New family violence laws coming into effect tomorrow (Monday 03 December 2018)

On new family violence legislation the Justice Under-Secretary on Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence Issues Jan Logie has this to say:

“We had an uneven response so this evens it up. So male assaults female will remain on the books so we can track the gendered nature of the violence but also now we’ll be able to track some of the other forms of family violence.”

“What we are trying to do is everything we can to prevent the violence in the first place and intervene as early as possible so things don’t escalate and when victims are telling us and they’re often telling friends, family, workmates, doctors, counsellors, a lot of times or teachers, and they are not getting the help they need when they are making those disclosures, so that whoever you tell they know what to do to actually wrap around and give the support you need. And that we shift our focus from holding victims responsible for their safety which is pretty much business as usual at the moment. To say to this person who is choosing to use violence, you can change and we’re going to wrap around you to stop you from using violence again and you shouldn’t and you don’t need to and you’ll be held accountable and we’ll support you to change so you can have good relationships.”

Plus speaking up as a Green MP on the divisive nature of the online debate happening around self-identifying gender legislation:

“I find this debate really sad. In 2007 the Human Rights Commission did a comprehensive review around the rights of transgender people in New Zealand and they found conclusively that being trans was not a lifestyle choice. It was a natural part of human diversity. We’ve had non-binary identities from the beginning of time.”

“My concern is and I would say to people who are looking to question if they don’t understand the realities of human diversity then go and do some reading and some research and really this is the most marginalised community in our country. Really high rates of self-harm and suicide. Take a do no harm approach. We’ve got to make sure we are not persecuting or undermining people’s existence through our exploration of ideas.”

Please the full interview here.

Q+A, 9:30pm Sundays on TVNZ 1 and one hour later on TVNZ 1 + 1.

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