Pugh MaureenMAUREEN PUGH (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. I too feel very privileged to be speaking to the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill today and as other speakers have said pay tribute to all of the work that's gone on in the background particularly to Jan Logie who has provided the analysis of the cases from between 2014 and 2018 that were stark when we read them. We've got close to 24000 cases which were analysed but actually out of that less than a third of those cases that were reported to the police actually got to the court. Of those only 10 percent ended in convictions and only 6 percent ended up in a term of imprisonment. So there's clearly something that needs to be corrected because Lady Justice is all about balance and it just feels as though there is a very strong imbalance in the system that allows that kind of skewing of the numbers. I do take the invitation from Meka Whaitiri seriously. I think that would be a good opportunity for the Justice Committee to have some expertise on it. I wonder if other members would be keen to nominate which other members would be replaced in terms of—[Interruption] But yes I do understand that the select committee is going to have a balancing act and we do need to make sure that the considerations are fair because there's going to be some very subjective things that we're going to be asking our judges and lawyers to do. As a matter of course going through the notes you realise that the judges are going to be required to do several things. I note enactment of this bill will be July 2021 so by the time we get this bill through the passage of legislation and enacted I hope that the select committee will be taking cognisance of how much time it will take for the system to be retrained for the scenarios for the judges and lawyers to be worked through so that we have consistency in our judicial system with some of those rulings that will be made and the subjective requirements that will definitely come out of this piece of legislation. There are going to need to be some changes in the logistics inside those courtrooms for the provision of evidence for witnesses for the complainant and also for the defendants. I too take note of some of the other contributions where you know as a mother of two sons we do absolutely need to protect the complainant so that there is a safe place for the case to be heard but the last thing that we want is to risk an alleged perpetrator becoming a victim themselves because it is their family their reputation and their livelihoods that are also at risk in this. So again Lady Justice will need to find some balance there. In terms of the operational issues inside the courtrooms I just want to put a plea out too that there are some logistics that need to be addressed—the ways that victims complainants witnesses and defendants will give evidence and evidence will be heard so that they are protected. You know for instance if there are video systems that need to be put in place private rooms etc. I'm putting out a plea that these are not just put in place in the big city courtrooms. We have small rural district courts around this country and other courts that may not have the same population base but still deserve the same facilities so that these cases can be heard all over the country and enjoy the same protection and respect everywhere. I just want to make another short contribution about the cost of this. There will be cost implications and although the select committee won't be turning its mind to that I do hope that the cost will not be a barrier to implementing any changes that are found by the select committee and indeed at the end of this bill. I commend this bill to the House.