Pillay Lynne: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Pillay Lynne: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 20 October 2009. Volume:658;Page:7355. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand again and speak on the Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill. I was a bit remiss in my first speech so I will now also add my compliments to Chester Borrows for his excellent chairing of the Justice and Electoral Committee. 
I will also take this opportunity to acknowledge the submitters. They include the people who work at the coalface in the many organisations who came and gave submissions. They did so because they are very very committed to providing protection for victims of domestic violence. I not only acknowledge the submissions that they gave but also the work that they do on a day-to-day basis. I know that it makes a real difference to the lives of predominantly women and children in New Zealand and I am very proud to acknowledge that in this House. 
I also acknowledge the victims of domestic violence who made submissions. I believe and I am sure that all members will agree with me that that is a very brave action to take for people who have already been through very very difficult situations situations more painful than anyone in this Chamber can contemplate. For them to be able to come to the select committee and share their stories in a very meaningful way assisted us in our deliberations and that was a very very brave thing for them to do. 
Again I acknowledge the Hon Ruth Dyson and the points that she made in terms of the bill’s shortcomings or in terms of what is missing from this bill. I acknowledge that another bill is following this one but if we look at the domestic violence statistics every hour is an hour too long. Every day is by far too long. That is why I am pleased that we are debating this bill under urgency. Let us get this bill through; let us get this bill into effect as soon as possible. 
I will also talk about a couple of issues in Part 2 particularly those relating to the amendment to the Sentencing Act. We spent quite some time considering the effects of the protection order and I am really pleased with one of the amendments that we made to new section 123D to be inserted in the Sentencing Act by clause 9. The section states: “On making a protection order the Judge or Registrar must explain to the offender—”. The initial draft of the bill talked about the effect and the consequences in a couple of lines but select committee members discussed quite extensively how important it is in this situation that offenders understand what is required of them with regard to the protection order. It is not just the order that is important but also the direction to attend a programme that will assist offenders—well we certainly hope so—to address their violence and the consequences if they fail to do so. 
Where there is an order that offenders are required to attend a programme and they fail to do so there will be consequences arising from that. I believe that that is a very sensible amendment. That direction is about protection and safety in the immediate instance and also about looking forward and ensuring that offenders take responsibility for their actions.