Delahunty Catherine: Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Delahunty Catherine: Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8262. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
 I will take a very brief call in support of the Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill because Kevin Hague is not here to do so and I know that he was very very passionate in support of this bill. Without being a lawyer I appreciate the comments of the lawyers in the Chamber who have spoken about this bill from the point of view of evolving law. I highly support the comments of Lianne Dalziel about the use of discretion being maybe a heavy burden on judges but it is preferable to an outdated mechanism such as the provocation defence. 
When talking about the evolution of law I am thinking back to my earliest memory of kneeling in front of the radio the night that Parliament voted out capital punishment. My father was standing there virtually crying with joy because he campaigned against hanging in this country. One of my earliest memories of political participation was seeing what he went through and how happy he was that the law had evolved. I am thinking also about when I was travelling through Ireland and it was described to me that a gypsy was found stealing something from a farm in Ireland and was killed by the farmer with a fork. The defence was provocation not because the gypsy had attacked the farmer but because the Roma—the travellers—are regarded as less than human. Therefore the Irish judicial system had accepted that provocation was acceptable. The farmer was able to get away with killing somebody simply because of who that person was. 
I think about homophobia in this country and how it is still alive and well. I still hear young people particularly young males speaking in a homophobic way constantly about the idea that if anyone should approach them that would easily provoke violence in them. I think we have a long way to go when it comes to addressing these things which is why this bill is really important. We are removing a risk that that can be used against a person such as the victim of a homophobic murder. 
We have come a long way. We have only to think about the Ku Klux Klan and how they have justified ethnic cleansing and all the other stereotyping and violence that has been used to justify the murder of innocent people right across the planet. Battered woman’s syndrome is another example of how the law has evolved. 
That is what we are here to do—to help the law evolve in a way that will be fair and just and allow the courts to exercise due discretion and wisdom. I am sorry that Kevin Hague is not here to speak more eloquently. I know he did at the first reading. But the Green Party is pleased to support this bill and pleased to see so much unanimity around the House about it. We will be delighted to see this bill progress into law for the sake of all the people who have been unjustly killed simply because they were different from the violent offenders who took their lives. Kia ora.