Martin TraceyHon TRACEY MARTIN (Minister for Children): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. First of all can I acknowledge the Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jan Logie. This is a big moment actually. Can I also acknowledge the members on the other side of the House because I think the Hon Alfred Ngaro was quite correct that while we cannot agree at this moment in time it cannot be forgotten that at the first reading we all did. At the first reading we all did agree that there needed to be a circuit-breaker to what is a terrible unfortunate situation that happens in our country—that we lead the world in something that we should all be ashamed of.As the Minister for Children we know that when children are inside homes where domestic violence takes place they themselves are then victims of domestic violence. We have tried and I want to acknowledge the Hon Alfred Ngaro and how he said for years we have been grappling with this—and he himself on the front line with others on the front lines has been grappling with this. It hasn't worked to date so whatever we've been doing to date hasn't been enough and there needs to be a circuit-breaker.I think to be that circuit-breaker we need to be brave enough to take this step because in my view—in our view—this is not only about acknowledging and providing the space for victims of domestic violence to leave to gain assistance and to find themselves a way out but it sends a message to them from this Parliament that we know you are there. We know it exists we know it's not sick leave and we know it's not annual leave; we know that this is violence against you and we want to stand with you and allow you the time to get out and get your children out. Please for the well-being of our nation please hear us—that we know it exists we know you are there and we're asking you through this message of leave that we have provided to take it up.I do want to acknowledge again the Hon Alfred Ngaro and the message that he sends around concerns they have around small and medium sized business. New Zealand First shares that concern. There were two Supplementary Order Papers that we were able to negotiate with our coalition partners and with the author of the bill. One of them was to shorten the period of time in which a sort of retrospective complaint I suppose—or if an employee asks their employer for leave under this piece of legislation there are many opportunities for the employer to decline because their business cannot manage the cost of it. That's very real. We acknowledge that and so does Ms Logie because it's inside this piece of legislation. New Zealand First doesn't want to put employers in that spot—and I'll talk about that in just a minute. But what we have said was that instead of having a period of 12 months whereby somebody who was declined for this leave could then take mediation or a complaint against the employer we think that only six months is reasonable in that case. There shouldn't be a year that that can carry over.The other thing we did was we listened to the submission from Rural Women around the 10-day period when a request is made for a change to the working environment for the protection of the victim—that that actually should go from five days to 10 days. We appreciate the fact that Ms Logie was able to accommodate us with that.But I think the biggest and the most pleasing conversation that we had was with the Minister of Finance. We share the Opposition's concerns around a financial burden to small and medium sized businesses particularly. So that is why we have a commitment from the Minister of Finance that the Tax Working Group will as part of the work they are doing be looking at the tax deductibility of any leave taken under this piece of legislation.I will signal here that New Zealand First will be continuing to push once that work is done. We will wait for the Tax Working Group to come back with their recommendations around that. But we do feel that not only is this a way to make sure that we understand as a country that we must all take responsibility for what is a curse on our nation quite frankly but a side effect of that will actually be the tracking of this leave because we don't have any data collection on this. One way to make sure we have data collection about the numbers of days that are applied for under this piece of legislation is to actually give the capacity for small and medium sized businesses big businesses—whoever—to apply for tax relief for the number of days taken so it can serve two purposes. I want to give that assurance out to the businesses out there in New Zealand that New Zealand First also agrees with the Opposition. We just came to a more constructive outcome with our coalition partners and we will continue to push for that constructive outcome to make sure that we balance what is the message we need to send to victims here but the balance is that we need to also be able to support our businesses who I believe and I articulated in my previous contribution on this piece of legislation—we believe they are not disconnected from their communities. They want to participate in this but there are times when they are going to have to say no and we want to minimise those times because we know that those businesses want to support their employees. They want to see domestic violence in this country lessened. We think this is a step in the right direction. Before I complete my contribution I want acknowledge Jackie Blue. So I'd just like to acknowledge Jackie Blue. I'm not supposed to do so but I am because the presiding officers are not listening! But there have been strong women in this Parliament. Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jan Logie is one Jackie Blue was another and there's going to be another bill that will go through this House that the spirit of Ms Blue actually comes into the place with it. So can I acknowledge her as another woman of such strong character and strong commitment who has made a change in the world that is a positive one. So kia ora to you. Again can I acknowledge Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jan Logie. Thank you for the constructive way you worked with New Zealand First. We're pleased that we were able to come to a place to support this because there must be a circuit-breaker here not just for the direct victims of domestic violence but for the children that are in the homes where this violence is perpetrated. We must make a change. Kia ora. Thank you.