need to provide to your staff—namely annual leave sick leave and bereavement leave—you're going to know how to comply with this as well. It's really not that complex. It's a simple bill that makes a profound change to those whom it affects. So I would not be supporting either one of those two SOPs.Going back to the bill I'm just going to maybe address a couple of amendments in Jan Logie's SOP which is a very fine SOP I might add and came out of some of the changes that were taken to the select committee one of which was actually the proof of domestic violence that we debated quite a bit at select committee. The initial bill had quite a detailed part that talked about the types of documents I guess that would constitute proof. We felt at select committee that that was a little bit too specific and that proof should actually be much broader than that. It's not everyone who goes to the police to press charges. It's not everyone who goes to a refuge organisation to seek help. The experiences of women who experience domestic violence are diverse and incredibly varied. Narrowing the type of proof that was required through this bill we felt wouldn't be fair on those women and so it's much broader as a result of that.Also there is a clause that will be added in both the Employment Relations Act and the Human Rights Act that basically will stop the discrimination that often women face when they've been subjected to domestic violence at work. There's a huge stigma and especially sometimes from some of the smaller communities. I've worked with a number of women from those communities. There is still quite a strong stigma. It's beginning to change and that's great but there is a stigma that women are often subjected to that then stops them from seeking the help that they need. That's another reason that this bill is so important. It sends a signal that we're all in this together that we all have a role to play including small businesses to keep women and children safe.It's not about punishing small businesses for wrongs that weren't theirs as members opposite have pointed out previously in this debate; it's about increasing options for women to get out of abusive situations and get the access to the types of help that they need. It sends a clear signal as I said that we all have a role to play. It keeps people safe. It keeps women and children safe. It is one crucial part of the work programme that this Government is undertaking to eliminate violence against women and children. Thank you."