Huo RaymondJustice SectorRAYMOND HUO (Chairperson of the Justice Committee): Thank you Mr Chair. The Justice Committee has conducted annual reviews for 2016-2017 of 12 justice sector organisations notably the Ministry of Justice the New Zealand Police the Serious Fraud Office the Department of Corrections as well as the Abortion Supervisory Committee.The Abortion Supervisory Committee is constituted under the Contraception Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977. It is an independent supervisory body to oversee and govern the provision of abortion services in New Zealand. It is funded through Vote Justice and it is supported by the Ministry of Justice. In the year to December 2016 12823 abortions were performed on New Zealand women. Of those 10813 were surgical and 1970 were medical. In its annual report and during the annual review process the Abortion Supervisory Committee has reiterated its calls for review of the Act. The Act has not been reviewed since it was enacted in 1977. The Act needs some urgent attention to reflect the modern healthcare delivery advances in technology and to correct outdated language.From the Department of Corrections we have learnt that the prison population has increased by 16.7 percent in the last two years. We have in New Zealand 10200 prisoners as at 30 June 2017. Of the prisoners 71 percent are serving a sentence and 29 percent are on remand awaiting a trial or sentencing. The prison population is forecast to reach 12000 by 2026.Mental health in prisons is one of the important issues and we have learnt that on any given day more than 100 people would benefit from greater mental health treatment in our prisons.Improving outcomes for Māori offenders is another important issue. Māori are overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice system. Māori make up 15.8 percent of the New Zealand population yet 51 percent of the New Zealand prison population are Māori.From the annual review of the Ministry of Justice we have learnt that violent crime increased by 3 percent. The increase was largely driven by increases in burglary and assault offences recorded which increased by 14 percent and 10 per cent respectively. Recent trends in crime were featured in the annual review of the New Zealand Police. The police have seen a rise in mental health incidents with police officers attending 35000 mental health calls for services.Family violence is an operational priority area for the police and cyber-crime investigations will continue to increase. The police are working with other agencies such as the Computer Emergency Response Team and across law enforcement internationally. We note the view expressed by the police that cyber-crime at the moment is a specialised area but it is going to have to become a generalised area because technology will be a part of everyday life.The Justice Committee is one of the busiest committees in Parliament. We have a number of bills before us from the Trusts Bill to the End of Life Choice Bill—namely the euthanasia bill—which is likely to become the most significant and controversial bill that this committee and indeed this Parliament will consider. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all committee members particularly my previous deputy chair the Hon Amy Adams and the current deputy chair the Hon Maggie Barry. Thank you very much.