Public or anonymous? – options to have your say on the anti-stalking Bill

Posted: January 28, 2025Categories: , ,

Public or anonymous? – options to have your say on the anti-stalking Bill

Ways you can inform the anti-stalking law

We are encouraging people to inform the Crimes Legislation (Harassment and Stalking) Amendment Bill, particularly if they feel able and safe to share real-life stories of stalking which are relevant to the parts of the Bill which need to change (click here for our submission content guide).

There is no pressure to do so! You simply have the opportunity to inform the Bill, if you would like to, and if you feel comfortable and safe doing so.

Here we explain several options:

    • Making your own formal named submission (or helping a trusted friend with their submission), online or via hardcopy post by Thurs 13 February
    • Participating in Parliament’s anonymous informal survey by Thurs 13 February
    • Informing our own Aotearoa Free From Stalking submission, via our questionnaire by Sun 9 February

Formal submission in your own words

Individual submissions can be persuasive, particularly if you feel safe and comfortable sharing your own experiences of being stalked. Our submission content guide can help you decide which aspects of your lived experience may be relevant to emphasise when persuading the select committee to change particular sections of the Bill.

Formal submissions include your name, and they are made public*, so be aware anyone may see it, including any person who has stalked you. Any details of experiences you include will be publicly available.

  1. If it is safe and comfortable for you to put your name to the submission and for your submission to be public, you can use the select committee portal. The portal asks for your email address also – this isn’t made public, but some parliamentary staff will have access to it. If you feel comfortable in doing so, you can request to make an oral submission to amplify your impact. Oral presentations can happen in person or via video link.
  2. Or you could send a hardcopy submission by post for free to the Justice Committee, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160. You still need to put a sender’s name on it, and it will still be made public, but there is no need to include an email address.
  3. Or if you wish your input to be more anonymous (all its content will still be made public), you could ask a trusted friend to make a submission (you could help them draft it) and in the submission your friend can acknowledge that the submission is influenced by the experiences of someone they know well who needs to remain anonymous (i.e., you).

* The only time evidence is not public is if you request to give “secret” evidence, and all members of the select committee agree. Parliamentary officials tell us “the bar for a committee receiving secret evidence is often quite high.” The Justice Select Committee secretariat ju@parliament.govt.nz may have more information.

Submissions close Thurs 13 February. (You can see a general submission structure below this list of options to have your say.)

Parliament’s anonymous informal survey

Unusually, Parliament is running an anonymous survey to inform the select committee. Parliament says: “Taking part in this survey does not count as making a formal written submission. This information will be collated and provided to the committee as a report.” It is unclear whether your computer’s IP address will be automatically retrieved but parliament’s privacy policy states “no effort is made to identify individual users.” Note that the public survey report may include details and quotes given in the survey – Parliament advises: “Please ensure you do not share personal details that would identify yourself or others in your responses.”  The survey is being run in Microsoft Forms and you can access it here.

Parliament’s survey closes Thurs 13 February.

Inform the Aotearoa Free From Stalking submission

Aotearoa Free From Stalking has set up a secure anonymous questionnaire (thanks to the Backbone Collective) where people can safely and anonymously inform our submission on particular points. We are not collecting IP addresses. Please note, this is not the same as making your own individual submission – it is solely to inform the AFFS/ Auckland Women’s Centre submission. The questionnaire, which takes around 45 minutes, asks whether you give permission for any real-life situations you share and/or direct quotes to be used as specific examples in our public submission. If you withhold permission (for safety’s sake, for example), we will keep all the details of your responses private, and only use your responses to inform the general, collective themes we include in our submission.

The AFFS questionnaire closes Sunday 9 February.

Click here to go to the AFFS submission questionnaire

Formal submission template example

1. Address it to: The Justice Committee

2. Overall position statement, eg:

Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission on the Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill.

I support the Bill’s intent [OR I support the Bill overall], however I strongly recommend critical changes to address gaps in in the Bill regarding victim and community protection.

3. Who you are, eg:

I am writing this submission as a victim-survivor of stalking

4. Recommendations and explanations

If your submission is long, consider putting a list of your recommendations up front.

For all submissions, whether long or short, include topic-by-topic sections. For each topic, state:

  • what you support or don’t support about the current content of the bill
  • why you support or don’t support it
  • what you think should be there instead (recommendations)
  • why this is your preferred change.

See our submission guide for ideas.

Mauri ora! Thank you for having your say on Aotearoa’s proposed stalking law for the hauora and wellbeing of all our communities.

National Helplines

Please be aware that you may have to wait on hold before someone answers your call.

In addition to the national helplines above, Hohou Te Rongo Kahukura offer resources by and for Takatāpui and Rainbow communities, about family, partner and sexual violence, and free, confidential, mana-enhancing support and recovery services for Takatāpui and Rainbow survivors, partners and whānau. kahukura.co.nz