We are calling for the establishment of a Domestic Abusers Register in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The Domestic Violence Register would be an online tool available to the public that could be used to search New Zealand citizens and residents who have been charged with a domestic violence offence by the police. It would be dependent on an individual enquiring about an offender’s history and would work as a preventative measure to help reduce incidents of domestic abuse.

- Half of all women homicide victims (an average of nine a year) were killed by a male partner or ex-partner in 2019.

- Police are called to a domestic violence incident once every 6 minutes

- 9% of males and 20% of females are sexually assaulted as children.

- As many as 1 in 10 people over 65 years of age in New Zealand will experience some kind of elder abuse each year.

- People with disabilities are twice as likely to experience domestic violence.

- Domestic violence costs the country between 4 billion - 7.1 billion dollars a year.

These are our families, friends and neighbours and this is our country. We must admit there is a problem; we must take action; we must protect Whānau. 

That is why we are calling for the introduction of a national register of domestic violence perpetrators to establish a more preventative approach to managing abusive behaviours and to flatten our domestic violence curve.

When you are strangled, it takes just 10 seconds to lose consciousness. At 15 seconds you lose control of your bladder. Within 2 minutes you are dead. This register could be the difference between life and death for families and so we ask Marama Davidson to create legislation that reflects the kaupapa of this petition.