Ghahraman GolrizGOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN (Green): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. It is an honour to rise in support of this bill and it is such an honour to do so with Jan Logie beside me. She has been a champion and a booming voice for victims and survivors of domestic violence for so many years in this House and out there through this sector on the grassroots sitting on the shoulders of such great activists and lifting up others bringing her lived experience. This is Jan's life's work.So as this House celebrates the passing of this bill we must celebrate Jan and as we celebrate Jan it's important to note that good lawmaking the kind of lawmaking that really pinpoints the problems we're here to solve and then really pinpoints the solutions that are going to make a difference to people's lives out there comes from people like Jan getting to sit in this House. It comes from representation.This bill does two important things. It first gives due recognition to the physical and emotional cost of abuse a cost that can only be truly recognised if we as a society are willing to share in it. So then it does just that. Today we say that victims and survivors of abuse have a right to remain in the workforce and still get a little bit of time and space—time to leave time to regroup. It's actually a small gesture but without it so many have been stuck for so many years.Generations ago New Zealand recognised the necessity of financial emancipation for victims of domestic violence when we adopted the domestic purposes benefit. The DPB was meant to recognise that victims of abuse shouldn't have to choose between their own physical safety and being able to take care of their kids—let's remember that the next time we attack and sanction solo mums on the benefit.Today Jan's bill recognises that for those in the workforce leaving an abusive relationship often means losing their livelihood losing their important connection with the outside world and losing themselves and becoming even more dependent on their abusers. Survivors need time off to get mental health care and to find a place to live but one of the things that struck me as I listened to Jan's speeches on this bill has been the recognition that actually the time immediately after leaving an abusive relationship is the most dangerous time. She needs to be able to change her routine otherwise her abuser knows where to find her and today as a society we're going to support her to do that because being violence-free is actually a fundamental human right.Having to choose between being in employment and being violence-free is discrimination. It's just one of the many many ways that we blindly discriminate against victims of abuse. The solution does seem very simple now that we see it. It seems like someone should have already thought of it but they didn't—not in here. Jan did because she's got those connections with the grassroots with the activist movements with the survivors. She's not just another politician and it shows in this bill.This year is the 125th anniversary of women getting the vote in New Zealand but we did have to wait 26 more years before we could sit in this House and as we're learning at this moment in global history the one-vote-per-person democracy model doesn't actually guarantee all of our rights. It doesn't guarantee our right to be heard to have bodily integrity or to be free from harassment. We need to be at the decision-making table—like Jan was—in order to highlight the real problems faced by women and by minorities because actually as women our race our religion and our disabilities do also define our experiences out there. We are far from true representative democracy yet at the decision-making tables out there but we need to celebrate lawmaking like this.Today we promise lawmaking by the affected communities for the affected communities through this bill. We are saying to victims of domestic violence that that's a problem we care enough about to solve because their lives matter. So it's with great pleasure that I commend this bill to the House.