Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): It's a huge honour to get to stand and mark this occasion which is a really significant moment in New Zealand's history. I would like to acknowledge—add my voice of acknowledgment to Jo Hayes for bringing the bill to this point. I think I said in my second reading speech and I'll say it again you've brought us all to this point and that is no small achievement. To get a bill passed is one thing but to bring the House together in support of a piece of legislation is very significant. I want to acknowledge you and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians and of course the wonderful Dr Jackie Blue for all of your work to bring us this piece of legislation and to the point of passing it in a united way this evening.Of course it's important too to acknowledge Shakti who have been acknowledged by many speakers this evening. They brought this issue to public attention and it is where they've been telling us for many years that our response to family violence wasn't meeting the particular dynamics that many of the women that they were supporting were experiencing and that they identified significant gaps in our legislation. Forced marriage and particularly forced marriage of girls were particular holes. They've also brought to our attention dowry abuse as well as female genital mutilation. So I want to really acknowledge their work and note that this piece of legislation is significant in improving our collective response to domestic violence.I too again will acknowledge the member Priyanca Radhakrishnan for her important academic work in this space from when she was working at Shakti that clearly defined this issue as an issue of domestic violence and that it is not an issue of religion because there is no major religion in the world that supports this practice and it is not a matter of culture because there is significant variation in the dynamics of domestic violence across socio-economic groups. Therefore it cannot be considered to be a culturally bound issue. However we do know that certain populations and groups of young women are more likely to experience these dynamics around family violence. It is really important that we listen to their experiences and respond appropriately as legislators and as parliamentarians. So it's fantastic to see that happening tonight.As has been mentioned by others this is not a huge issue. There are not thousands of young women being affected by this. But the truth is we don't exactly know the scale of the problem. Shakti over I think a five-year period have talked about working with about 300 cases of forced marriage. So that's not necessarily exclusively young women but does give us a sense because of course that's not going to be all of the cases. We know that in terms of refuge they will only see I think about 10 percent of the cases of family violence across the country. We know that this is likely to be more significant than what the numbers tell us particularly in relation to forced marriage. Statistics New Zealand identified 282 sixteen-year-olds and 17-year-olds who were recorded as married in the 2016 data. So there is a specific population that we need to make sure that we are meeting their needs and protecting in fact.I do want to acknowledge the work of the Justice Committee as well in really grappling with some quite gnarly issues I think in relation to the bill. I personally felt that it was significantly strengthened. As a personal opinion I would've loved to have seen—and maybe that's the next step—that we said No." to marriages of 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds full stop. But the bill certainly went beyond marriage and included de facto and civil union relationships. I think of course when we think about the fact that our human rights legislation says that there shouldn't be discrimination on the basis of marital status it makes sense that we should broaden this legislation and ensure that protection for our girls in de facto and civil union relationships. I also understand that you know there is a particular type where marriages may not be formalised within our legal system but are culturally sanctioned. That would not necessarily have been covered by the bill in its first form. So I think that is particularly important.What it will mean is that their judge will need to consider whether the girls want the marriage and that they fully understand the implications for their life of getting married at that time. I think they are very important considerations. But even more than that the judge will also be required to be assured of the free will and to assess whether the marriage is in the best interests of that girl taking into account her age and maturity taking in the views of parents and guardians and wider information including cultural reports which is part of this and that there will be legal advice and representation available for these young women.I do think that while taking in the advice from parents and their viewpoints is important it is the major shift that as our law at the moment allows marriage for 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds with parental consent it is really important that we are putting that in the context and with ensuring judicial oversight of that. We've heard from young women recently at the rally that Shakti organised just a few weeks ago: a young woman talking about how—saying and in quotes—"I know that listening to your parents seems like the right thing to do but it was wrong." talking about her parents forcing her into a marriage she did not want to enter.We tell young people all the time that you need to listen to your parents you need to do what your parents tell you. It's one of those things. But when there's violence at hand and views that take away and have lifetime consequences for those young women actually we need to be able to intervene and be able to say "Actually no. It is not appropriate what your parents are asking you to do. You have free will."I spoke in the first reading of forced marriages as a form of slavery where there is in effect State-sanctioned rape and binding of girls to lives of degradation. That is something that we all need to stand against. I want to congratulate Jo Hayes again and this House for coming together and making that stand and another step towards a society free of domestic violence for everyone."