McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I stand before you on behalf of the ACT Party on the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill. It's important that we do have this bill and we do have the debate because improving the justice response to the victims of sexual violence is very important. And I think across the House we hear that and we also see it.This bill will make amendments to the Evidence Act 2006. It will give or allow different ways for evidence to be given and it has been shown in the past that we did do something about the way that evidence was given so that victims felt that they could have a voice and feel secure in delivering it. So allowing a video before trial or having a person shielded in the courtroom or even being able to deliver their evidence from outside of the courtroom is all essential in order for a victim to be able to be heard. Because not only can reporting an incident of sexual violence be traumatic it's also about presenting the evidence once you have reported it and our colleagues across the House have already demonstrated from submissions that they have received the trauma that some of the victims feel again and again as they speak to people about what has happened to them. Going face to face often with the perpetrator or the offender can be a harrowing scary and traumatic experience but this bill does give some comfort. It helps to relieve some of the anxiety that a victim would feel and ultimately it should minimise some of that trauma.When we see the low prosecution and conviction rates we know that we have offenders out there that are not being held to account for their actions. When we have a third of New Zealand women—and that's just the women stating that they have experienced sexual violence—but we're not seeing that transferred into our court or justice system then we definitely have to do something about it. Victims will come forward if they feel secure enough and I have a very close family member who has experienced sexual violence and who did not speak out who did exactly what you have stated and said that it was her fault and when the perpetrator was caught after raping other females she then blamed herself because she thought that if she had spoken up maybe others wouldn't have been raped. The whole idea that we can make this system accessible to our victims is important and I believe that this bill does start to do that and address it.The ACT Party want to encourage a system that does look after the victims the vulnerable and helps to give them the courage to speak out. It's often we find with sexual offending that we have repeat offences and it's not lost on the ACT Party that the three-strikes system is looking to be thrown out by the Government and that system for this perpetration is actually really important to make sure that we also go after the offenders and make sure that they don't perpetrate their crime over and over and over again. This bill and the three strikes can definitely complement each other going forward. The importance of this bill is about reducing the secondary victimisation and trauma when we talk about the video evidence. We do have concerns as well about clause 8 and clause 14. It's not that we don't want the victims to be able to pre-record but we do need to make sure that there is that fair trial aspect. Further to that clause 14 is where a victim may have to give their evidence again. And none of us wants to see that where a victim ends up being re-traumatised because the bill that we've passed in this House didn't cover that off for them didn't make them that extra bit safer. So we do need to look at that in the committee of the whole House and make sure we address that issue.There are benefits and good health outcomes of this bill. It will help reduce mental illness for those victims who have struggled to understand what has happened to them and what to do about it. Some of them get post-traumatic stress disorder depression anxiety and some even attempt suicide because they don't know how to deal with this. Victims suffering mental illness as a result of being re-traumatised are more likely to not get employment to go into their own little shell and to actually move away from the family support and help because they just don't know how to deal with the issues themselves. The justice system should be there to support the victims.There are obvious concerns as I mentioned but there are also some very good points in this bill. We see that having a pre-record we already have some rules set on how to go about doing the pre-recording and defendants will still have access to all of the transcripts and they'll still have lawyers present when evidence is given. And importantly they get to choose who the lawyer is that will cross-examine on their behalf. The onus of this bill is also put on those that work within the system to advise the victims of what they can have to assist them. This includes the victim impact statements being delivered by video rather than by being done in person. Now this is quite important that we have victims actually being told what their options are being included as part of the process.We have and need a just and robust system for all and the victims should not be revictimised. We must never forget the victims. They should be at the forefront of our justice system but not at the expense of a fair trial. So I'm hoping that in the committee of the whole House we can address the concerns that the Opposition have made to clauses 8 and 14. But in the interim the ACT Party is happy to support this bill because we believe the heart of the victim belongs in our justice system and we should be looking after them. Thank you Madam Speaker.