4. Question No. 4—JusticeHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of JusticeQuestion No. 4—Justice4. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Justice: Does she stand by all her statements?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): Yes. In particular I stand by my statement that my priorities include working to prevent and deter organised criminal activity including progressing changes to the criminal proceeds legislation; advancing the implementation of the Government's response to the royal commission into March 15; advancing electoral reform changes; building on the work of the previous Minister to provide greater access to justice through significant funding for legal aid; working to continue to reduce case backlogs in the courts; and ensuring a victim-centric approach to the portfolio so that all New Zealanders are treated fairly and appropriately within the justice system.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Does she stand by her statement that reference to the Government being soft on crime is abhorrent" in the light of a recent Newshub poll which indicated 68 percent of Kiwis agreed with the proposition that Government Ministers were soft on crime?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I stand by my statement that the Opposition's framing is unhelpful. This is a critical issue for all New Zealanders. Our side of the House is committed to focusing on making sure that the right settings are in place when it comes to our criminal justice system.Hon Paul Goldsmith: In her mind was Newshub being abhorrent by asking if a Government Minister was soft on crime or was it the 68 percent of respondents who agreed that Ministers were soft on crime?SPEAKER: I'm not sure she has responsibility for either but the Minister can answer.Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I was just going to point out that I don't have responsibility for what Newshub thinks.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Rather than denigrating widely held opinions of Kiwis wouldn't it be more constructive if she as Minister focused on changing her—SPEAKER: Right. Order! Order! I'm going to get the member to start the question again without an assertion.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Wouldn't it be more constructive if she as Minister focused on changing her Government's justice policies so that they were no longer soft on crime rather than referring to people who criticised them as "abhorrent"?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: What would be constructive is focusing on our side of the House and what we're doing to tackle rising violent criminal rates by ensuring that the system settings are correct. Working alongside my colleague the Minister of Police the Hon Chris Hipkins we are working with the Police to ensure that they have the right tools to ensure that we are able to ensure that New Zealanders are kept safe at night. Further what I would add is that in the week or so that I've held the warrant as the Minister of Justice the number of written questions that we've received from the Opposition member with respect to my social media and Facebook posts would indeed suggest that actually our side of the House is focused on making sure New Zealanders are kept safe at night—not trawling through social media posts. We're focused on the task at hand.Hon Paul Goldsmith: With regard to that statement right then is it not the case that we are trying to find out whether she liked a page that was electioneering on election day in breach of the electoral finance laws in her first week as the Minister of Justice?SPEAKER: Order! The Minister can answer in respect of her role as Minister of Justice.Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I can confirm to this House that I personally did not thumbs up thumbs down heart or any other emoticon any social media post on the Tauranga by-election date endorsing any political candidate.Hon Stuart Nash: What role does the Minister have in sentencing people who come before the courts?SPEAKER: No no; I'm actually going to rule that that's ironic. Yeah if it had been another member who asked it I might have thought that they didn't know and they weren't being ironic; I think this member does know. It's not whether the public knows."