Policy developments 41. Since the last review, the Government has embarked on considerable policy and legislative work to combat SGBV, which the Commission acknowledges and commends. The Government appointed a Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence in November 2020 (Marama Davidson) established a dedicated whole-of-government response to family violence (“Te Puna Aonui”)48 – underpinned by a national strategy and action plan to eliminate family violence (“Te Aorerekura”) – and brought about significant legislative reform, as set out in more detail below. 42. Te Aorerekura includes a list of 40 implementation steps to address the drivers of violence, to be carried out between December 2021 – December 2023.49 On 27 July 2022, Minister Davidson said the Government was on track to meet all 40 targets.50 43. Te Aorerekura acknowledges that gender inequities and power imbalances shape family and sexual violence51. However, laws and policies related to gender-based violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are persistently couched in gender-neutral terms, such as “Domestic Violence” and “Family Violence”.52 This approach obscures the nature of gender-based violence being disproportionately carried out by men against women and girls, and even more so against trans and non-binary people. Legislative developments 44. Under the Domestic Violence Victims Protection Act 2018, from 1 April 2019 employees affected by domestic violence have had the right to take ten days of paid domestic violence leave that is separate from annual, sick or bereavement leave.53 They may also ask for shortterm flexible working arrangements, lasting up to two months.54 The Act also enables employees to bring a claim for unlawful discrimination under the Human Rights Act if employers treat them adversely for having experienced domestic violence.55 45. The Act has helped employers understand their obligations to support employees affected by domestic violence. However, employees need to provide proof of domestic violence to employers and the Act is silent on privacy matters. The relatively low uptake of applications under the Act may indicate that some employees are deterred from seeking to access the leave entitlements.56 48 The Joint Venture on Family Violence renamed Te Puna Aonui in December 2022. Te Aorerekura National Strategy (December 2021) at 6-7, available at https://tepunaaonui.govt.nz/assets/Nationalstrategy/Finals-translations-alt-formats/Te-Aorerekura-National-Strategy-final.pdf. 50 Radio Aotearoa New Zealand “Te Aorerekura aiming for high-trust funding model” available at:https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/471711/te-aorerekura-aiming-for-high-trust-funding-model 51 Te Aorerekura National Strategy (December 2021) at 12, available at https://tepunaaonui.govt.nz/assets/Nationalstrategy/Finals-translations-alt-formats/Te-Aorerekura-National-Strategy-final.pdf. 52 Since the Family Violence Act came into force in 2019, the law in this area has been updated to be called “family violence” instead of “domestic violence”, signalling the impact of violence on the whole family and that violence can happen in a range of intimate and family settings. See Newsroom “Family Violence laws modernised” (July 2, 2019) available at https://www.newsroom.co.nz/family-violence-laws-modernised . 53 Section 72C. 54 Section 69AB(a). 55 Section 38. Since 1 April 2019, the Commission has received 21 complaints alleging unlawful discrimination on the grounds of domestic violence. 56 While studies suggest that around 35% of women have experienced domestic violence at some point in their lives, an informal survey of 18,800 employees reported an update of less than 0.5% asking for domestic violence leave between April 2019 and March 2021. See DV Free Domestic Violence Victims Protection Act: two years on (March 20, 2021) available at https://www.dvfree.org.nz/news/domestic-violence-victims-protection-act-two-years-on/. 49 13