Logie Jan: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLogie Jan: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 30 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15725. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JAN LOGIE (Green): Kia ora Mr Assistant Speaker. In the words of Russel Norman the 2014 election offers New Zealanders the opportunity to make history by electing the first strong green genuinely progressive Government in more than a generation. In my words the next wave of progressive change that is sweeping the world is one promoting protection of the environment and challenging violence against women and children. The next wave of green progressive Government will value us all and work creatively and in a committed way to ensure all of us are safe and our mana is kept intact so that we can all contribute and truly enjoy this wonderful place in which we live.We do have a terrible problem in New Zealand. All too many of our women and children and occasionally men are hurt or killed through domestic violence and sexual violence. Last year in 2 weeks over 110000 New Zealanders signed a petition demanding that the Government take action in the wake of the rapes in Auckland that left victims exposed and unable to access justice.Last year and again this year there has been a public outpouring of grief and bewilderment at the deaths of women and children who should have been protected by our systems.So what has this Government done to bring that justice to deliver for New Zealand women and children? Well not much that has been helpful and sadly it has done all too much to make things a lot worse. Admittedly this Government has supported our inquiry into funding for specialist sexual violence services which has recently received 996 submissions—a phenomenal effort when so many New Zealanders really care because this issue is vitally important. We cannot afford not to increase funding. I expect—and I know the sector and all of our communities definitely expect—to see a significant increase in funding this year. It has been encouraging to work with the Government on this—even although they call us fringe Taliban monsters—and we thank them for that cooperation.But to be honest this initiative is at odds with the rest of this Government’s actions and I would like to focus on the portfolio of just one Minister to give an example of how bad things have become—to focus on justice. Judith Collins stopped the Law Commission’s work to create a justice system where more than one in 100 victims of sexual abuse might be able to get justice. She just took this work mid-process off the agenda because she did not like a few of the recommendations.She changed the Evidence Act to make it more difficult to take cases to court that rely on “he said” or “she said” evidence”—i.e. mostly domestic violence and sexual violence cases. She restructured the Family Court to save money for the Crown rather than fixing the very well-documented problems for victims of domestic violence and their children. She even removed the clause in the Act that required judges to do a risk assessment if there were allegations of violence. She made New Zealand one of the only countries in the world to ban lawyers from parts of the process in the Family Court. Consider that in the context of domestic violence and what that will mean for those women and their children.Although she added economic abuse to this Act that was done knowing that the provision against psychological abuse is failing miserably and in that context this provision has very little chance of making a difference. She made cuts to access to legal aid which means that some women are now paying thousands of dollars putting liens on their houses to be able to get protection orders. She introduced fees of around $900 to even access the courts.This is what this Government’s commitment is to the safety of women and children. This year the country will have a choice of how to vote. Vote to protect us or vote to undermine our safety.