Stalking proposal to enter Parliament this year

Thursday, 27 June 2024

The Government will introduce a proposal to criminalise stalking into Parliament this year.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the move at a handover of a petition urging the Government “to urgently make stalking illegal”.

“We need to send a really clear message that society does not tolerate stalking,“ Goldsmith said.

“We've heard you. I have gone back to my officials. We’re very conscious of the fact that we have a very busy pipeline of work, but I told them ‘hang on, we've got to get on with this faster, how quickly can you move?’.”

Labour’s Ginny Andersen had lodged a proposed law change on the issue, via the members’ biscuit tin. Her bill can only get into Parliament if pulled from the tin, or has 61 MPs, who are not ministers, in support.

“Well that’s wonderful news Paul,” Andersen said, “I've got news for you. I've already got a bill and it's in the ballot.”

On stalking, she said “we know that in the past there have been instances where police haven't acted quickly enough, where particularly women had been repeatedly harassed and stalked”.

“By having a clear offence that is able to be prosecuted, I really believe that this will enable law enforcement to take action earlier, before we are seeing people seriously hurt or even murdered.

“I believe that issues like this cross party boundaries. They just make good sense to make good law and to keep people safe and to take preventative action before people are unnecessarily hurt.“

Goldsmith said he would aim to introduce a Government bill, rather than use Andersen’s.

“There's been a lot of concern raised and the desire to get onto this faster,” he said. “We've looked at the drafts that have been developed and we think there's something that we could do before the end of the year.

“I’ve frankly, told my officials to hurry up and do it as fast as we can.“

Representatives from the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children, Women’s Refuge, the National Council of Women and violence prevention expert Alison Towns presented the petition in front of Parliament on Wednesday to Goldsmith, Andersen and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson.