Critics of the Government’s family violence package say the plan won’t reach the victims who don’t complain to police.
The government announced the measures yesterday, which include a special adviser on victims' rights and legislation being changed so more violent offenders are monitored by GPS technology.
Hon Anne Tolley, Judith Collins and PM John Key presenting a package to prevent family violence. Photo: Diego Opatowski/RNZ
Another of the proposals would affect the right of defendants to decline to give evidence during their trial.
Women’s Refuge chief executive Heather Henare told Morning Report there needs to be a national strategy instead of an ad hoc approach.
“80 per cent of women don’t complain to police. So we’ve got to have systems that are outside the justice system that protect them. The government has poured…another 4 and a half million [dollars] into a system that we don’t even know if it works.”
But Jane Drumm, the Executive Director of national domestic abuse charity, Shine, told Nine to Noon the Government is trying a range of new ideas.
“We, and this country, can not go down really expensive red herring trails. We need to test ideas, and this is about doing that with some of these things, and I think it is an excellent idea.”
