Stalking law changes lower threshold for jail time
Paul Goldsmith says stalkers have been able to evade real consequences for their actions for far too long.
Photo:
Laurence Smith / STUFF NZ LTD
The government will strengthen its proposed law to criminalise stalking, including broadening the criteria to a longer timeframe.
The Crime Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill would have sent stalkers to jail for five years if they committed three such acts within a year, that threshold now being lowered to two acts over two years.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the government had accepted the change as one of several recommended unanimously by the Select Committee in response to 608 written and 62 oral submissions.
Changes to the bill include:
Victims had warned the previous approach - limited to three offences over 12 months -
would "do more harm than good"
and protect stalkers rather than victims - in part because the existing criminal harassment offence, which would be abolished under the changes, only requires two acts.
Goldsmith said the change would strengthen the law.
"This change better recognises patterns in stalking behaviour and time that can pass between incidents. For example, stalking that occurs around anniversaries would not be covered under the original 12-month period," he said.
"We've said from day one victims are our priority... stalkers have been able to evade real consequences for their actions for far too long."
The Select Committee report also proposed a definition of doxing as "publishing any statement or other material relating or purporting to relate to a person, or purporting to originate from a person", but the alleged offender would also need to know their behaviour was likely to cause fear or distress to the victim.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says the changes would strengthen the law.
Photo:
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The law would also provide exemptions for those who could prove the behaviour was for a lawful purpose, or done with a reasonable excuse, or in the public interest.
The government parties National, ACT and New Zealand First agreed to the changes, although ACT argued there was a "need to strike a balance between ensuring a sufficient pattern of behaviour is established to protect victims while not unintentionally creating offenders and burdening the courts".
The party suggested police should make use of the powers to provide a written notice warning potential offenders that their behaviour could amount to stalking "to the fullest extent possible".
The opposition parties Labour, the Greens and te Pāti Māori also supported the changes recommended by the committee, but said they believed further amendments would be needed in future.
These included changes to limit the police use of written notices to avoid retaliation against the victims, and expanding the requirement for the alleged offender to have received police notification to instead only require that they "ought to know" their behaviour was likely to cause fear or distress.
They also proposed someone charged with stalking should face an automatic suspension of any firearms licence, and called for stalking-specific rehabilitation programmes.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
18 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Will Johnson's disappearance 'traumatising' for family
Will Johnson who has not been heard from for a week. Photo: Supplied Private investigators trying to find a US aviation student missing for more than a week are filtering through tips they've received that could shed light on his whereabouts. Massey University student William Henry Johnson, known as Will, was last seen in Palmerston North between 30 May and 1 June. The 24-year-old's last communication with family was on 5 June and he has not responded to any attempts to contact him since. His parents have hired private investigators to find him, and on Tuesday Mike Gillam, of The Investigators New Zealand, publicly appealed for information and sightings. He told RNZ on Wednesday investigators had received information that potentially confirmed a sighting of Johnson in the central North Island. "We do want to hear from anyone with information that could be beneficial," he said. "A lot of the time is spent filtering through and sorting what may be a priority and what may be historic and not of interest to our timeline. "Certainly, we've appreciated the public outreach and there are a number of lines of inquiry that we're looking into." William Henry Johnson. Photo: Supplied Johnson's mother was arriving in New Zealand from Seattle this morning. Gillam said her arrival in Palmerston North would be key, allowing her to speak with police and staff at Massey. There were no search parties in place at this stage, as more specific information would be needed, although aerial searches were under consideration. Johnson was last seen in the Takaro area of Palmerston North. Gillam said his disappearance was "really traumatising" for his family, who were distraught. His company had three investigators working on the matter full time. On Tuesday, Gillam said it was out of character for Johnson not to have contact with his family for such a period of time. Johnson was known to make off-the-cuff trips to Auckland. Police have said they received a missing person report on 9 June. "Police have made a number of various area inquiries in possible locations of interest in the Palmerston North area," a spokeswoman said today. "We would encourage William, or anyone who knows his whereabouts, to get in touch with police to confirm he is safe." Johnson drove a 2013 silver Mazda 6, registration MJK496, which was also missing and could provide leads to his whereabouts, Gillam said. He can be contacted on 027 299 7603. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Fear of reprisals if stalkers warned without target's knowledge
