Changes to the proposed anti-stalking law are welcome but they don’t go far enough say community victim advocates.

Leonie Morris, Manager of the Aotearoa Free From Stalking (AFFS) project at the Auckland Women’s Centre, says it is unlikely the bill will cover stalkers who are deluded or lying about how they think their behaviour will be received by their victim - “and those are big categories to say the least”.

“Large numbers of stalkers say things like ‘I love her, therefore she must really love me texting her hundreds of times a day’ – even if the woman has shown little to no interest in the stalker,” says Morris. “The current bill's lack of clarity around this risks upholding rape myths like ‘women don't really mean no when they say no’.”

The bill states that police can warn people that their behaviour may be considered a stalking offence if they continue, but police are not required to notify the victim before they warn the stalker.

“It is vital victims are notified if police are contacting their stalkers,” said AFFS Kaiwhakatuhono Awatea Mita. “Stalking is often part of intimate partner violence, and a visit from the police can be cause for someone using violence to retaliate against their victim.”

The AFFS advocates emphasise that the law will only be good as its implementation.

“While we welcome the proposed changes to the bill, which make it better than the legal status quo, resources and planning are now required to ensure police take a victim-centred approach,” said Layba Zubair, AFFS community organiser. “As the tragic death of Farzana Yaqubi and, more recently, the Michael Forbes case both show, we need adequate police training now about serious, victim-centred responses to stalking and gender violence more generally.”

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