Mr McLay. assures wives on new bill

Press, 12 September 1980, Page 4

Mr McLay. assures wives on new bill

Parliamentary reporter No foundation exists for the belief that the Family Proceedings Bill (No. 2) now before Parliament. in any way undermines legal protection for battered wives, says the Minister of Justice (Mr McLay). He was commenting on the action of the Christchurch Battered Wives Support Group in writing to every member of Parliament asking them to withhold support for some sections of the bill.

The group (“The Press,” September 10) asserted that among other things the bill would take away safeguards in family law arid leave victims of domestic violence with even less legal protection.

“The impression is quite wrong,” said Mr McLay. “The new bill in fact goes some way towards strengthening already existing safeguards.” It was intended to introduce separate legislation next year dealing specifically with the problem of domestic violence to ensure that the victims, whether men, women or children, were afforded even stronger protection by the law. He said there seemed to be a fear that conciliation processes were designed to slow the obtaining of a separation order. It was also assumed that it would be harder in future to get a separation order, Mr McLay said. But' the new bill allowed such an order to be granted

if there was evidence of disharmony between husband and wife of such a nature that it was unreasonable for them to live together.

In the case of a battered wife that would not be a very difficult test to satisfy, he said. There seemed to' be a commonly held belief that cruelty was a ground for divorce, but that was not the case, and never had been, in New Zealand.

Mr • McLay said there was a ground for divorce based on at least two years habitual drunkenness or drug addiction, coupled with cruelty, but petitions on this ground ’ ad been rare.

1 One new clause, introduced to help alleviate the problem of the battered wife, was the temporary occupation order over the matrimonial home, which represented a real advance on existing law, he said.