Committee on Violence draws huge response

Press, 18 June 1986, Page 8

Committee on Violence draws huge response

A huge number of submissions has been made to the Government-ap-pointed Committee on Violence. About 860 submissions have been received at the committee’s Christchurch offices so far and the number is expected to top 1000 as many people have been given extended deadlines. In addition, some 1300 signatures on about 800 coupons have been sent in from a Chrischurch advertisement against violence. Another 1000 responses to an Auckland advertisement will be presented to the committee by its organiser.

The chairman of the committee, Sir Clinton Roper, said the response was such that the committee might not be able to make its report by the scheduled time of October 31. “We have a mammoth

task — it is beyond my expectations,” he said. Sir Clinton said that compared with the 1979 Select Committee on Violence which received 157 submissions, the response gave a clear indication of how the public felt about violence. “I think people are getting angry and frightened about it and they want an answer,” he said. Although submissions closed on June 9, Sir Clinton said the committee was still keen to hear from people and was holding at least two public meetings, the first in Christchurch on August 18 and the next in Wellington on September 1. More meetings were likely to be held, in particular in Auckland and possibly in Dunedin. The committee is also seeking more views of young and Maori people

on violence. Sir Clinton said the Minister of Education was writing to all school principals asking them to discuss the subject, from which the committee expected several proposals. The committee was also willing to hear ideas from prisoners or Maori people anywhere in New Zealand. "They (Maori people) may not wish to make submissions in writing but if they would prefer to make them on a marae we will certainly be there,” Sir Clinton said. The Committee on Violence was appointed on April 28 by the Minister of Justice, Mr Palmer. Sir Clinton, a former High Court judge who lives in Christchurch, heads the five-member group, two of whom are from Auckland, one from Wellington, and one from Dunedin.