Clendon David: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeClendon David: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 02 July 2015. Volume:706;Page:5068. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]9.DAVID CLENDON (Green)to the Minister of Justice: Does she stand by her statement in Law Talk of 8 May 2015 that “… we’d all agree it’s wrong for someone to receive preferential treatment in our courts. That is if you have more money or look a certain way that you might get a different outcome to someone else in your situation.”?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Associate Minister of Justice)on behalf of theMinister of Justice: Yes in the context it was given.David Clendon: Does she agree that the outcome will be different for people with money as opposed to those without given that her Government has cut legal aid funding by over 15 percent in the last 5 years and intends to cut even more money next year.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: No not at all. In fact the international trend is quite clear across many countries towards self-represented litigants. There are many reasons for this and they are far from simply economic so to attribute all of these phenomena to system changes is clearly quite incorrect. In fact it is misleading.David Clendon: Does the Minister agree with Justice Helen Winkelmann’s statement that: “Present levels of civil legal aid inevitably mean that many individuals cannot look to the courts to enforce their rights or obtain a remedy for a wrong.”?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: To some extent I also agree very much with what she said in I think the same speech—that there are no easy answers to this issue. But the profession has to take a very active part in understanding the nature of the problem and striving for the solution. Indeed she is very clear that the profession—the judiciary—has a very strong role to play in what is a complex issue.David Clendon: Does the Minister agree with her own Ministry of Justice officials including the general manager of the District Courts who link the increase in the number of people self-representing with the reduced availability of legal aid?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: As the member has said that does not make very much sense at all. The introduction of legal aid of course is one aspect that goes to assist with access to justice. I think we all accept that access to justice is incredibly important. I would make the point that legal aid is but one part of that puzzle if you like and there are many things that the State provides in terms of its role to ensure that there is strong access to justice in New Zealand.David Clendon: How can the Minister continue to claim that justice is accessible to everyone when the number of community law centres has fallen over the last 6 years despite increased demand and when legal aid funding has been cut despite the expressed concern of senior judges lawyers academics and ordinary New Zealanders?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Well of course in relation to community law centres funding has been retained. Indeed I would note the basic ignorance in the question because community law centres provide information not advocacy—David Clendon: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I wonder whether it is appropriate for the Minister to refer to a member as being ignorant in this House? I take offence at that.Mr SPEAKER: Well it is certainly not helpful to the order of the House and I would appreciate it if the Minister would just answer the question. [Interruption] Order! If the Minister wants to stay in the House then I would be grateful if he would not chat while I am suggesting that his answers could be far more helpful without creating disorder in this House. Does the Minister wish to complete his answer? Is there a further supplementary question?David Clendon: Given the widespread concern around access-to-justice issues will the Minister consider supporting the Green Party’s request to the Justice and Electoral Committee for an inquiry into the accessibility of justice in New Zealand?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: No because the courts are open to those who wish to avail themselves of them because legal aid is there to support those who most need it in our society and because support is available from the courts for those who self-represent.David Clendon: I seek leave to table research prepared today by the Parliamentary Library which shows a 15 percent cut to the legal aid budget over 5 years—Mr SPEAKER: Order! No that information will then be easily available for members to obtain.