Foster-Bell Paul: Estimates Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Estimates Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 01 July 2014. Volume:700;Page:19083. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National):I am delighted to be able to take a call in this debate on the Vote Justice estimates for the 2014-15 financial year. I would like to begin by paying tribute to the Ministers who have led this sector so effectively and so capably over the past term of Parliament. They have truly been working for New Zealand and working very hard indeed to achieve such positive outcomes.I would like to acknowledge hard-working colleagues on the Justice and Electoral Committee—our chairman Mr Scott Simpson MP for Coromandel; the Hon Kate Wilkinson MP for Waimakariri; and Alfred Ngaro and Jo Hayes National list MPs—for their dedication in scrutinising and fine-tuning the legislation that underpins and implements this Government’s policies in the justice sector.Crime rates have dropped to 30-year lows court waiting times have plummeted and reoffending rates have been slashed thanks both to innovative approaches in rehabilitation and also to some simple common-sense measures like boosting drug and alcohol treatment and rehabilitation literacy courses and work in prison programmes. There is no doubt that Budget 2014 and the funding voted to the justice sector programmes contained therein further advance this good work.But this is not a Government that rests on its laurels and this year’s estimates promise that we will be working even harder for New Zealanders in the year to come. This may be a concept that some on the Opposition benches struggle to grasp but modern Budgets are about more than just spending money; they are about more than just inputs into the departments; they are even more than just about the outputs achieved by the departments. They are about achieving real outcomes for New Zealanders. Paramount is the real-world results that Kiwis—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member. The time has come for me to leave the Chair for the dinner break.Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.PAUL FOSTER-BELL: I was saying just before the dinner break that I was absolutely delighted to see that in spite of the efficiencies and savings in some areas and falling crime rates the number of real Kiwis who are benefiting from our policies in the area of victim support is growing. After providing support to 32000 victims in the last financial year provision has been made this year for 35000 victims to receive that level of support. I am of course referring to page 112 of the Estimates justice sector B5 volume 7 for the members opposite who may not be keeping up with this speech.Of course we hope that there are fewer victims of crime and thanks to proactive policing and a Prevention First strategy that is proving to be the case. But having widened the definition of who can receive victim support and extending it to for instance children who are witnesses to domestic violence in the family home it is right and proper that we are making budgetary provision to support this wider group. Similarly there is more provision for the victims of sexual assaults and abuse domestic violence murder and other serious crimes.It is great to see that having achieved a 100 percent success rate in delivering crucial services in a timely fashion in the last financial year—for instance processing victims’ assistance scheme grant applications within the 10-day period of their submission—we are resourcing once again a 100 percent timeliness standard this year. That is outlined on page 111 of the Estimates. This is yet another example of how we are a practical Government that is working for New Zealand and putting real-world concerns ahead of the political dogma ideology and out-of-touch theories so favoured by our opponents.Finally I would like to touch on the Hutt Valley mobile community office trial which has been deemed so successful that Budget 2014 provides funding for it to be rolled out more widely throughout the country. I know it is something that our candidate for Hutt South Chris Bishop will be referring to on the hustings. The mobile community office is a wonderful example of how by working together and hunting as a pack agencies can achieve much better results than if they were to do their own thing. One just wishes that members opposite from the Hutt Valley paid more attention to these excellent projects as contained in the 2014-15 Estimates than they do to reincarnating extinct ratites. This is a Government that is achieving results and I am very proud to be part of team Key which is working for New Zealand every day.