Ball DarrochDARROCH BALL (NZ First): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a pleasure to rise on behalf of New Zealand First in support of this the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill. There are a number of reasons why it is a pleasure not least of which is that it should be and it is a non-partisan issue. The fact is that we all agree that this is a very important topic that we need to address and we're making some very good progress. This is the first step in that long pathway of progress.I'd like to congratulate and acknowledge the National members when they were in Government as well for bringing that voice and acknowledge the Hon Amy Adams for her efforts bringing this issue to the fore as well. Actually something that she mentioned made something pop into my mind where she talked about her daughter. I too have a daughter. As every parent in this House we will defend and protect our children and our daughters to the end. When we need to put that trust in a system to do that for us we need to ensure that that system is working 100 percent not only on our behalf as parents but on behalf of those victims in the future as well. I think that if we all identify that there are current issues with that then I think it behoves us to make sure that we get it right and this bill is going one step towards getting that whole system right.I think even when the National Party has some issues that they want to explore in select committee—I think that we all understand that. We need to take that very seriously and make sure that the legislation as mentioned is absolutely 100 percent protecting the victim through this process but also ensuring that fairness in the justice system that we demand in our democracy.I'm not going to go into too much detail of what the bill does. Obviously we've heard from the Minister and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in good detail on that but I think it's important to mention in my speech the main aims of the bill and why New Zealand First is supporting it. The first is where it tightens the rules around the evidence. Obviously the unduly invasive questioning that we've heard is—the situations that some victims are put through through that questioning process is unbearable and we need to try and fix that. It also gives evidence in alternative pathways we heard whether that be prior to the trial giving evidence remotely and ensuring you only do it once and not having to repeat that for the victim.It requires judges to intervene in inappropriate questioning. It was one of my assumptions and hopes that it was already occurring but to ensure that it occurs this bill is addressing that as well. Obviously it improves protections and processes for child complainants or witnesses which is vitally important. As mentioned by Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jan Logie this Government is committed to addressing family and sexual violence and this is part of that. I'd like to hope—and like I've heard today—all parties are keen to do that and we welcome that. We're moving forward with that.This technically addresses the Law Commission's recommendations in the 2015 and 2019 reports and amends the Evidence Act 2006 the Victims' Rights Act 2002 and the Criminal Procedure Act 2011. New Zealand First is obviously supporting this bill and we will be ensuring that we in a non-partisan way with all of the parties in this House go through the select committee process give the legislation due process and ensure that we come up with a piece of legislation and it goes through this House finally and passes. We have a very good piece of legislation that helps fix the current situation that we have within our system. Thank you Madam Speaker.