Kedgley Sue: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — First Reading 
Kedgley Sue: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:986] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 Domestic violence is a huge and disturbing problem in our society today. When the cross-party working group on family violence—which of course was established under the previous Government—visited South Auckland recently the police were quite clear with MPs that youth gangs were not their major problem and that a vast amount of their time was taken up dealing with domestic violence with the majority of it being suffered by women and children. 
Sadly we live in a society where far too many women continue to be physically sexually and psychologically battered and abused and some women are even killed. Police statistics show that between 2000 and 2004 56 women and 39 children were murdered in family violence - related incidents. In 2005 to 2006 over 65000 children witnessed family violence and that is just the number of recorded incidents. Apprehensions by the police of male offenders numbered over 25000 and in the same year there were over 4400 breaches of protection orders nearly 3000 of which resulted in arrest. Also half of all murders in New Zealand are family violence - related. 
As horrifying as these statistics are they are just the tip of the iceberg. They are a damning indictment of a society in which so many adults—principally but not solely male—still think it is OK to control their partners or children through the use of physical force. For the Green Party non-violence is one of our four founding charter principles and our commitment to non-violence led us to take such a firm stand on the need to amend section 59 of the Crimes Act so that there is no longer any defence in law for beating whacking or hitting children for the purposes of correction. 
The Green Party is very aware of the deficiencies in the current domestic violence legislation which became law in 1995. Prior to the election we had welcomed Labour’s proposal to amend the Domestic Violence Act. Like other parties we have had only a day to consider the new Government’s Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill which we are debating today but at this stage we support the legislation at its first reading although we acknowledge that there may be some issues with its implementation and more that needs to be done in this area. 
We are very relieved that the bill is going to a select committee. We are very thankful for that because there are we believe a number of sensitive issues around the law in this area. We need the input of experts in the field. We need to hear the voices of those who have experienced domestic violence at first hand of those who have worked with victims and offenders and of legal experts who have a much greater knowledge of the finer points of this area of the law than lay people which most MPs are. 
The key element of the bill in front of us is that it introduces the ability of the police to make on-the-spot protection orders for victims of domestic violence. These orders will allow police to remove offenders from the home for up to 5 days allowing time for the victim and her children if she has them to make arrangements for their ongoing safety and well-being. These on-the-spot orders will be applied only where the police do not actually arrest the offender but believe there is an ongoing risk to the victim. There will not be a requirement for the victim to consent to the protection order. 
The positive aspects of this step are that the orders have the potential to keep women safer for it removes the necessity for a battered partner to be the one who has to say whether an order should be issued. A further advantage is that from the point of view of the subsequent Family Court proceedings the fact that the police have initiated a protection order as a result of being present at an incident of domestic violence means there is little room for argument as to whether something has happened. In addition these on-the-spot protection orders have the potential to help prevent further violence because once an order is in place and if a partner breaches it the police have the immediate power to arrest and charge the offender when the breach occurs. 
The downside is the well-known difficulty of getting the police to respond adequately to breaches of protection orders and this is another implementation issue that needs to be addressed by improving the culture around police responses. Another risk we see with the amendment is that the police may not necessarily be well trained or experienced in dealing with domestic violence. Offenders can present as being in control at a scene of violence while a victim can be distressed and out of control and it can be easy for a misplaced judgment to be made in favour of the calmly manipulative partner. Another downside is that because the order can be instituted without the involvement of the woman she can end up feeling even more disempowered about her life and her situation. 
So in supporting this aspect of the bill we believe that certain safeguards need to be put in place. The police need more and better training in dealing with domestic violence victims deserve to be put in touch with advocates immediately and in every such situation and groups that provide those advocates like Women’s Refuge need to be funded adequately to cope with the workload professionally as well. 
There are several further aspects to the bill beyond the introduction of police-initiated protection orders. It proposes that when criminal courts are sentencing someone convicted of a domestic violence offence the court will be obliged to consider making a protection order on behalf of the victim if it is for the victim’s protection and if the victim does not object and once the order is made the defendant will be required by law to attend a Stopping Violence Services programme. All of this sounds fine as long as the organisations responsible for the Stopping Violence Services programmes again are adequately funded for the vital work they do. 
A third key element is an amendment to the Bail Act allowing the police to impose bail conditions that will provide more explicit protection for children. Again on the surface of it we find it hard to see any downside to this amendment. Children are often the unseen and unconsidered victims in adult domestic violence situations. We support anything that can be done to better cater for their welfare and well-being. For all these reasons the Green Party will be voting for the Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill today and looking beyond this particular bill we hope the Government will act quickly to sort out a number of other problems in this area as well. We would like the bill amending the Domestic Violence Act that the Labour Party brought forward to proceed as well. 
There is an urgent need to lower the costs of obtaining protection orders. It is all very well for the police to grant an order for 5 days but victims still have to find a way to fund getting a further order after that if they need one. More training is needed for all involved in implementing the laws around domestic violence—not only the police but also lawyers counsel for children and judges. Victims of violence should be eligible to receive free counselling and more support beyond what is available through the Accident Compensation Corporation. But above all it is up to all of us to do everything we can whoever we are and wherever we are in society to help end the culture of violence against women and children—and of course against men where that happens too. All of the social marketing campaigns changes to the law and fine words in Parliament will not alter anything as long as citizens in our country think it is OK to carry on with this kind of behaviour themselves or to remain complicitly and covertly in support of the abusive actions of others. 
Finally we also point out that as long as we have television that is saturated with violence and as long as we have young children growing up watching videos television and computer games that instil a culture of violence and make violence seem an acceptable and legitimate way of solving disputes the sort of violence we are discussing in this debate will continue to pervade our society. We need to take action to reduce the culture of violence in New Zealand and the amount of violence on television as well as taking the positive steps that this bill proposes to take.