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March 10, 2017 at 10:36 AM

Domestic violence bill passes first reading

A Green MP's bill designed to help victims of domestic violence has passed its first reading in Parliament with unanimous support.

The legislation would give victims up to 10 days' paid leave, giving them time to seek counselling and legal advice, attend court hearings or even move house.

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Govt on shaky ground over data-for-funding contracts, lawyers say

Law experts say the government is breaching privacy laws by making social services hand over their client's personal details before they can get funding.

More than 800 groups will have to provide client names, birthdates, ethnicity and the personal details of any dependents under contracts taking effect from July.

Women's Refuge chief executive Ang Jury said agencies would have to abide by the contract change if they wanted to keep their funding.

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Rape Crisis will risk funding to keep data private

Rape Crisis will not accept funding contracts from the Ministry of Social Development if it is required to hand over clients' private details, the service says.

More than 800 social services will have to provide client names, birthdates, ethnicities and the personal details of any dependents under contracts taking effect from July.

Rape Crisis spokesperson Andrea Black said victims were telling the service they would no longer come to it for support if they knew their private information was being handed over to the government.

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Privacy Commissioner due to report back on MSD 'data-for-funding'

The Privacy Commissioner will produce the initial findings of an investigation into new Ministry of Social Development data-sharing contracts in the next few days.

The contracts, in which the ministry is demanding private client information in exchange for funding, were first used for budgeting advisors, and are expanding to cover all organisations contracted by the ministry from July.

Privacy Commissioner John Edwards said several non-government organisations were worried what the requirement would mean for their clients.

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Treat Her Right: Why it’s time for us to start caring about care work

With the equal pay conversation in full swing, Dr Catherine Trundle examines the undervaluing women’s care work in society, and the steps we need to take to demand change.

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Overhaul of domestic violence laws on the way

The government plans to unveil sweeping changes to the country's domestic violence laws in the next few weeks.

A new group, the Backbone Collective, says courts are failing to protect women and failing to hold abusers accountable, and the system's response for women who have experienced violence and abuse is broken and dysfunctional.

Women's Refuge chief executive Ang Jury applauded the collective's aims.

But she said changes were under way, including an overhaul of legislation and the way the police handled cases. Police were training officers "to try and shift some of those responses that they know to be inappropriate and wrong."

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Former Glenn Inquiry head starts domestic violence watchdog 'The Backbone Collective'

A new independent watchdog that will act as a voice for victims of domestic abuse has been launched by the former head of the Glenn Inquiry.

Ruth Herbert, a domestic abuse survivor herself, says NGO The Backbone Collective will "wrap around abused women and their children" to keep them safe and help them rebuild their lives.

"Violence against Women is New Zealand's great shame, we have the highest rate of women experiencing violence and abuse in the developed world. So it's high time we started building a system that is more consistent and powerful than the abuser."

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Child welfare bill: 'Scrap it and start again'

Lawyers have attacked draft laws outlining radical changes to child welfare services, saying they're badly written and should be scrapped.

In a stinging 52-page submission, the Law Society has spelt out what it said were potential pitfalls and confusion around a bill setting up the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children.

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Gender pay gap still stuck at 12 percent

Gender bias is the main reason the wage gap has remained unchanged for a decade, rather than education, occupation and industry, according to new data.

The pay gap between men and women remains at 12 percent, according to the research, undertaken by Auckland University of Technology for the Ministry for Women.

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The Toby & Toby inquiry into historic abuse in state care

At last, a proper inquiry!

It's really an inquiry into whether there should be an inquiry.

Still, an inquiry.

Actually more like a column on a website.

Better than nothing. What's all this "historic abuse in state care" about?

Unimaginably stomach-churning abuse was inflicted upon hundreds, if not thousands of New Zealand children who became state wards, placed in foster homes, institutions and borstals, over several decades. The abuse, in all its physical, sexual and psychological forms, continues to be felt today, this very minute, by its victims and in the wider pattern of crime and violence it incubated and perpetuated.

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State care child abuse inquiry 'a question of justice'

ACT is the latest political party to support calls for an inquiry into the historical abuse of children in state care.

It puts all three of National's support partners at odds with the Prime Minister.

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Cost of domestic violence to be surveyed in Pacific

Studies are to be undertaken in several Pacific island countries to measure the economic cost of domestic violence as part of a Commonwealth-wide project.

The survey is part of the Commonwealth's 'Peace in the Home: Ending Domestic Violence Together' initiative being launched today.

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