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi An anti-stalking advocate says a proposed new law has a worrying caveat in which stalkers can be warned by police about their behaviour, without the victim first being notified. The government is amending the Crime Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill to enable police to act if a person has engaged in stalking behaviour twice in two years. Aotearoa Free From Stalking project lead Leonie Morris said this was a good move, but she was uneasy that stalkers could be warned about their behaviour, for fear of reprisals. "One thing that we're very concerned about is that at the moment police can notify a stalker that he has been stalking and that he'll be breaking the law if he does it again. "We're happy with that, but we don't want police to do that until they've notified the victim that that's what they're going to do and they've talked through with the victim a safety plan - because otherwise if just out of the blue he is told that she's gone to the police and the police are now saying to him, 'You need to be much more careful with your behaviour,' he could retaliate against her." Morris said the bill needed changing to ensure that before police warned stalkers, they talked to the victim about how they could keep themselves safe and whether warning a stalker might be dangerous. Another potential area for improvement involved proving whether a person had intent to deliberately stalk someone, Morris said. "The law just asks for evidence that someone knows their behaviour is likely to cause fear or distress, but how can you tell whether somebody's lying or not? "The law needs to make it more simple and straightforward… to prove that he was stalking against her will, his behaviour was unwelcome." Morris said the onus should be on the stalker to prove otherwise, not the victim. "In overseas jurisdictions, rather than just saying he knew that his behaviour would cause her fear or distress, they say he knew or ought to have known, because how do you prove what a stalker knew?" The bill unanimously passed its first reading in December and had just been through a select committee process which attracted 608 written and 62 oral submissions. The response was to strengthen the bill, including lowering the threshold to two stalking or harassment acts within 24 months rather than three within 12 months, as well as other changes - including expanding the definition of an act of stalking or harassment to include "doxxing" - the publishing of material about the person being stalked. However, Morris said just strengthening the bill was not enough. "There needs to be considerable police training. There needs to be a public awareness campaign so people know exactly what stalking is. We need stalkers to know what stalking is and we need victims to recognise stalking when it happens to them." She said police training was vital. "In recent years that we've been looking into stalking, people report to us that police don't take stalking seriously, so there needs to be a big culture change there." She said the bill was "definitely better" than what it was, but Aotearoa Free From Stalking would continue to advocate for improvements. A petition calling for stronger laws on stalking was presented to Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith last year. Photo: RNZ / Lillian Hanly Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said moves to strengthen laws against stalking reflected Parliament's concern that stalkers had been able to evade real consequences for too long. Goldsmith told Morning Report the behaviours targeted by the bill included loitering, damage to reputation, recording, tracking or following and using technology in stalking methods. Asked whether it was a hurdle to require evidence that a stalker knew their behaviour caused distress, Goldsmith pointed to police's ability to warn the stalker so that "they can be in no doubt about that". "Obviously the legislation does need to have defences, because the behaviours that are listed that may amount to stalking are very broad - things like damaging reputation or loitering. "So we don't want people to be unable to defend themselves against claims, and so that's a basic expectation." Goldsmith said legislation was catching up with technology, and took into account modern harassment and stalking such as tracking, following or publishing recordings. He said the ultimate aim was to reduce the number of victims of serious, violent and sexual offending. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
US criticises allies as NZ bans two top Israeli ministers
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The United States has denounced sanctions by Britain and allies - including New Zealand - against Israeli far-right ministers, saying they should focus instead on the Palestinian armed group Hamas. New Zealand has banned two Israeli politicians from travelling to the country because of comments about the war in Gaza that Foreign Minister Winston Peters says "actively undermine peace and security". New Zealand joins Australia, Canada, the UK and Norway in imposing the sanctions on Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Peters said they were targeted towards two individuals, rather than the Israeli government. "Our action today is not against the Israeli people, who suffered immeasurably on October 7 [2023] and who have continued to suffer through Hamas' ongoing refusal to release all hostages. Nor is it