Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Isn't it a nice afternoon on Thursday afternoon to have women from both sides of the House agreeing on the importance of our judicial system and that it well represents the needs of women in New Zealand. I'm proud to be part of a debate where there's clear agreement across the House on such an important issue.We have a judicial system which always aims to hold an offender accountable and to protect the rights of victims but particularly in the area of sexual violence that can be a really difficult area. I couldn't think of a more unwelcoming place to talk about sexual history or sexual activity than in front of a courtroom and media for any woman to have to stand and give evidence. So what this bill attempts to do is try and make those obstacles those difficult times within an adversarial court system far more victim-friendly and I welcome that victim-focused approach that this bill endeavours to take.We've made a big commitment this Government—and I acknowledge the work of Jan Logie—to try and make our justice system work more effectively in order not just to protect the rights of victims but to increase our reporting rates; to give women the confidence that if they report a sexual violence crime they will be treated with dignity and respect within our system. That in many instances in the past has been lacking.Now I acknowledge as previous speakers have done that there is an important process in place in a trial for questioning in order to determine what has occurred but there have been many instances where there have been unreasonable lines of questioning and particular instances where an individual's sexual history clothing or practices have been brought into question to the point where the character and the very moral fibre of that individual is being questioned above and beyond the need within the case. So this legislation seeks to find a better balance to enable witnesses—and not just witnesses but those who are victims—to have a greater sense of confidence.I'd like to note the work that Amy Adams has already referred to and that's the Sexual Violence Pilot Court that has been trialled in both Auckland and Whangarei. I was lucky enough to attend a visit there and to speak to some of the judges who had actually run that pilot and it's interesting to note that some of the practices that have been implemented through those two pilots are exactly some of the changes that this piece of legislation now implements. The two key ones are that there is a pre-recorded statement so the ability to have a pre-recorded statement that is outside of that adversarial environment—that can be done and that is able to be used and submitted as a choice—and the second one that has been implemented in those pilots is the ability for judges to interrupt inappropriate lines of questioning if they believe them to be so and I think that that's really important.We had the really excellent opportunity to directly ask those judges how they did that and how that worked and it worked incredibly well. All the reports from those two pilots gave evidence that cases progressed better and that victims reported a far better experience through our judicial system and if we have more victims coming away from the court process whether the offender is found guilty or innocent—if we have those who have been through a sexual violence trial reporting a better experience then I believe that will spread the word and hopefully more women will report crimes of sexual violence and have a better understanding that our system is responsive to their needs and understands that women need to have their dignity and their mana respected within our court system.I won't speak further. I'm really proud to see a piece of legislation that takes an excellent step in the way of respecting women's rights yet still trying to definitely maintain the importance of the court system to give that appropriate balance. As a final point I think it's really important the pre-recording element. The ability to have alternative ways to include audiovisual link or CCTV is just as important for our children and young people—not to have to put young people through a traumatising experience when giving evidence when they need to. I think that's another excellent advancement in this area. I'm proud of New Zealand to be leading the world in terms of making changes to how our courtrooms run in order to respect the dignity of people and making sure that people are looked after as well as justice being upheld. I commend this bill to the House.