Media Release 24 May 2024
Upcoming anti-stalking petition handover to Minister Paul Goldsmith 1pm Wed 26 June
From: Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children and AVA (Anti-Violence Action)
The Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children and AVA will hand over a https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-women-make-stalking-illegal-1, calling on the Government to urgently make stalking illegal, to Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith in person at 1 pm this coming Wednesday 26 June 2024. Two opposition spokespeople for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Ginny Andersen (Labour) and Marama Davidson (Greens) will also be there to accept the petition with the Minister. Ms Davidson has kindly confirmed her attendance, and we wish her the very best for her upcoming health leave).
The petition will be presented by Leonie Morris (Chair of the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children), Dr Natalie Thorburn, Principal Policy Advisor, Women’s Refuge, Dr Alison Towns (violence prevention expert) and Dr Suzanne Manning, National President, National Council of Women (contact details below for all speakers).
The petition handover follows on from last month’s https://awc.org.nz/stalking-letter/ with 80 signatories – in business, politics, law, entertainment, media, and academia – calling on Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith to urgently make stalking illegal. The minister has written back acknowledging some of the harms of stalking, and stating the Government will turn to stalking as priorities allow. However, he has not committed to a timeline to introduce urgently-needed stalking legislation, and the Coalition is deeply concerned at the lack of action. A lack of proactive championship from previous ministers (despite their supportive words) resulted in little-to-no progress in this area in the past.
The Coalition are therefore urging the Minister to commit to a near-future deadline for the introduction of anti-stalking legislation to the House. The petition calls for urgency.
The live petition is here: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/protect-women-make-stalking-illegal-1
Last month’s open letter is here: https://awc.org.nz/stalking-letter/
For more information on the dangers of stalking see: https://awc.org.nz/stalking/
Contacts:
- Leonie Morris – 021 209 8842, mailto:akcentre@womenz.org.nz Leonie is chair of the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children (the Coalition is made up of 18 preventing-violence organisations based in Tāmaki Makaurau; list on the open letter webpage: https://awc.org.nz/stalking-letter/
- Dr Natalie Thorburn, Principal Policy Advisor, Women’s Refuge – 021 027 57237
- Dr Alison Towns, Family Violence expert, Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children – 021 846 939
- Dr Suzanne Manning, National President, National Council of Women – 027 419 8710
Further background information:
- Over 50 groups as diverse as Rural Women New Zealand, NZ Prostitutes Collective, E Tū Union, the Federation of Business and Professional Women NZ and Migrant Action Trust have signed the letter addressed to Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith, as well as Women’s Refuge and anti-violence advocates.
- Prior to the election, the National party publicly supported inserting stalking in the Crimes Act, but since the election, Goldsmith has indicated criminalisation stalking is not a priority.
- New Zealand is out-of-step with the European Union, the United States, England, and Australia by not having a stalking law.
- Stalkers attempt to control their victims through surveillance, threats, and intimidation. It can be terrifying. Just the possibility of stalking can silence women. Stalking takes a heavy toll on victims’ lives, and it can escalate to severe physical violence and murder.
- A https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/escalation-in-harassment-of-mps-threatens-democracy found escalation of harassment of MPs is threatening democracy.
