6. Women—Workplace Sexual AssaultHon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister for WomenORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSWomen—Workplace Sexual Assault6. Hon PAULA BENNETT (Deputy Leader—National) to the Minister for Women: Is it her responsibility to stand up for and improve the outcomes for women in New Zealand?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER (Minister for Women): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Yes absolutely.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she still think that Many women have had unsafe experiences in the workplace. This needs to stop."; and if so does she consider the grabbing of a woman's buttock in her place of work to be an indecent assault?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: In response to the first part of the question yes. Hon Paula Bennett: Does the Minister agree that an indecent assault—SPEAKER: No sorry. I am going to ask the member to ask the question again.Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Do I have to answer both parts?SPEAKER: I know there were two parts. They were very clear and it is something which is very important.Hon Paula Bennett: My first supplementary: does she still think that "Many women have had unsafe experiences in the workplace. This needs to stop."; and if so does she consider the grabbing of a woman's buttock in her place of work an indecent assault?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: Yes I do consider it a very serious issue. Sexual harassment and assault in the workplace or anywhere else is serious and that's why this Government is taking significant steps like having a cross-ministerial working group on sexual harassment and assault which is being led by my colleague the under-secretary for sexual and domestic violence Jan Logie. That's why we've asked the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment to improve—in fact start for the first time collecting data on sexual harassment in the workplace. And it's very important that we do everything possible to ensure survivors of sexual and indecent assault are able to come forward and encouraged to come forward and make complaints.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe it is trivialising sexual assault in the workplace when the Minister of Justice calls a woman at work who is grabbed on the buttock then followed and intimidated as merely a "pinch on the bottom"?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I agree with the Minister of Justice when he said that indecent assault including—[Interruption] SPEAKER: Order! Order! Sorry I am going to ask for this answer to be heard in silence. This is an important issue and I think that having someone shouted down while they are giving an answer to it is inappropriate. The rest of this series of supplementary questions will be heard in silence. Start again please.Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: As the Minister of Justice has said today and on previous days indecent assault including the case that the member is referring to is insidious and unacceptable. I agree with him.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe it is trivialising sexual assault in the workplace when the Minister of Justice calls a woman at work who is grabbed on the buttock then followed and intimidated as merely a to quote him "pinch on the bottom."?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I agree with the Minister of Justice when he said that indecent assault including the case the member is referring to is insidious and unacceptable.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she still think that "the more people know about the scale of the problem the more we can do to address it."; and if so does she think describing an indecent assault in the workplace as a low-level offence helps or hinders understanding of the scale of the problem that New Zealand workplaces have with sexual misconduct?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: It is absolutely the case that there is a problem with under-reporting of cases of sexual assault and indecent assault and disproportionate sentences of seven years without parole under the three-strikes law make it harder for survivors to come forward and harder to convict people of assault.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Does the Minister think that trichophilia which is an obsession with female hair should also be an offence?SPEAKER: Not an area for responsibility.Hon Paula Bennett: Will she speak to the Minister of Justice about his appalling comments trivialising sexual assault in the workplace and ask him to publicly apologise to the hundreds if not thousands of women who feel hurt and stigmatised by his antiquated describing of "a pinch on the bottom" comments?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: As I've said earlier to this member I agree with the Minister of Justice when he says indecent assault including the case the member is referring to is insidious and unacceptable. I believe that the Minister is doing very good work including working very closely with my colleague the under-secretary for domestic and sexual violence and ensuring that women have greater access to the type of justice and the type of support that they need from this Government and I won't ask the Minister to apologise for raising issues with our broken criminal justice system.Hon Paula Bennett: Does she believe it's acceptable for the Minister of Justice to refer to a sexual assault in the workplace that stigmatised and traumatised a woman at work as merely a pinch on the bottom?Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER: I have every sympathy with the woman who experienced this at work. We take it very seriously and like the Minister of Justice I think that that case is insidious and unacceptable."