Two days left for public submissions on new stalking legislation
Tuesday, 11 February 2025
With two days left for public submissions on new stalking legislation, figures from across the political spectrum are calling for amendments to be made to the bill while it is still malleable.
In November, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced his intention to introduce legislation that will make stalking illegal in New Zealand for the first time.
The Government proposed that the new law carried a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, and would capture patterns of behaviour - that is, three specified acts occurring within a 12-month period.
“It will provide a list of behaviours that may amount to stalking and harassment, including damaging reputation, recording, or tracking and following or loitering as well as the use of technology in modern stalking methods,” Goldsmith previously said.
The bill also proposed introducing new aggravating factors that recognised the unique circumstances associated with stalking and breaching a restraining order, and expanding the definition of psychological abuse to include stalking.
It further proposed preventing self-represented defendants charged with the new offence from being able to personally cross-examine alleged victims.
Public submissions remain open, but will close at 11.59pm on Thursday.
Newly appointed Chief Victims Advisor Ruth Money said she encouraged everybody to submit their recommendations to the select committee.
“We need the new legislation to be informed by expert, lived experience. That’s really important,” Money said.
“Everyone involved in the justice system needs to go through a rigorous training programme, from the officers on the ground and 111 call-takers through to judges.
“They need to be able to recognise stalking behaviours and set into motion an appropriate response that provides complainants with adequate safety tools.”
Money previously said Goldsmith’s proposed list of behaviours built into the new legislation would be “a total and utter failing”.
“Stalkers are constantly re-inventing themselves and thinking of new ways to incite terror in their victims’ lives. The law needs to be future-proofed.”
During her time as Minister for Justice and Police, Labour list MP Ginny Andersen was the first to indicate her intention to create the new stalking law.
Andersen told The Post that her initial draft of the bill had the requirement for stalking be two instances of behaviour without a specified time frame.
“In many instances, stalking happens over decades of time. It would be really unfortunate if there was an instance where there were two acts committed one year and then a third the following year and that was ruled as not being able to be qualified as stalking,” she said.
Justice spokesperson for the Green Party, Tamatha Paul, told The Post that she was campaigning for a number of changes to the bill.
Like Andersen, Paul called for the removal of a specific timeframe and the reduction of stalking behaviours from three instances to two.
“Anything that happens more than once is a pattern of behaviour,” she said.
Paul also argued that as it stood the legislation would allow for a stalker to contact their victim every year on a specific date, such as a birthday or Christmas.
Paul added that she hoped the Government would consider removing the “reasonable excuse” provision and extend the ban on those convicted with stalking owning a gun to those who had been charged with a stalking offence.d