Bishop to hold public meeting on family violence
Bishop to hold public meeting on family violence
Chris Bishop, National List MP based in the Hutt Valley, will soon host a public meeting on the government’s new discussion document on New Zealand’s family violence laws.
The meeting will be held on Monday 7 September at 7.30pm at Gracefield School Hall, Bell Road.
The discussion document, launched in early August, takes a hard look at the way the law prevents and responds to family violence, and proposes a comprehensive rethink to strengthen New Zealand’s legislative response.
The Minister of Justice, Hon Amy Adams, will be present at the meeting to listen to feedback on the document and answer any questions.
“The level of family violence in New Zealand is appalling. Last year alone, more than 100,000 incidents were reported to Police – around one every five minutes. What’s more, nearly half of all homicides and reported violent crimes are family violence-related. There are no easy solutions to this extraordinarily complex issue, but this Government is committed to better addressing the problem. The home should be a safe place for all women, children, and men and we need to do our best to protect victims from re-victimisation.
The discussion document
raises a number of starters for discussion,
including:
• establishing a set of standalone family
violence offences
• creating an additional pathway for
victims, perpetrators and whānau who want help to stop
violence, but don’t want to have to go to
court
• ideas about improving the accessibility and
effectiveness of protection orders
• doing a better job
of sharing information where family violence concerns arise
between agencies and within the courts
• considering
compelling police action in certain circumstances such as
requiring mandatory arrest for all breaches of protection
orders
• more prominence to victim safety in related
legislation like the Care of Children Act and bail and
sentencing law.
“This review is just one part of
government work toward a coordinated, integrated and
efficient response to family violence and sexual violence
and is a central part of the cross-government package
announced last year by Prime Minister John Key,” says Mr
Bishop.
The public consultation document is available at
https://consultations.justice.govt.nz/policy/family-violence-law.
Submissions can be made until 18 September.
ENDS