Prasad Rajen: Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Prasad Rajen: Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:693] 
Dr RAJEN PRASAD (Labour) 
: 
 As a member of this House I also want to record a number of points in the second reading of the Sentencing (Offences Against Children) Amendment Bill. One is our abhorrence of violence of any kind and certainly our abhorrence of family violence. As the Chief Commissioner of the Families Commission for the past 4 years I can say that a huge amount of time has been spent on examining violence generally and family violence in particular from a number of quarters. So after that one cannot come to the House and do anything other than join with everyone in this House—not just as members but also as fathers husbands and family members—in abhorring that violence. We are all committed to doing something significant about this problem and to working with the Government to improve whatever proposals are put before us. We come to the House after a political campaign where this particular issue was an important one. But before I reflect on that I want to say that I accept what the Hon Phil Goff said about the sincerity of the Minister of Justice the Hon Simon Power on this issue and the importance of it. Indeed if we could work collaboratively on this matter over the next period then perhaps our collective experiences—not just from our present roles but from our communities and from the areas in which we have worked—might be useful. 
The point I want to make is that we should be looking forward to where the whole notion of doing something about family violence in this country might go. In the campaign we have just completed law and order was a major issue. Certainly Government members campaigned hard on it and—one should be generous—won on it. They promised however that in quick time the problem would be fixed and said that they had great ideas and would guarantee the outcome of family violence being eliminated. On our side we campaigned on our message that a great deal of what was expected of what was required for doing something about family violence had indeed been done and that many many measures and a lot of resources had been put into this area. However the perception endures in the community and every now and again those cases that churn our insides that get us to a stage where we do not want to look at television programmes about particular cases any more bother us. So Opposition members are committed to working with the Government to eliminate this particular area of concern. 
How we proceed to the next stage is really important. There is a huge number of people in New Zealand society—and indeed of those with experience around the world—who can guide us on this. I do not think we have in this House all of the expertise that is needed. What made our 4 years working in the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families successful was that we committed ourselves to bringing together all of the intelligence from across Government departments non-governmental groups Maori and Pacific people in order to focus on the problem. The success in terms of the campaign and the work we started was that we thought about it on the basis of bringing all the knowledge and best ideas together finding the resources then starting a long campaign to change New Zealand’s performance both in respect of family violence and of child abuse. I think that is the kind of approach that is required here as well. 
Consequently I am concerned like other members on this side of the House that we are bringing one matter to Parliament to address when there are so many other pieces to address. Would it not be something to behold if a collective process could be identified so as to add to each other’s thinking develop a programme that needs to be put together bring that to the House and then take it further? But I also remind the Government now of the views it took when it was in Opposition. Indeed it was very hard for the Opposition because its spokesperson on social development was not able to participate in the multi-party family violence group. That was a shame because several years of good experience is now lost and needs to be put back in. So I hope that in the next period there will be a different approach where members on this side of the House will be provided with opportunities to bring their experience to the table and where their input can help to address the problems we face.