Victims' Orders, Victims' Code and Welfare Fraud Bills pass second reading

Three Bills relevant to family violence have passed their second reading in Parliament:

• The Victims’ Orders Against Violent Offenders Bill would prevent serious violent and sexual offenders from coming into contact with their victims. Background information is available in a previous NZFVC news story. Provisions added to strengthen the Bill at second reading include: orders can be applied to a person who has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for a specified violent or sexual offence (rather than the five year threshold proposed in the original Bill); non-contact orders can be extended to cover an offender’s associates, where the offender encourages the associate to engage in prohibited behaviour that would harm the victim’s recovery; and victims can apply for an order at any time after sentencing.
• The Victims of Crime Reform Bill seeks to improve how victims of crime are treated by the justice system and increase its responsiveness to victims' needs.
• The Welfare Fraud Bill would change the law to allow for the prosecution of the partners of people convicted of benefit fraud. Auckland Action Against Poverty has highlighted the risk of increased intimate partner violence as a result of the measure.

Media

New court order to better protect victims, Beehive, 18.03.2014