Dunne Peter: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Dunne Peter: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:609;Page:6338] 
5.  
Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: Will the Government introduce legislation to fix the legal anomaly whereby women cannot be prosecuted for having a sexual relationship with a minor but men can; if so when? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Acting Minister of Justice) 
: Yes. The Government has been working on a comprehensive review of those sections of the Crimes Act that deal with sexual offences including the gender neutrality anomaly that the member refers to. Cabinet approval for the changes involved was granted on Monday so the question is very timely. I expect a bill to be drafted and introduced in the very near future. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Given that the Minister of Justice said in April that he had been working on this for some months and that legislation would be introduced imminently can the Minister now explain why a further two-and-a-bit months down the track we still have no definite date for the introduction of this legislation which is a comparatively simple amendment? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: As the Minister wrote to the member concerned in April this year Cabinet will be making decisions on a revised sexual offence regime in June. That is exactly what has occurred. Cabinet made the decision on Monday. I appreciate the member’s concern about the need for legislative change. However it was important to address a whole range of other anomalies. The review deals with a significant number of other issues including for example time limits on prosecutions for certain offences against 12 to 16-year-olds. I think the House would agree they were important amendments to make. 
Dianne Yates 
: Has the Government’s review of sexual offences considered the issue of drug rape; if so what has the Government decided? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Yes. As I said before this was a comprehensive review of sexual offences. The Government has agreed to include amongst the matters that do not constitute consent to sexual connection that the person is asleep unconscious or too affected by alcohol or drugs to have the capacity to consent to sexual activity. 
Richard Worth 
: What issues if any are more pressing in the Minister’s portfolio than the resolution of the issue referred to in the primary question? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: A number of issues have been of concern in respect of the justice portfolio. The fact that we have taken this opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of sexual offences when the Government that that member was a part of took 9 years to do nothing in this area is a good indication of our priorities. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: In view of the announcement made by the Minister in April that some form of change was imminent does the Minister think it right that in the interim in the case of the swimming coach and the 13-year-old boy it has now been left entirely to Swimming New Zealand to deal with the issue? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: No I do not find the current situation satisfactory. That is why the Government has made the decision to change the law in this area. It would have made no difference to that case if the law had been introduced earlier or we were introducing the bill today because its application will not be retrospective.