Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Kia ora. It's great to be able to speak to this bill as well and I think the speeches around the House indicate that there is strong support in this House for this bill. I think it's because everybody here recognises the importance of the work that this Parliament and Government need to do in regard to families and especially violence within the family environment. That is something that probably could have been undertaken by the current Government a lot earlier in the process rather than having to wait till 10 or 12 months into their term before we get to this bill but it is a bill that was set up by the previous Government and reflects many of the reforms that were set up at that time and it's good to see that the current Government is going to fulfil those ambitions and see this bill passed as well.There are some changes there—or some parts of this legislation—that have been thoroughly traversed through the speeches this afternoon but one of them is a better understanding of family violence and how to respond. We all understand the need for that in our communities and it's part of a new way of dealing with family violence. It reflects those decisions made by the previous Government on how to reduce harm and the cost inflicted on those that have suffered family violence and also the wider New Zealand community.The bill amends the criminal and civil law and the legislative framework around keeping victims of family violence safe. It holds perpetrators of family violence to account for their behaviours ensures adequate resources to family violence in all forms and promotes consistent and collaborative practices. So those are important principles that nobody would deny or debate and those principles are seen in the legislation where victims must be protected from all forms of violence the disruption to everyday lives of victims is to be minimised responses are to be culturally appropriate responses to Māori must reflect the community and practitioners are to work together to protect victims' safety. So those are all very nice words and those are all things that we want to see happen but the reality is that family violence can be a very difficult situation to deal with. It can reflect a number of social problems going on in our communities and it can be something that is ongoing and not a one-off incident. Some of those situations can be tragic in the sense of what it does to the family environment as well and that can have longstanding influences on the next generations of New Zealanders that suffer from family violence within their family and their community. So while we are talking about very abstract and wide terms it actually has a real impact on families communities and especially the children that have to grow up in those environments so it's important that we do this legislation to support those people that suffer from family violence.There are also some initiatives in the bill around perpetrator behaviour trying to get in earlier in the process to basically be in front of the problem. That is something that all political parties have now adjusted their thinking to and they are supporting intervention rather than at the other end of the scale. We see that through this bill as well in protecting victims by making it easier for police to issue orders and to prove a breach. Those protection orders are an important tool that the police have in the situation to deal with family violence and this bill is important in providing more support for those protection orders enabling them to be used more effectively with the aim of reducing the fear of violence.There are also more reforms in the bill around keeping victims safe and that is something that we see emphasised in the previous Government's approach to criminal justice and we would encourage the current Government to carry that approach on because often the victims are forgotten about in situations in the criminal justice system and it's really important in legislation that we actually make this a focus and look at the victims and this bill does do that. Thank you.