Victims of Crime Reform Bill

The Green Party is supporting the Victims of Crime Reform Bill because we support victims. On the eve of International Women’s Day, I need to challenge the Government’s grand claims to be taking crime and victims’ rights seriously. When more than one-quarter of New Zealand women are likely to experience domestic violence and sexual violence in their lifetime, we know we have a serious problem. This is what drives crime in this country. We know that only one in 100 victims of sexual violence is likely to see a conviction in our courts. We know that police are likely to be called out to an incident of domestic violence more than once every 10 minutes. This is the shame of our country.

So what has this Government done to support these victims that it claims to champion? Well, it has finally brought back this bill, after 4 years of languishing on the Order Paper, and it has paid for a resource around culture not being an excuse for abuse, which we think is fabulous, even though it has refused to increase funding to the much-needed culturally appropriate services for victims. It is thinking about putting cameras on police officers, GPS on some offenders, and locks on some victims’ homes—never mind when those victims have to put out the rubbish or their washing.

It has introduced sexual violence court advisers, though not in a way that met the Law Commission’s recommendations. That is the kind of package of what it has done. Then it has reversed three Cabinet decisions that were aimed at helping child witnesses. It has reduced access to legal aid, and now many women are paying thousands of dollars for protection orders. The Government has failed to ensure that these very protection orders that women are paying so much for are actually enforced by the courts.

It has made changes to the Family Court to save money rather than fixing the really well-documented problems of victims of domestic violence. It has introduced Family Court fees of almost $900. It has removed the Bristol clause, which was meant to protect children from domestic violence. It has allowed police to change reporting so we cannot monitor the statistics. It has stopped work on improving the court system for victims of sexual violence, even though there was so much support for a lot of the provisions in that. It has cut funding to prevent sexual violence, though we hope to turn that round through the inquiry, but some organisations have fallen over in the meantime. It has failed to seriously fund rape prevention education. It has allowed the numbers of perpetrators being referred for treatment to decline. It has effectively cut funding to refuges and has not recognised or supported the need for increased support in Christchurch. It has let the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families basically stagnate. And Housing New Zealand evicted victims of domestic violence for damages done by their abusers. The Green Party believes that all women and children have the right to be safe in this country, and that requires a comprehensive approach, not this piecemeal, token, pathetic attempt to cover up inaction.

Well, that was a very good speech by Jan Logie about everything that the Victims of Crime Reform Bill is not actually about. Every member of this House—in fact, every person in New Zealand, I am sure—would agree that everyone deserves to be able to live safely in the community. The reality is that some people commit crime, perpetuate crime, against innocent members of society, and this bill is very much about ensuring that the State rightfully acknowledges the fact that through no fault of their own, innocent New Zealand citizens have become victims of crime. We often talk about putting victims at the heart of the justice system. I prefer to think of it as the State acknowledging that those citizens need support because they have been offended against, through no fault of their own, by members of society who—for some reason, often lost to themselves and others—believe that the rules do not apply to them.

I just want to finish the contribution because this has already been spoken to at length, but one thing that is very important about this particular bill is the way in which it deals with victim impact statements, and the ability for a victim of crime to express what that crime has meant to them and the way that crime has impacted on their life. This gives them the opportunity, in an unedited and forthright manner, to be able to demonstrate that to whom they see fit as part of that process. If we are talking about the State supporting people to move through that very, very difficult passage in their life, then this part of the bill goes absolutely to the heart of supporting victims of crime.

Crime is at a 33-year low in this country. If we want to talk about how best to support victims, it is to ensure that they are not victims in the first place, and that is something that this Government takes great pride in. If the Green Party members who stand here and protest so avidly about what this Government is doing or not doing actually took time to support the bills that this Government is passing to prevent crime, then maybe crime would be lower than 33 percent. But we know that they will not support anything like that, because we know that they are actually pro-criminal while trying to talk about the fact that they are actually supporting victims. They cannot have it both ways.

Bill read a second time.