Penk Chris; Dyson RuthCHRIS PENK (National—Helensville): Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to join in the debate at this the first reading of the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill. Other speakers have noted in solemn tones the issues that it is we are addressing and seeking to improve as a matter of legislation—and of course that's entirely appropriate given the subject matter.I'd like to provide a little bit of analysis if I may before of course the bill passes through to the select committee as it will no doubt do on completion of this reading. The Minister of Justice Andrew Little has nominated the Justice Committee of which I'm a member. So I will look forward—along with fellow members of that committee—to examining the bill in more detail at that time.The first tension I suppose I'd like to acknowledge is the benefit and the cost. So the benefit of course is that if we can make the lives of victims easier victims specifically in relation to sexual violence then of course we should; indeed we must do so. The potential cost of course is the issues that others have already raised in relation to ensuring that every person has a fair trial—noting of course that those who are not yet proven guilty are deemed innocent under the law and that is as it should be.In a similar vein on the other side of the coin a complainant is not a victim technically speaking so far as the criminal law is concerned until such time as they have been deemed as such following a fair trial. So that's important as a matter of justice and also from the point of view of confidence in our judicial system.Having said that taking a step back the next dichotomy of course is the problem and the solution. Others have noted already quite rightly the extent of an issue whereby there are very few convictions as a proportion of complaints and trials in relation to matters where there is alleged sexual violence. Of course it's impossible to place a correct number or proportion of convictions because each trial of course must be heard on its merits but it does sound as though there is a very low conviction rate potentially in relation to the real situation. I understand that research indicates that very few actual incidents are reported in the first place perhaps for reasons that colleagues have already mentioned. So our starting point I think along those statistical lines as well as the anecdotal evidence sadly that we have so much of in this country is that we need to consider very carefully if there are ways that we can improve the law in this regard.The solutions to these problems are set out—the intended solutions certainly—in the legislation and it's worth considering those very carefully in terms of the extent to which they will be helpful and perhaps ways that they might be improved as well.I approach this task with humility in the sense that I don't have a great deal of personal or professional experience in the area. So I will be listening carefully as I'm sure all the members of our Justice Committee will—and I acknowledge the chair the Hon Meka Whaitiri here and perhaps other colleagues too. We will be listening carefully to submitters who will no doubt have lots of interesting perspectives from a place of personal and professional experience.One thing I do know though—and I want to sort of say aloud as part of this debate—is that every human has inherent worth and dignity. So man woman or however an adult identifies and so too children—all of these human beings must be protected against the scourge of sexual violence. So it's right that we take very seriously situations where this is alleged to have occurred and do our best to provide a measure of justice in that way.It's almost impossible to speak of justice without reflecting on that notion of balance. Classically justice is represented with the scales and so it is that when we consider the particular measures in the bill—for example the hearing of evidence by ways outside of a traditional court room setting; for example the proposition that cross-examination be pre-recorded—we'll need to bear in mind the balance that's necessary to ensure on the one hand a fair trial and of course on the other justice in the sense that a victim's experience must be recognised and the truth of the matter must be arrived at as best as any human institution such as the court can possibly manage.With that I'll end my contribution except again just to reiterate that I look forward to learning more about the technical aspects of the bill and certainly to take the advice of those who are learned in this regard and see if we can go forward with this legislation in a way that is appropriate for our statue book and our justice system.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Ruth Dyson): This is a split call. I call the Hon Meka Whaitiri.