NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Justice portfolio could be the making of Adams

Claire Trevett
By Claire Trevett
Political Editor, NZ Herald·NZ Herald·
5 Aug, 2015 11:03 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Amy Adams will be hoping to have more luck with domestic violence reforms than she did as Environment Minister with RMA reforms. Photo / NZME

Amy Adams will be hoping to have more luck with domestic violence reforms than she did as Environment Minister with RMA reforms. Photo / NZME

Claire Trevett
Opinion by Claire Trevett
Claire Trevett is the New Zealand Herald’s Political Editor, based at Parliament in Wellington.
Learn more

Justice Minister Amy Adams has her fair share of door-knocking stories. She recalls visiting a home in 2008. It was a secluded house, the windows were blacked out and a "chemical smell" wafted out when the door opened. She waited a day or so to dob in what she suspected was a P-lab to police, lest those within linked the candidate in blue to a subsequent visit from officers in blue.

Her wariness was a perfectly human response to the situation at hand.

The review of domestic violence laws Adams has just released shows she has a quality few politicians exhibit let alone act on - the ability to process how humans actually act rather than how they would respond in an ideal world.

Many of the proposed changes cater to human behaviour rather than something that plays out well politically. Even more rare is her ability to go for the option that might work rather than the harder-line one that gets her a good hit in the headlines.

The first evidence of this was in her decision to hold off on introducing a conviction disclosure scheme that allows people to police-check their partners for any abuse convictions. Adams has not ruled this out but was sceptical about whether it would be used. Few people in the first flush of love would be clinical enough to undertake a warrant of fitness on their partner: the health check, the police check. Instead Adams settled for allowing police to quietly tip people off if their partner had such a record.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Adams admits it's a flaw that police would actually need to know about the relationship to do that, but they could become aware of it if called out to a house for another reason. Or police could offer that information if the person asked about it, or if a concerned friend or family member made inquiries that pointed police to the new relationship.

Adams has also been brave enough to confront the sacred cow of the Privacy Act. This is an age in which there are heightened sensitivities around privacy and the Government has come under attack for actual and perceived incursions on privacy in several areas - from spy agencies to government departments.

Adams has shown some gumption by questioning whether the obsession with privacy has gone too far and is causing more harm than good. She questioned whether a "catatonia" had set in which meant those working with families were so petrified about breaching the Privacy Act that it was endangering the very people they were meant to protect.

Her discussion document makes it clear she thinks safety trumps privacy. It encourages people to make submissions but warns the review team may alert police or another agency if any raise safety concerns - even if a person has requested confidentiality. How she handles this fine line will be telling.

Adams presents well and fits in with the "compassionate conservatism" tag Prime Minister John Key has used to describe his Administration. But she is yet to be tested under fire and nor does she strictly deserve all the credit for the domestic violence measures.

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Justice Minister to investigate monitoring of offenders

28 Jul 05:01 AM
New Zealand|politics

'Smarter spending' needed on family violence services

29 Jul 03:00 AM
Editorial

Editorial: Adams wise to review abuse guidelines

05 Aug 01:45 AM
New Zealand|politics

Adams tackles privacy paralysis

04 Aug 05:00 PM

Much of the material released yesterday was instigated by her predecessor Judith Collins and former Police Minister Anne Tolley. That said, Adams has put her own stamp on the portfolio, settling somewhere in between Collins and her predecessor, Simon Power. The overall impression is rather circular, that Collins undid Power's work only for Adams to come and reconstruct it. The most obvious example was her decision to re-start Law Commission work on an inquisitorial system for sexual abuse and child abuse cases.

This is not Adams' first discussion document. In 2012, there was one on the handling of 111 calls. In 2013, there were ones on the telecommunications industry to address pricing issues and the roll out of broadband. Her announcement the Domestic Violence Act reform was the biggest since it was introduced in 1995 was eerily reminiscent of her 2013 description of a Resource Management Act discussion paper as "the most significant reform of the act since its inception".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She has made varying degrees of progress in each of those areas but judging from the initial reaction, the justice portfolio could be the making of her.

Adams will be hoping to have more luck with her domestic violence reforms than she did as Environment Minister with Resource Management Act reforms. A significant chunk of those reforms are still on ice.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

Kahu

Muttonbirding: ‘It’s a part of who we are’

10 May 09:35 AM
New Zealand

Do you know this woman? Police appeal for help to identify 'Mary'

10 May 08:58 AM
New Zealand

Lotto Powerball: $10 million draw not struck, two players win $500,000

10 May 08:02 AM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Muttonbirding: ‘It’s a part of who we are’

Muttonbirding: ‘It’s a part of who we are’

10 May 09:35 AM

Daniel Tarrant is harvesting tītī on Rakiura's tītī islands.

Do you know this woman? Police appeal for help to identify 'Mary'

Do you know this woman? Police appeal for help to identify 'Mary'

10 May 08:58 AM
Lotto Powerball: $10 million draw not struck, two players win $500,000

Lotto Powerball: $10 million draw not struck, two players win $500,000

10 May 08:02 AM
Premium
Tickets please: 'You are not going for dinner, you're going for an experience'

Tickets please: 'You are not going for dinner, you're going for an experience'

10 May 06:01 AM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP