Allan KiritapuFAMILY COURT (FAMILY COURT ASSOCIATES) LEGISLATION BILLThird ReadingHon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): I present a legislative statement on the Family Court (Family Court Associates) Legislation Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I move That the Family Court (Family Court Associates) Legislation Bill be now read a third time.This bill is one part of the Government's work to reduce delays across the entire justice system. Reducing delays in the justice system is critical to ensure New Zealanders can effectively access justice. Some of the ongoing work to address court delays includes increasing the number of judges in the Court of Appeal the High Court and the District Court through to 30 June 2025; establishing the Criminal Process Improvement Programme a judicially led cross-agency programme to reduce backlog in the District Court by establishing best practice in court procedures; and establishing a joint work programme with Te Whatu Ora the Ministry of Health and Corrections to address issues around court-ordered forensic reports. This Government has also helped around 93000 more people access legal aid. The costs of accessing legal aid have been removed the repayment thresholds have been increased and interest will no longer be accrued on unpaid legal aid debt. Together with the Family Court Associate these initiatives aim to increase access to justice and improve the experience and process of court proceedings.Delays in the Family Court can be particularly harmful in the family justice system because of its role in making decisions that affect children parents and whānau at challenging times in their lives. I just quickly want to pivot to many of the submitters that took time to provide the Justice Committee with their wisdom their views their expertise to assist in the formation of this bill. In particular there was one gentleman by the name of Paul von Dadelszen. He was the former Deputy Chief Family Court Judge. As a baby just graduated from law school I took up the role of judge's clerk and I had the privilege of working with Paul von Dadelszen and some of the work that he was actually doing on some of these proposals—and that was almost 20-odd years ago. But I note that Judge von Dadelszen—he's retired now but he took the time to submit on these bills to really walk through—and there's been several iterations over a long period of time—the thinking that had gone in by the judiciary by practitioners by the courts at various stages that has resulted in this ultimate outcome which are the Family Court Associates. But they build on—I guess I just want to highlight the whakapapa by which the introduction of these Family Court Associates has been made into this House and indeed law this evening.An accessible Family Court that operates without undue delay is key to a fully functioning family justice system. Significant reforms were made to the Family Court system in 2014 and were intended to help people settle arrangements for the care of their children without having to appear in the Family Court. However some of these changes led to delays across the Family Court which had significant negative impact on children parents and whānau and exacerbated existing issues already likely in many of those family environments. In 2018 the Government established an independent panel to examine the 2014 reforms and consider the impacts on families and children. The independent panel provided its final report Te Korowai Ture ā-Whānau in 2019 which provided 69 recommendations. The independent panel found that experiences of the family justice system were generally negative and that delay in the resolution of court cases impacts on most areas of the Family Court system.We know that delay is a significant factor in undermining trust and confidence in our Family Court. It keeps parents and children in stressful and uncertain situations and can contribute to deepening parent and whānau conflict. There are a large number of children involved in Family Court proceedings. Children exposed to ongoing inter-parental conflict are four times more likely to have social and emotional problems than the general population. Further some children do not have contact with non-custodial whānau for long periods of time while proceedings continue which can cause relationships to deteriorate and be detrimental to the wellbeing of the child and whānau. In some cases there are long-term intergenerational impacts particularly for tamariki Māori who lose connections to their whānau and by dint their whakapapa. The impact of delay of course is not limited to children. For example for victims of family violence court processes can be re-traumatising and court delays exacerbate and prolong trauma.The Government is committed to addressing these barriers to justice and strengthening the Family Court. The establishment of the Family Court Associate forms one part of a wider long-term programme of work to respond to the independent panel's recommendations and are part of the Government's commitment to address court delays more generally as I've already set out. In 2020 the Government began its reform based on Te Korowai Ture ā-Whānau and aimed at better supporting whānau through the family justice system. The reforms have included reinstating legal representation in the early stages of Care of Children Act 2004 proceedings in the Family Court with legal age for eligible parties; providing quality accessible information for children parents and families to help them navigate the family justice system; establishing Kaiārahi—Family Court Navigators—to help parents and whānau navigate the system.Briefly on that point I just want to acknowledge some of the incredible work I've seen by those Kaiārahi. I had an experience up in the Manakau court a couple of months ago now where I got to meet with those Family Court Navigators who walked me through what their day-to-day life was. In terms of working with whole family units I was astounded by the depth and breadth of the way that they form relationships.And finally as a part of this work we've also increased lawyer for child remuneration to incentivise the recruitment and retention of skilled practitioners.The purpose of this bill responds to one driver of delay identified by the independent panel: the high administrative workload of judges. The panel recommended that a new position be established in the Family Court. The bill establishes the Family Court Associate role to take on some of the workload of the Family Court judges. That will reduce delay up to 25 percent it is estimated in terms of time and assist in improving the process and experience of people participating in Family Court proceedings. This new role will help Family Court judges to progress cases instead of undertaking time-consuming administrative tasks.The Family Court Associate will be a judicial officer with independence from the executive. As a judicial officer the Family Court Associate can take on tasks currently performed by a registrar but they can also take on some judicial work that does not require a judge's expertise or experience but could not be done by a court officer as well. This includes decisions made at early stages of proceedings in interlocutory matters such as directing parties to undertake dispute resolution making orders by consent appointing lawyers and convening settlement conferences. The Family Court Associate will spend most of their time doing work on the papers but they will also appear in court for some matters as well. Matters that are complex or have a significant impact on people or human rights will remain with judges including final decisions that materially affect children such as guardianship.This bill also includes a requirement to review the Family Court Associate role to evaluate its effectiveness. Going through the submissions that were made to the select committee I noted that there were a number of submitters that sought that very sound recommendation to undertake the review to ensure that the role has done what it was intended to do which is to reduce those delays in the Family Court and also to see whether any amendments would be desirable.Finally I want to acknowledge those that worked on this piece of work: the chair of the Justice Committee Vanushi Walters and all of the members. And I want to acknowledge of course as well the independent panel for their work Te Korowai Ture ā-Whānau which has indeed informed the creation of the Family Court Associate role. Finally I commend this bill to the House.