Wellington City Council's newest councillor has a bold goal - she wants to eliminate sexual violence in Wellington.
Fleur Fitzsimons is the first councillor to hold a portfolio to explicitly deal with this issue.
Sworn in yesterday, she used her maiden speech to highlight the council's role in stamping out unwanted sexual advances and harassment across the city.
"It is not enough to respond to the behaviour, we need to stop the behaviour," she said.
She welcomes a steady increase in victims reporting sexual violence to police but said while it still exists, there's work to be done.
"I'm keen to work with the hospitality association, with bar owners, with the police, with sporting codes and all other organisations to achieve no sexual violence across the city," she said.
Police received more than 1300 reports of sexual assault and related offences from across New Zealand in the year to December 31, 2017.
Ms Fitzsimons said she is deeply worried by the sexual assault and harassment going on in homes, workplaces, bars and on the sports field, calling for a culture change in New Zealand.
Woman assaulted and harassed at cricket match
Recently, a Masterton self-proclaimed sports lover was assaulted and harassed at the final one day international between New Zealand and Pakistan in Wellington, whilst sitting with her partner in the Tui Catch A Million zone.
Amy Ross was "very excited and ready to cheer the boys on," sitting in her favourite grass bank spot at the Basin Reserve where a group of men were sitting nearby.
"I could feel the tension building as their obscenities became louder and more aggressive and more engaging with strangers. They also began to harass the Pakistan cricketers at the boundary.. making fun of the pronunciation of their names," she said.
A ball the group had inadvertently hit Ms Ross in the ribs and she said she asked them to be careful and that "made them almost like a pack of dogs, turn their focus on me."
"They began to make constant comments, umm 'stupid dyke'… comments on my body," she said.
Ms Ross said she noticed other woman in the vicinity seemed to have disappeared but felt determined to stay in her spot.
"At that point a man came through and essentially ran his hands over me whilst getting over me so to speak, really quite drunk on his way to get more alcohol."
"I was extremely angry and the point where I began to feel more enraged was when the guy returned for a second time… and really put his hands on me, quite forcefully this time and said a word which I’m sure you can't put on TV.
Ms Ross said what shocked her about the event which she describes as was how normalised the incident seemed as security was within eyesight and did not intervene, instead laughing.
She said with the current worldwide movement to speak up about sexual harassment and assault, New Zealand Cricket and other sporting boards have an opportunity to make real change, which could also be beneficial for them with more women and families likely to feel more comfortable to attend games.
Fleur Fitzsimons said the behaviour was "totally unacceptable."
New Zealand Cricket spokesperson Richard Boock said it has apologised to Ms Ross and was "mortified" by the incident.
"We can't change the world overnight and if there's an element of behaviour that's embedded in the Kiwi culture we're going to see that presence in sporting cultures in New Zealand.
"We don't accept that, we've got a role to play and we're going to make sure this behaviour is called out as much as possible."
The Tui Catch a Million promotion and the culture at international matches will be reviewed in the end of season operational audit, he said.
The promotion, which gives punters the chance to win $50,000 if they make a clean one-handed catch of a six while wearing a branded T-shirt, has drawn criticism this summer due to a number of dangerous incidents as some people scramble to catch the ball.
A specific zone was created for those participating and a rule introduced where those making risky actions were disqualified.
Detective Sergeant Ben Quinn of Wellington Police said he thinks a long-term campaign about awareness and education is the best way to stop sexual violence and harrassment happening.
"We've seen a steady increase in reporting of sexual assault across the Wellington district and we think that's due to the trust and confidence levels are higher with the police," he said.
He said a major issue in Wellington was the consumption of alcohol in sexual decision making, with a targeted #betterdecisions campaign launching last December.
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