Graham Kennedy: Domestic Violence Amendment Bill Sentencing Amendment Bill (No 2) Bail Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Graham Kennedy: Domestic Violence Amendment Bill Sentencing Amendment Bill (No 2) Bail Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Readings 
[Sitting date: 20 October 2009. Volume:658;Page:7366. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) 
: 
 I do not intend to take up very much time of the House. I will just reiterate the support of the Green Party for this proposed legislation as we had conveyed in the first and second readings. We think this legislation is a good example of the success of the Justice and Electoral Committee in operation. It worked well and harmoniously. In fact it is good to see the House united on an issue as important as this one and I take the opportunity to join in the congratulations to the chair Chester Borrows not just on the way in which he handled this legislation but on the way in which he handles all issues before the committee. 
The Green Party has shared the concern articulated by the Opposition pertaining to some of the omissions in the legislation particularly the four that were cited. There is no point in reiterating what they are; I think we have internalised them very acutely by now. Whether it is an opportunity lost or simply an opportunity deferred will prove to be a matter for the future. I would offer the personal view that I am quite confident that the Minister of Justice will in his very capable way address those omissions in the future. We will certainly be looking forward to seeing that in legislation. 
Let me conclude with a more philosophical point if I may in response essentially to comments made by one of our colleagues from ACT during the debate on earlier bills—I think the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill and the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill—where I think that Mr Garrett looking through a glass darkly concluded that the Green Party somehow sympathises with criminals. It is just worth noting in passing by way of clarification that of course we are not sympathising with criminality per se at all. The difference between the Green Party and ACT in that respect is that we do not have a policy that stresses punitive justice. We have a policy of restorative justice. Where we confront these issues at the margin we may well have differences of view. 
There is quite a broad commonality running through all parties in this House when it comes to handling law and order and crime. But our philosophy is that it is equally important to understand the social causes of crime as in fact the Minister Mr Power himself mentioned in the first reading and again in the third reading. We can tinker at the margin as much as we like and I would not want to denigrate this legislation in that category. The Green Party is indeed as sympathetic towards victims as any other party in this House but equally so it is very important to understand the social causes of what brings individual humans to criminal acts and to seek to redress those social problems. If we put as much energy and creativity into that endeavour as we do into seeking to increase the prison population then I think we will do better. 
As Sue Kedgley said in the first reading if we have a society that is saturated with violence on television computers and videos and we almost encourage our children to grow up imbibing that culture then we will be simply reinventing the wheel of violence generation after generation. We will be seeking to give succour to victims as indeed we will be obliged to do morally we will be looking to expand more and more prisons at vast financial and social cost and we will be simply engaging in an eternal cycle of punitive vengeance. 
There is a difference a philosophical difference between ACT and the Green Party but I suggest there is more in common than Mr Garrett may have misperceived. With that mild comment in reply I simply reiterate that the Green Party is very very happy indeed to support the legislation congratulates both the Minister and the chairman in this respect and looks forward to future legislation.