Little AndrewHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. It's a great pleasure to take a call in this the third reading of the Domestic Violence—Victims' Protection Bill and to congratulate the sponsor of the bill Jan Logie for the incredible work that she's done not only on this bill and indeed on the Government bill on domestic violence but in the work she does as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice on domestic violence. It's not only I think a feather in the cap of this Government but actually a real testament to her to her drive and energy and dedication and commitment to the cause of this issue that is one of the worst kind of black marks against this great country that we have the level of advocacy that she provides and the determination to see these issues through.You see the real pity about the speaker who's just resumed her seat Judith Collins is that she was a Minister of Justice once—a pretty hopeless one sadly and I don't say that lightly. She's probably the laziest Minister of Justice we've ever had. She didn't achieve a great deal apart from completely mucking up the Family Court—failed reforms of the Family Court that are now seeing victims of domestic violence required to enter mediation processes with the perpetrators of the violence against them. That is the depth of thinking of the member who has just spoken and indeed the party from which she comes. Absolutely hopeless—don't get the issue; never have.Chris Bishop: Why don't you pass our family violence reforms? Why don't you actually do something?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: As for their spokesperson on police he's a complete disaster—never understood it doesn't understand it.Actually what this is is a civilising bill—a bill that does nothing other than require employers to do the basic civil thing of understanding when an employee they have is a victim of domestic violence support them to get the very basic assistance that they need and provide the flexibility to allow that to happen.Look it actually sets up a number of hoops for that to happen which I think—it's unfortunate that in this day and age we have to have legislation that assumes the employment relationship starts from a position of distrust. But I hold the National Party responsible for that because that's the way they've allowed employment law and workplace relations law to go for the last 30-odd years. You see they don't trust workers. Here's the bottom line: we have an Opposition—both when they are in Opposition and when they were in Government—whose starting point is that workers cannot be trusted workers are a difficulty workers are a barrier and you've got to create all these hoops and constrain them and rein them in because workers can't be trusted.I've got news for members opposite having spent 20 years of my life working with workers and their employers to say that's actually not how employers in New Zealand see their workers. That's not how employers in New Zealand view their workforce. Employers value their workforce value their workers and I've seen some employers doing some amazing stuff bending over backwards to deal with the specific needs of some employees because they know that's the right thing to do. And there are so many employers for whom you negotiate the employment agreement and the first thing they do when the negotiations are done is they shove the agreement into the bottom drawer because they don't ever expect to look at it again because they know that the reality about good employment relationships and good workplace culture is actually building the relationship. You take your individual employees their particular needs and good quality management that is respectful and courteous of their workforce builds them together builds a workplace culture but respects the individual.That's actually the reality of most New Zealand workplaces. That is the aspiration of most New Zealand employers. There are rogues big and small and we can pretty much name them but we're not going to because today's a day of celebration and of courtesy and of respect—at least on this side of the House—because this is a measure that will afford support and ultimately protection for some of the most vulnerable in our workplaces: that is those who are victims of domestic violence those who are just looking for that break at work to go and get their affairs sorted out. It gives some flexible working arrangements to go and assist them through what is a difficult and traumatic time in their lives not just for them but often for children who are involved as well. It's an opportunity or chance for time mandated by the employer to go and get the help that they need and sometimes that help might be having to deal with the person who is the source of the violence against them and to provide some additional leave.And how miserable it is that the previous speaker from the Opposition Judith Collins should say that no this is all about the dairy owners having to take more cost. Look I know dairy owners in my neighbourhood—fantastic people—and they look after the vulnerable. They are good people. They're good and they believe in family—the dairy owners I know—and the strength of family and they'd be the first to reach out and say You need a bit of time. Of course we're going to let you have that time because our small business is built on the strength of the relationships of the small number of us who are in it." They don't take that miserable niggardly view that the members opposite take. And isn't it a shame because that is a party as we know stuck in the 1950s.They can't get their head around criminal justice reform. Their idea is "Look we just bang more and more people into prisons and we'll spend billions and billions more dollars on building prisons" because that's all they know. They don't want to know the causes and they are definitely not interested in real solutions. They are the party of the past they are the party of old they have no idea and they still don't understand that that's why it is they're sitting on that side of the House. But look good luck to them. Good luck to them and long may their miserliness and miserableness last because that's not what New Zealanders want of a Government.New Zealanders now are very clear. They expect compassion and caring from a Government and they want some guidance and some rules and some protections for people. One thing is very clear as well: for New Zealanders now their expectation of what the Government will do to address the insidious problem of domestic violence is greater than it ever was before. More victims of domestic violence are coming forward more reporting to the police. New Zealanders' expectations about what this House will do and what this House will mandate be done are never higher than now. That is why it is right for this House to take every opportunity in fulfilling its mandate and its charter to the people to actually take some responsibility and provide for those means and those mechanisms that mean that the victims of this nasty insidious type of offending can get the help that they need. And why would that not also include the help in the workplace?It's good that we have a police force that is increasingly more responsive and sensitive to the needs of the right interventions for domestic violence. It is good that we have other public institutions that have an increasing and improved—although Jan Logie would say and I agree with her still not there yet still got a long way to go in terms of the understanding about the extent and depth and nature of the problem and how we respond to it. But when we even get the public institutions sorted out and on board why would it not extend to the workplaces and to the private workplaces as well to say "Look we're all in this together." Our small little country at this end of the world with this dreadful problem that we've hidden and concealed for so long and never really been prepared to step up to why wouldn't we say "We're all in this. We're all in this together."?We've got to fix domestic violence because in my role as Minister of Justice and dealing with criminal justice issues I know the impact that it's having. I know the impact on young people and on children of repeated and recurring domestic violence—what it does to them what it does to their little brains and what it does to their life chances as well. And unless we get on top of domestic violence and do this stuff and do everything we can we are just going to keep filling up our criminal justice facilities—whether the youth justice facilities or the big prisons—with more and more people. We've got to deal with domestic violence and it is the responsibility of all of us here in public institutions here in this Parliament and in every workplace across the land.That's what we must do. I congratulate Jan Logie for her terrific stewardship of this piece of legislation. This will have an amazing impact for so many victims of domestic violence and I will stand with pride next to Jan Logie and say "We've done our bit." We've done our bit to support her leadership and her stewardship. This is going to make a big difference and it's going to make a big difference to me in my role as Minister of Justice and future Ministers of Justice whichever side of the House they come from; as long as they're not as lazy as the last one. Thank you."