Urgent response needed on family violence

The Government must urgently fix the broken response to family violence, in the wake of the latest death from domestic violence and the recommendations of the Glenn Inquiry.

“How many women and children must die before the glaring problems in the justice system are fixed?” Green Party women’s issues spokesperson Jan Logie said.

“It is great that the new Justice Minister Amy Adams is restarting the vital work on alternative trials processes for victims of sexual violence. Now she must commit to urgently fixing the dysfunctional response to family violence that’s putting women and children at even greater risk of harm.

“The past two years under former Justice Minister Judith Collins have seen an unravelling of a lot of good work that’s gone on to improve the justice system for victims of family and sexual violence. The new Minister must move beyond the rhetoric and act urgently to fix the system so more women and children don’t die waiting.”

The Glenn Inquiry today reported back with a series of recommendations to improve the justice health and welfare responses to family violence and child abuse.

“The Green Party backs the Inquiry’s recommendation that we have a whole of system response to family violence ,”Ms Logie said

“One good step the Government could take is to support my Domestic Violence – Victims’ Protection Bill which would provide time off work and protection in the workplace for women suffering from domestic violence.

“It’s not good enough for the Government to say they’re fixing the system. They need to translate the rhetoric into action.”

ends

© Scoop Media