Warren-Clark AngieSEXUAL VIOLENCE LEGISLATION BILLSecond ReadingDebate resumed from 11 February.ANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise today to take a call on this very important piece of legislation the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill. When I was writing my thoughts down around what I was going to say today I often reflected on what my purpose was in speaking to the legislation. What do I want to say and what do I think the community would be interested in hearing? I think certainly for me this is one of the reasons I came to Parliament. I have worked for 15 years prior to coming to Parliament in the field of family and sexual violence and one of my goals in coming to Parliament was always about looking at this particular part of the legislation that affects victims and perpetrators of sexual violence.Having worked for that 15 years in front-line positions and also in policy positions and also having been a lawyer and a trained barrister and solicitor for me this is a part of the law that has been problematic. The stories and the tears that I have seen have been—I guess certainly for me it has been a privilege to hear those stories but they are so very very hard to hear and they are also so very familiar and common. There are common themes that we hear over and over again in this field of law and they are things that I have always wanted to address being in Parliament. So with that it's my privilege to be here speaking about this bill. I remember at law school learning evidence and I remember when we were talking about the crime of rape and sexual assault. I remember our law professor in a great law school I must say. We had a guest speaker come in to talk to us from the police and he was a good prosecutor. He was a good man. But the thing that he told us that day was the one story—the one story—of the woman who lied about her sexual assault. That was the story that we heard in regards to the context of sexual assault at law school. So there was a bias sitting in the teaching and the learning and the understanding. There was a bias that sat there at that point. I'll talk a little about this later about the myths around victims and rape. But that for me as a law student looking back all those years thinking about the learning that we all had at that time was that women lie about rape—and that for me was a very difficult thing to hear then and it is something that I think this bill is addressing when we talk to the myths.This bill has been across two parliamentary sessions. I would like to acknowledge the previous Minister and the current Minister for this work and I'd also like to acknowledge the 80 submitters who came to give their evidence. I'd also like to acknowledge the officials and all those who worked on this bill. This work is tough work and it is important that we as a Parliament look at the rights of victim/survivors and the context of the rights for our defendants to have a fair trial. It's a difficult balance.But here are some statistics that I think tell us that we haven't got it right. Of every hundred incidents of sexual violence reported to the police 31 of those go to trial; 11 result in conviction. But what we know about that is that only 6 percent of victims report—6 percent of victims report. So something says to me that this system does not offer a way forward for victims. I would like to also note that 24 percent of women 6 percent of men and one in two transgender people are affected by sexual violence in their lives. So this is an issue that is uncomfortable and it is large and we need to do something about it. So again I say I am delighted to be here talking to this bill.Of the 80 submissions received by the Justice Committee—and I was not a member of that select committee so having read over some of those submissions—there are some really useful changes that have been made. One of the things that I think is very crucial with the changes of giving evidence is the opportunity to give evidence not necessarily in the court but by private hearing. It's recorded and pre-recorded. Now there are two things. What victim/survivors have told me in the past is that it may be a couple of years before their court case gets to court and then they're expected to give that evidence. This actually prevents—they can give their evidence very quickly or sooner after the alleged crime has occurred and at that point they can set it aside for a time. The judge then gets to decide whether that evidence is fair. So there has to be a fair trial process. The judge gets to evaluate that and at that point—and I'd just like to mention that the Hon Simon Bridges talked about the fact that it's an unfair system. At that point the judiciary the judge gets to decide whether in fact there is a prejudice happening an unfairness happening and that person can then be asked to give evidence in person. So that is a matter which enables and rebalances a system which the Opposition has said they feel uncomfortable about. I certainly think it goes some way towards addressing the concerns.Now in my final three minutes—two-something minutes—I would like to talk about the myths that exist. The reason I talk about this is that this was part of the legislation discussion and part of the changes that have been brought to this House. We talk about the myth of her asking for it the myth of a person being drunk the myth of her spending time at a place that was perhaps unacceptable the myth of walking somewhere in the dark the myth of walking somewhere in the light—the myth the myth the myth. All of these things are things that now a judge can take into account and advise the jury or their peers that these things can't be taken into account. I think that that's really important because of the inherent bias that exists in our system which I spoke about at the beginning of my speech which is that these women these victims—and they're not always women—lie. They ask for it. It's their fault. And the shame for all of us is that those women and men who are victims take on and have those beliefs as well which therefore results in only 6 percent of people reporting.So as a consequence we have a justice system that reflects our beliefs our values and our biases. So I am delighted to stand and speak in regards to this bill. I want to acknowledge the survivors and victims out there who are brave enough to come forward and those who are too afraid and ashamed not to come forward. I want to acknowledge those who are working in this area. It is hard work. They do good work. It is sound work. And I'd like to thank them for that for the compassion and the acknowledgment that these stories count. I commend this bill.