Government unnecessarily cruel to Domestic Violence Leave

The Greens have every right to be angry and sickened by National’s latest posturing on Jan Logie’s Domestic Violence Victims’ Protection Bill.

National are trying to claim that Jan Logie and the Greens will actually put at risk victims of domestic abuse by being forced to inform their bosses of the abuse to get the leave.

That’s purposely disingenuous and offensive.

If the issue is that some workers will be embarrassed and forced to admit domestic abuse to their employers, then simply tweak the bill and call it ‘Domestic Violence and Special Paid Leave’.

Giving everyone 10 days a year for them to deal not only with the complexities and pain of domestic abuse, but with the plethora of other personal and family issues that confront everyone of us every year would remove the stigma and not force workers who don’t wish to disclose their abuse to their employers a way of accessing that time off.

United, the Maori Party and NZ First should seriously consider this as a way to progress the Bill through to the first reading.