12 April 2017

Have your say on the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill

Public submissions are now open on the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill, which is being considered by Parliament’s Justice and Electoral Committee.

The aim of the bill is to break the pattern of family violence in New Zealand, and reduce the harm and cost it causes to those who suffer directly and to all of society. It makes extensive changes to the Domestic Violence Act and other related Acts, to make the laws relating to family violence more co-ordinated and complete.

Key features of the bill include:

• creating new offences of strangulation, assault on a family member and coercion to marry

• making protection orders easier to apply for and more effective

• putting family violence at the heart of decisions about bail

• making evidence gathering in family violence cases easier for Police and less traumatic for victims

• improving information-sharing between organisations involved in family violence matters.

Tell the Justice and Electoral Committee what you think.

Send your submission on the bill by midnight on Wednesday 24 May 2017.

For more details about the bill, visit the Parliament website:

• More information about the Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill

• What happens next

ENDS

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