SpeechDr LIZ CRAIG (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's a real pleasure to rise and speak in support of this bill and just to acknowledge my colleague Angie WarrenClark—and congratulations on getting this bill to this point. We know this is something that Angie Warren-Clark's very passionate about after having spent many years supporting those impacted by family violence. So congratulations—it's great to see it coming through.Now this is a very important issue. The Petitions Committee recently considered not only one but two petitions in this area—and I know a number of colleagues have acknowledged Ashley Jones and the role she's played in raising this issue here in Parliament; so it's really great to have her listening in tonight but also there was a second petition by Charlotte Abrial who looked at the same issue. What she was asking was that legislation be passed to shorten the time required for separation just down to six months in situations where there's family violence.This is an incredibly important issue for so many people because if you look at the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse what they estimate is one in three New Zealand women have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime. But when you include psychological and emotional abuse that rises up to 55 percent. So this is something that impacts many many people.As we know—we've had it traversed a bit tonight—New Zealand's got a no-fault system. What that means is a judge doesn't have to consider why a marriage has ended or the role that either partner played. The only ground really is that the marriage or civil union is irretrievably broken down and that needs to be established by the judge understanding that the couple have lived separately for two years or more—and that needs to have happened immediately prior to them putting in their application. We think back What was the original aim of that?" I think it was really to make sure that people had made up their mind and that decision was final. But in a situation where you've got family violence then reconciliation may not either be appropriate or desirable.I think for many people having to wait two years because they're meant to make that decision is not really appropriate. I think this is reflected in some of the comments that were included in the written submission for one of the petitions considered by the Petitions Committee that was just talking about the impact of having to wait two years in a context where somebody could then take that and use it as a way of staying as part of your life; and as people have mentioned the risk of potentially having somebody taking out loans or financial implications for that. One of the other quotes basically just said that the mental battle of knowing that it's for two years makes trying to get counselling and healing to move on really impossible. So just that whole situation was difficult. Another comment that was made was that you can also see it being a barrier for people leaving domestic violence situations if they have to contend with the situation for another two years.So in response to Charlotte's petition in August 2022 the Petitions Committee recommended that the Government review the requirement for the two-year period between separation and dissolution of marriage. This bill is a very important step in that direction because what it means is that people will be allowed to apply for an order to dissolve their marriage or civil union if they've been the victim of family violence and that family violence has been inflicted by the other partner in that relationship.It actually will allow the marriage or civil union to be dissolved immediately—not waiting for that two years or even for a shorter period of time. But for that to be established the court will have to make sure that the grounds are there. So what you'd need is a copy of the court's decision to make or register a protection order under the Family Violence Act 2018 or the Sentencing Act 2002 or a copy of the order itself. That would be required just to demonstrate that family violence has occurred. But apart from that there wouldn't be any requirement for you to wait for any period of time.Just one note though; the commencement is delayed by six months just to allow courts to be able to put the necessary changes and processes in place. This is just a really important bill. Again congratulations to my colleague Angie Warren-Clark and I'm very very happy to commend this bill to the House."