Prasad Rajen: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — First Reading 
Prasad Rajen: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:994] 
Dr RAJEN PRASAD (Labour) 
: 
 It is my pleasure also to talk on this bill and to underscore the fact that Labour supports it. Labour supports any action for the elimination of family violence in our society. We see family violence as a horrible horrible curse that our nation faces when we look at any figure any data that anybody in this Chamber or outside quotes for us. But when it happens in our homes and amongst the ones we love the most in our society and when it happens in secret then there is something fundamentally wrong with our society. In the end it is about us and we do tolerate violence. We tolerate violence in our society and we do not do enough to eliminate that from society. We talk a lot about it but in the end the figures go up and up and up. It is a problem that everyone needs to own—every person needs to own. 
One does get frustrated at the violence in our language the violence in our images and the violence in talk-back radio programmes. What we want to do to somebody else and the way we express that in violent language is really part of the particular problem. These are real families these are frightened people and these are vulnerable women and children. Yes Mr Garrett is right: men are also caught up in this. But fundamentally it is gendered because men do so much more damage than women. We need just to look at any data as well. But I would not be fairly representing the many men who have come to see me as well unless I agreed that what Mr Garrett was saying needs also to be said. So without taking anything away from the horrible performance we have as a society and that of men it is important to acknowledge that some men are also victims. 
Anybody who has worked in this particular area would really want to do everything possible to help so it is important that at this time and this close to Christmas when as Women’s Refuge figures show us the violence rates go up so dramatically Parliament must send a message. My colleague Hone Harawira is right to point out that at this time before Christmas it is important for Parliament to send a message—even through this debate and how it is reported in the media—about the importance for our families to focus and to be conscious over this period of what they do when they believe violence is about to occur for people to keep themselves safe and to seek assistance and for those who are perpetrators when they recognise that something is about to happen whether it is through drinking or some particular behavioural issue to get some help in this Christmas period. 
I also want to reflect on what Lianne Dalziel said in the introduction. Fundamentally the response to family violence—to all violence—has to be integrated; doing it in a piecemeal fashion is what we have done for years and in the end somebody else has to try to fix it again. So I welcome the consensus there is in this House and indeed the way the Minister has been conducting himself on this particular issue. As occurred in an earlier bill there is a willingness to work across parties and that is a genuine offer we certainly want to take up. 
However I want to also reflect on the election campaign we have just had and the way in which during that campaign we politicised this question as well almost beyond belief—even in the way we looked at the violence statistics that were coming out. We kept saying time and time again: “Look at what explains the largest increase in family violence—the 19 percent increase in family violence offences in the June 2008 year.” Much of that was because of the work we had been doing as a society through the “It’s not OK” campaign and how that came through. Yet we did not have an honest discussion about that. I think the figures were deliberately misinterpreted and the suggestion that crime was rocketing in South Auckland and that South Auckland was a no-go area was pushed. 
I hope we remember the way we had that discussion and debate during the campaign. It was not helpful when it comes down to trying to find real solutions to what is an awful problem. This is not to deny there is a problem. As I have already said yes there is. But much of the campaign was orchestrated and sometimes we question the genuineness of some of those marches we saw. I certainly have not seen them on some of the occasions that have occurred since the election. So we politicised the issue. 
In 2004 when the then Minister the Hon Steve Maharey really heard what the workers in this field were telling him—that there was a problem and we were not getting anywhere—almost in the identical week prior to Christmas 2004 he called a group of us together sat us down and said: “Find the solutions.” That was the beginning of the family violence task force. It is instructive how that group has worked. It was set up carefully; it took until about June 2005 to set it up for the right people to be brought around the table. Those people from across Government departments the non-governmental organisation sector Maori society Pasifika society and Crown entities were given the responsibility and were told: “Go and find a solution and find a way of doing this that will give us long-lasting solutions.” 
The work of that particular committee is quite instructive about how to go about designing a solid solution to an intransigent problem in our society. We had the right people around the table and we found out what we knew nationally and internationally about this particular area. Some members may have read the  
Beyond Zero Tolerance 
 publication from the Families Commission that brings it all together and says to stop doing more research to take what we know and to apply it in a systematic way over a long period of time. The evidence said that if we did that we would begin to turn our society around. So what was required was sustained effort in this particular area—something we have not had. We have had single acts of conscience around this particular area but when we bring together a sustained programme we have to realise it will take a number of years. 
Senior people came to the task force and they also had to have the authority to commit their particular organisation to work on a consensus basis. The process was owned by the group we fought and argued but what came out was a multi-pronged approach to family violence. I hope the select committee has the benefit of that as well when it begins to look at this bill. The group came up with a concerted long-term programme to really change the attitudes and behaviours of New Zealanders. Unless we do that somebody else will be standing here having the same argument trying to fix this particular problem. So the “It’s not OK” campaign which resulted in the “It’s not OK” language now has been very very successful. But we cannot just do that and then leave it. There were community-led initiatives throughout the country; there was a whole range of programmes where local people were working on this issue. 
Much of what they did was quite fundamental. Leadership needs to develop on this issue throughout the various spheres that influence it—in our families in our churches and in our communities. Once we do that once we bring that together we can then design the next level of programmes we need to address. Family violence will not go away; it will take a number of years and it will take resources. I hope the Minister is committed enough to this to ensure that those agencies working with this issue have the resources to do it. 
Finally I would like to say that it is good to note before Christmas—and this is a good present for our families—that this bill will go to a select committee. I would encourage those people who know quite a bit about this issue to come up to the committee. There are people from many parts of New Zealand where there are programmes in place: Wairarapa Waitakere the business community are engaged Amokura up north is working in this area and women’s refuges up and down the country. I hope the select committee invites the family violence task force to appear before the committee so that it can really understand the best effort we have had in this country to address this issue. If that happens I believe that what comes back to us will be a much better product. Thank you.