Domestic violence laws likely to change - Minister

Justice Minister Amy Adams. File photo / NZ Herald

Laws aimed at tackling domestic violence are likely to change, the Justice Minister said today.

Amy Adams told TV One's Q+A programme that changes were likely after a review of existing legislation.

She said the court process could be "traumatic" for family or sexual violence victims and the court system "can and must think long and hard about whether there is more it can do".

On Thursday, Sir Owen Glenn's blueprint for tackling family violence suggested judges should become European-style "inquisitors", questioning everyone involved to determine the truth and direct the outcome.

Ms Adams welcomed the Glenn Inquiry's main findings. This week, she asked the Law Commission to resume work on an inquisitorial system for sexual abuse cases to save victims from aggressive questioning by adversarial lawyers.

Her predecessor, Judith Collins, stopped the work in 2012.

"One of the things we need to do in the justice sector is think very carefully about how the sector protects the most vulnerable, who tend to be the women and children who've been the subjects in either sexual or family violence," Ms Adams said this morning.

The minister also told Q+A it was important for lawmakers to engage with anti-violence groups and others in the community to get a sense of how the law could be improved.