The Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children and AVA will hand over a petition, calling on the Government to urgently make stalking illegal, to Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith in person at 1 pm this coming Wednesday 26 June 2024. Two opposition spokespeople for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Ginny Andersen (Labour) and Marama Davidson (Greens) will also be there to accept the petition with the Minister. Ms Davidson has kindly confirmed her attendance, and we wish her the very best for her upcoming health leave).

The petition will be presented by Leonie Morris (Chair of the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children), Dr Natalie Thorburn, Principal Policy Advisor, Women’s Refuge, Dr Alison Towns (violence prevention expert) and Dr Suzanne Manning, National President, National Council of Women (contact details below for all speakers).

The petition handover follows on from last month’s open letter with 80 signatories - in business, politics, law, entertainment, media, and academia - calling on Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith to urgently make stalking illegal. The minister has written back acknowledging some of the harms of stalking, and stating the Government will turn to stalking as priorities allow. However, he has not committed to a timeline to introduce urgently-needed stalking legislation, and the Coalition is deeply concerned at the lack of action. A lack of proactive championship from previous ministers (despite their supportive words) resulted in little-to-no progress in this area in the past.

The Coalition are therefore urging the Minister to commit to a near-future deadline for the introduction of anti-stalking legislation to the House. The petition calls for urgency.

The live petition is here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-women-make-stalking-illegal-1

Last month’s open letter is here: https://awc.org.nz/stalking-letter/

For more information on the dangers of stalking see: https://awc.org.nz/stalking/

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