designed to sanction the wider Israeli government." The two ministers were "using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution", Peters said. "Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have severely and deliberately undermined that by personally advocating for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, while inciting violence and forced displacement." Israeli right-wing Knesset member Itamar ben Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich. Photo: Maya Alleruzzo / POOL / AFP The sanctions were consistent with New Zealand's approach to other foreign policy issues, he said. "New Zealand has also targeted travel bans on politicians and military leaders advocating violence or undermining democracy in other countries in the past, including Russia, Belarus and Myanmar." New Zealand had been a long-standing supporter of a two-state solution, Peters said, which the international community was also overwhelmingly in favour of. "New Zealand's consistent and historic position has been that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are a violation of international law. Settlements and associated violence undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution. "The crisis in Gaza has made returning to a meaningful political process all the more urgent. New Zealand will continue to advocate for an end to the current conflict and an urgent restart of the Middle East Peace Process." Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said the move was "outrageous" and the government would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond to the "unacceptable decision". His comments were made while attending the inauguration of a new Israeli settlement on Palestinian land. Peters is currently in Europe for the sixth Pacific-France Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Nice. "We find that extremely unhelpful. It will do nothing to get us closer to a ceasefire in Gaza," US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters. Britain, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia "should focus on the real culprit, which is Hamas", she said of the sanctions. "We remain concerned about any step that would further isolate Israel from the international community." The two ministers faced repeated criticism but no formal sanctions under former US president Joe Biden. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has vowed unstinting support for Israel. "If our allies want to help, they should focus on supporting Special Envoy [Steve] Witkoff's negotiations and backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation when it comes to food and aid," Bruce said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed aid in coordination with the Israeli military, an effort criticised by the United Nations and longstanding aid groups which say it violates humanitarian principles. University of Otago international relations professor Robert Patman told Morning Report it was a "calibrated fulfillment of the promise to follow up actions if Israel did not desist" from expanding its military operations in Palestinian territory. "In May, the UK and France and Canada had demanded that Israel stop expanding its military operations in Gaza and allow emergency aid, humanitarian aid into Gaza. "It should be recalled that in early March, Israel, unilaterally cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza and something like more than a million Palestinians now face starvation. And so this statement was made in May by those three countries, two of whom are members of the Five Eyes." Robert Patman. Photo: Provided New Zealand is also a member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, as are the US and Australia. Patman also noted that the International Court of Justice last year said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory - not just in Gaza, but also the West Bank - was illegal. New Zealand supported that recommendation. "New Zealand's position has been… that there must be a two-state solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. "Now the problem is that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his ministers adamantly opposed the two-state solution." The growing condemnation around the world of Israel's response to the 7 October atrocities was a result of the United States' "lack of will to try to make Israel comply with international law", Patman suggested. "I think the other liberal democracies are now beginning to react to that because they realise that Netanyahu, the Netanyahu government, has no intention of having a two-state solution. "Iin fact, it seems to be in the process of weaponising food distribution in Gaza… They set up, with the United States, something called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which seems to be part of a strategy to gradually evict Palestinians from Gaza. "Netanyahu's government doesn't make any bones about this. He wants to extend control over Gaza and… annex the West Bank [which] would completely rule out a two-state solution." Rather than just symbolic, Patman said European nations' sanctioning of Israeli ministers could have a real impact. "About 34 percent of Israel's trade is with members of the European Union, and if this stance taken by these five countries is replicated elsewhere and spreads, not just to these two ministers but to the Netanyahu government, then we could be looking at a different situation. "Verbal appeals to Israel to comply with international law have not worked. So, you know, if you believe in a two-state solution, then you have to take actions to try to bring it about." - Additional reporting by Reuters, AFP Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
