Power Simon: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — First Reading 
Power Simon: Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:979] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I move  
That the Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I will move that the bill be referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee for consideration. We all know that family violence is a problem in New Zealand accounting for over 80000 recorded events per year: 39 percent of homicides 42 percent of kidnappings and abductions 44 percent of grievous assaults and 64 percent of serious assaults. We cannot legislate away behaviour that is clearly the product of broader social attitudes that we hope will shift—but only over time. But the way agencies respond to family violence can save lives and reduce the impact on victims. This bill is the criminal justice response to some of those issues. It is predicated on the belief that we can still do more to strengthen the response from the criminal justice authorities to protect victims of family violence and to stop them from becoming another statistic. 
The main purpose of this bill is the introduction of police-issued on-the-spot protection orders—a move that was first announced by John Key on 1 November 2007. At present family violence protection orders are made by a Family Court judge and restrict the alleged offender’s contact with the victim. However victims must apply to the courts for protection orders and many never go through with this process because of either the delay the costs involved a lack of trust in the system or fear of repercussions. Against the background of a steady increase in reported family violence the number of applications for protection orders has actually declined 26 percent from 1999-2000 to 2005-06. This bill allows police to issue on-the-spot protection orders to address the immediate safety of victims—that is the vulnerable partner and children—in the violent situation by removing the alleged violent person from the home for a period of up to 5 days. 
Police will issue the orders in situations where there is an insufficient basis to arrest—that is a very important distinction to make—but where they believe there is a likelihood of domestic violence occurring and an order is necessary for the safety of the victim. The orders will provide a period of safety in which victims can consider their future options including the possibility of a court protection order. Significantly it will not be the police’s responsibility to find accommodation for alleged offenders for the duration of the order. It is important that these alleged violent offenders take responsibility for their actions and realise that their actions have consequences. Another serious consequence for the subject of the police order is that while the order is in force the provisions of a parenting order or an agreement allowing that person day-to-day care of or contact with any children is suspended. This measure has been a long time coming. I acknowledge the Hon Annette King’s work and the previous Government’s commitment to legislation in this area. Unfortunately it was not until 2 days after the Parliament was adjourned in September that the last Government’s bill was tabled. We indicated early that we would have supported that legislation throughout this process. 
Once this bill is referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee I will be particularly interested in hearing the select committee’s work about views on the time frame for the police-issued on-the-spot protection order. The proposed duration for the order in the bill is for a period not exceeding 5 days which is longer than the proposal that the previous Government had suggested—that is not a criticism; it is just a fact—but shorter than the 2-week period I personally would have liked to see in respect of this. I say to that select committee that I encourage genuine discussion about the appropriateness of the time frame and I look forward to receiving their advice on that issue. 
The bill also provides an opportunity to re-examine other provisions relating to the protection of victims of domestic violence. The current criteria for arresting those who breach protection orders are repealed because they create more hoops for police when deciding to arrest than exist for offences under the Crimes Act. The two-tiered penalty structure for breaches of protection orders is removed leaving only the maximum penalty of a term of imprisonment not exceeding 2 years. In addition—and I think extremely important—failing to attend a court-ordered programme such as anger management will attract a specific penalty of up to 6 months’ imprisonment. The bill also amends the Sentencing Act so that when the criminal courts sentence a person convicted of a domestic violence offence they must also consider imposing a protection order on behalf of the victim. This is important because it does not place the victim in the situation of having to request or seek the order; rather it leaves the court in the position of being able to make the order without putting the victim in a very difficult situation as is often the case in our courtrooms. Finally this bill proposes a change to the Bail Act 2000 so that when police arrest persons for domestic violence offending they may also impose bail conditions that more explicitly protect children. 
The review of the Domestic Violence Act undertaken by the previous Government identified other matters relating to the Care of Children Act. I know from discussions with the Opposition spokesperson on justice the Hon Lianne Dalziel that she is keen to see those issues advanced. I can tell her that I have asked officials this morning to revisit the matters more closely related to the Family Court. But this bill is quite deliberate in its focus on the response of the criminal justice system. I do not pretend that this bill will stop violence from occurring in the home nor do I imagine anybody in this Parliament does. But as a first step it is designed to give both police and criminal courts enhanced tools to provide victims of domestic violence with immediate protection and to help keep victims safe from further violence. That I hope will in turn help those victims to reclaim their homes.