Upston Louise: Urgent Debates — Roast Busters Case—Independent Police Conduct Authority ReportText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeUpston Louise: Urgent Debates — Roast Busters Case—Independent Police Conduct Authority Report[Sitting date: 19 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2455. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Women): Unlike the member Sue Moroney who has just spoken I actually do not think there is too much disagreement in this House this afternoon. The fact is that we are standing here discussing an issue when there is a group of girls who deserved better than they got. But they deserved better than they got from a wide range of people and organisations. And I do agree with the member who just resumed her seat that it was the boys who actually took these actions in the first place who deserve the greatest criticism. I have not heard that enough in this House. Every New Zealand girl deserves to be safe. The fact that we have boys who think that that kind of behaviour is acceptable is exactly what we as a Parliament as a country as a society and as families need to deal with first.This debate today however is about the report that the Independent Police Conduct Authority has delivered. There is no disagreement in this House that that report is tragic reading because those girls were failed. There is no disputing that. But I do dispute the fact that actually for the first time in this Parliament’s history it was the Minister of Police who requested that the Independent Police Conduct Authority investigate. I think that says it all. And the comments in the House from the former Minister of Police and the current Minister of Police I think say it all in terms of how frustrating and how disappointing it is to read a report like we have today.But I think in the wider context of this it is important that we do not go so far with this as to leave the New Zealand public with a view that the New Zealand Police are failing us because I do not believe that that is the case. There have been some significant findings in this case that absolutely must be addressed. There have also been some learnings that have already started to be addressed by this Government.As the person who stood out in the forecourt here in Parliament to receive the petition that Jessie Hume had organised with over 110000 signaturesI can say that actually the behaviour of those boys and their view that they could get away with it was why there was that level of outrage and disgust from one end of the country to the other. That is what we as a Parliament have to address. I am not going to speak specifically about the actions that will come out of this for the police to address but I have absolutely no doubt that the commissioner is very clear about the views of how important that is.The previous speaker said that this Government has done nothing. Well that is absolute rot. That is absolute rot and I want to take a minute to go through some of the things that we have actually done as a result because I do not want that misstatement to be left in this space.Sue Moroney: Who said that? Whoever said that?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: You did. The previous speaker Sue Moroney did say that we had not taken action. There has been additional funding into rape prevention. The Minister for Social Development put $10.4 million into specialist sexual violence services. ACC launched their Mates and Dates programme. A New Zealand sexual violence primary prevention strategy is being developed. The Minister of Justice has pressed the button to make the Law Commission’s work on proposals to improve the victims’ court experiencea high priority. There are specialist restorative justice services for sexual violence cases. There is an endless list of work that has taken place because of the concerns around making sure we protect victims of sexual violence. It is unacceptable. It is unacceptable for girls in this country to be valued any less than anyone else. The fact that this action has taken place has demonstrated some of that and it is intolerable.