Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South) (remote): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. It's pleasing to hear that members opposite are supporting the COVID-19 Response (Courts Safety) Legislation Bill. I would just like to take a moment—it's the first time I'm joining Parliament virtually—to thank all of the staff and officers behind the scenes who make this dual sort of interface work each day. So it's a great feat to make it work and I know there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make it happen. The Government is progressing legislation in this space to ensure that courts can continue to operate safely and effectively as COVID-19 spreads throughout our community. Access to justice through the courts is vital to a fair and democratic society and this Government strongly supports that principle. To date measures to keep COVID-19 out of our courts have largely worked well. However additional safety requirements are needed to manage transmission risks under the COVID-19 Protection Framework as more and more people are active while there is COVID-19 in our community. The Government has therefore agreed to make legislative changes that will apply during the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes encapsulated in this piece of legislation will strengthen the ability of the judiciary and the ministry to set and enforce conditions people must meet when entering and remaining in any court and in some tribunals as well. This will enable the judiciary to set additional conditions for selecting and managing juries to reduce enclosed prolonged mixing of jurors basically for good public health safety measures. For example court security officers will be able request evidence of a person's compliance with entry conditions by the judiciary and ministry to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and potentially to refuse entry and remove people based on non-compliance with those conditions. The changes will also mean that jury selection can take place outside of court buildings where alternative venues can be used to reduce close physical contact between jurors and again try to reduce the ability for transmission to occur. The ministry and judiciary intend to set these conditions where it's required to respond to COVID-related health and safety risks. However a judge will be able to depart from general safety conditions in individual cases to ensure people's rights are not compromised. People will also need to be able to access courts when they are legally compelled to do so—an example of this is if they are a criminal defendant—even if they do not meet the entry conditions so it's necessary to have flexibility in these areas. We support this bill because it's a strong way of promoting access to justice through the courts given the current conditions in the pandemic. Access to justice through the courts is a cornerstone of a fair and democratic society. During previous periods in which COVID-19 was circulating in the community the virus was largely kept out of our courts. However that came at the cost of postponing many hearings—particularly jury trials—and also restricting access to the courts. Urgent legislative amendments are needed to remove legal barriers to the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice addressing COVID-19 health and safety risks in our courts. Some people who are essential to our justice system operating fairly such as jurors and lawyers are apprehensive about entering the courts for their own health safety reasons. Courts do carry transmission risks and they do involve people mixing for extended periods of time. In the near term as we respond to the impacts of Omicron more proceedings are happening remotely and this bill is necessary to support safe physical court proceedings. Without this legislative change people going to court many of whom are legally compelled to attend could be exposed to a heightened risk of COVID-19 and some people may be unwilling or unable to attend court because of safety concerns. These issues could delay justice disrupt court business and potentially even exacerbate existing jury trial backlogs. This bill enables those processes to continue. It supplements the ability of the judiciary and the ministry to respond to safety and security risks in our courts and it does this by strengthening the ability to set and enforce conditions for entering and remaining in the court system. The ministry and judiciary will continue to be responsible for assessing health and safety risks in courts. The bill will ensure that they have the ability to implement appropriate safety requirements in response to those risks. The bill does not mandate any particular measures. The safeguards that will apply when the judiciary and the ministry set requirements are that the law change is temporary to respond to the pandemic and also the requirements may only be set where it is reasonable and necessary to respond to COVID-related and health safety risks in the interests of justice. These requirements need to be consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. In addition to this there will be judicial discretion to make directions in individual cases that enable exceptions to the general safety requirements. The bill won't change people's entitlement to access the courts when they are legally compelled to do so—for example if they are a criminal defendant—even if they do not meet the entry conditions. The bill therefore ensures that appropriate steps are taken and can be taken to reduce risk while maintaining access to essential services and access to justice. This is a good bill that keeps our courts working as best as they possibly can given the current circumstances New Zealand is now operating under and I commend it to the House.