Upston LouiseHon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Women): Tomorrow I start the celebration of 123 years of suffrage in New Zealand an area that New Zealand is a world leader in giving women the first vote across the world. We are also proud at the moment of our Paralympians including Sophie Pascoe and we are a world leader in terms of the medal count per capita. Unfortunately another area that we are a world leader in—but it is something that we do not talk about and are not proud of—is our tragic record in the way that we treat women. Each and every day there is sexism sexual harassment and sexual abuse whether at home or at work. This week alone in the news we have seen a business leader we have seen rugby teams we have seen a news presenter and in fact we have seen a politician who did not make it into Parliament. If I was to comment on every single case that I was asked to comment on there would be nothing else that I could do because it is rife in this country. That is why as a Government—I am proud of our Government and our strong record in terms of what we have already done and yesterday's announcement of our comprehensive package of reform for family violence and sexual violence should have every single member in this House celebrating the tough issue that we are confronting. But that is fine—if Opposition members want to take to personal politics and instead have a go at me personally go for it. At the end of the day when I came into Parliament I said I would focus on the issue and that is absolutely what this Government is doing in focusing on the issue. We are tackling the toughest area and the area that affects more women in New Zealand from one end of the country to the other. One of the things that I am particularly proud of is being a member of the Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence. This is a comprehensive piece of work that our Government has embarked on and the difference is instead of trying to tackle it from individual areas it is comprehensive. I am particularly proud of the work that the Ministry for Women has done in the space of primary prevention because at the end of the day unless we are tackling primary prevention we will continue to see more girls and more women harmed in New Zealand. So in the space of primary prevention whether it is involvement in things like ACC's Mates and Dates whether it is family violence with the multi-agency group pilot in Christchurch and also in the Waikato or whether it is the Ministry of Justice's programme announced yesterday this is a Government that is tackling the hard issues and progressing them each and every day. I am proud of what we have done I am proud of what we are doing each and every day but as this House knows it is about every single person—and what they do and what they say about this particular issue—actually standing up and taking action.Hon David Cunliffe: What about rugby players?Hon LOUISE UPSTON: And if the Opposition wants to say it reflects on one particular sport I am sorry that that is where your focus is because it is easy to say and anchor it on one particular sport when the reality is there are men up and down this country who do not respect women. That is the fundamental issue and it is why we have such significant rates of family and sexual violence. Focus on the issue. The issue is the lack of respect and that is where primary prevention starts. I am also particularly proud of my colleague Joanne Hayes and the member's bill that she has which has been accepted into the family violence reforms around coercion to marry. [Interruption] I do also want to acknowledge the cross-party work—the cross-party work I am happy to acknowledge—of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians group in terms of progressing this issue. Hon Member: They're not the Minister for Women.Hon LOUISE UPSTON: Where do you think those discussions get progressed? In the ministerial group on family violence. If you are not big enough to accept that I feel sorry for you. At the end of the day our Government is taking this job seriously.