Why the New Stalking Bill is Too Weak w/ Carrie Leonetti from the University of Auckland: 19 February, 2025

In December last year, the government introduced the stalking and harassment amendment bill, the first official legislation in Aotearoa to criminalise stalking.

Calls for an official stalking bill became widespread in Aotearoa, following the murder of 21-year old Farzana Yaqubi, who’s calls to the police leading up to her murder were effectively ignored as stalking was not yet a crime at the time.

However, Carrie Leonetti - an associate professor in Law at the University of Auckland who helped create the original draft legislation, said that the new stalking and harassment bill was too weak to actually protect victims of stalking and that the number of acts that constitute as stalking in the bill didn’t cover the full range of potential offenses.

Oto spoke to Carrie about why the new Stalking bill was ineffective and what was needed to improve it.