Family violence legislation review submissions summary released
A summary of the submissions received as part of the Government’s review of family violence legislation has been published on the Ministry of Justice website.
We received around 500 submissions during the public consultation period, which took place in August and September last year.
The summary of submissions details the range and strength of views on the topics covered in the discussion document, as well as additional ideas raised in the submissions.
Overall, people who had their say were broadly supportive of the ideas for potential change, and the consultation confirmed that the discussion document identified the key issues.
The topics that received the most comments were:
- making protection orders more accessible and effective
- removing barriers to safety faced by specific population groups
- updating the definition of domestic violence
- improving information sharing in family violence cases
- creating an additional pathway for victims, perpetrators and whanau who want help to stop violence, but don’t want to have to go to court
Next steps
The ideas and comments people made in their submissions will inform the options for change. The Minister of Justice, Amy Adams, plans to introduce a Bill to Parliament in 2016 after Cabinet makes decisions about what changes to make.
The review of the Domestic Violence Act 1995 and related family violence law aims to ensure New Zealand legislation reflects modern understandings of family violence, protects victims and holds offenders to account, and is fit-for-purpose to underpin cross-government work on reducing family violence.
