11. Question No. 11—JusticeRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) to the Minister of JusticeQuestion No. 11—Justice11. RAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) to the Minister of Justice: Does she stand by all her Government's actions and policies?Hon GINNY ANDERSEN (Minister of Justice): Yes in their full context.Rawiri Waititi: What evidence has the Minister seen that heavy sentences or the removal of evidence that allows a judge to waive sentence options such as cultural assessment reports will act as a deterrent to crime?Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: I have already spoken in this House regarding the section 27 cultural reports. These have been around since 2002 when the Sentencing Act was first enacted. I have undertaken to take a look at these as it seems to be currently a cottage industry around those who are generating them. I stand by the view that my goal as a Minister of Justice is to make sure that there are good plans in place to make sure that there is equitable access to Māori.Rawiri Waititi: Point of order Mr. Speaker. I specifically talked about cultural assessment reports. I just want clarification just for my own understanding what the difference is between a cultural assessment report and a cottage industry.SPEAKER: Yeah the member's got further supplementaries I understand. The question that he asked was addressed. So you have to think really carefully about what question you're going to put and the answer that you're likely to get.Rawiri Waititi: Is the Minister aware that tax evasion costs this country up to $7 billion a year and if so will she set up a task force like Operation Tauwhiro and Operation Cobalt to target white-collar crime or is she too preoccupied with crimes of poverty such as theft and drug use?Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: Tax evasion is a serious case indeed—however that is the responsibility for the Minister of Revenue.Rawiri Waititi: Is the Minister aware that Aotearoa—sorry not Aotearoa; New Zealand—has the highest rate of incarceration for indigenous women in the world and if so what is she doing to reduce that number?Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: I am aware of that statistic and there are a number of initiatives in place and practical examples of where the justice system attempts to address that inequity in our systems. Te Huringa o Te Tai led by New Zealand Police focuses on the root causes of repeat offending and police's reframed strategy aims to improve front-line practices to keep our people out of court and prison and to address the underlying causes of offending through co-design and joint delivery with initiatives with Māori. Hōkai Rangi is a five-year programme of concrete actions to help eliminate overrepresentation of Māori in the criminal justice system led by Ara Poutama Aotearoa the Department of Corrections. The District Court's Te Ao Mārama kaupapa which is supported by the Ministry of Justice incorporates best-practice approaches from existing specialist courts including involving iwi in decision making at a local level.Rawiri Waititi: Will the Minister support Te Paati Māori policy to establish an independent Māori justice authority to deal with the systemic racism of the justice system against Māori and if not why not?Hon GINNY ANDERSEN: The Government has no current plans to progress a Māori justice authority. The three wide initiatives I've already spoken to are good examples of where our justice system is addressing the current inequities with Māori within our criminal justice system.