Street Maryan: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeStreet Maryan: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 16 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17350. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour): The last time I was speaking on this bill the Committee rose during my second call but I was saying that Labour was in support of the Victims of Crime Reform Bill which we still are. But my word what a difference a couple of weeks can make to the tenor of a debate. This is the Victims of Crime ReformBill. We have seen before us in this House today the most extraordinary performance by the Minister who is the sponsor of the Victims of Crime Reform Bill the Minister of Justice Judith Collins.There are victims of crime. There are people who suffer because of the crimes that are committed against them and this bill seeks to address that. But one of the victims of this Minister’s actions to date has been truth. We see truth as a victim in this particular matter. I see that it is entirely apposite at this point to reflect on the sponsor of this bill because her performance in the House has jeopardised any understanding or any confidence that we might have about her ability to speak the truth to this Parliament. Her ability to speak the truth to this Parliament has been called into question by her own actions—Hon Dr Nick Smith: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. We are debating Part 1 of the Victims of Crime Reform Bill. That is not a licence—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I thank the member. Yes the debate is just going through Part 1. When we are on the parts of the bill in the Committee stage these are narrow debates focused on what is actually in the part. That is actually what we will now be focusing on. So we are on Part 1 and I would ask the member to come back to those provisions that are contained in Part 1.Hon MARYAN STREET: In Part 1 of this bill there are of course all of the initial provisions that one would expect: the principal Act being amended the interpretation the treatment and so on. One of the things that does come up here is the purpose of victim impact statements. This is something that members of the Justice and Electoral Committee turned their minds to quite substantially because there were a number of submitters who spoke to this point. This certainly is a matter of some debate. In the course of the submissions that we heard there were comments made by members of the judiciary that it would be better if they still had the ability to control this in a way that allowed the court to proceed without undue delay but also without cutting off the victims’ statements too quickly so that they would still feel that they had achieved something in making their victim impact statement available to the court and have that moment in court to address the concerns that they had and the injury that they had sustained through the crime.This was something that is certainly a matter of balance. Supplementary Order Paper 424 which the Minister of Justice has put up in her own name fundamentally rewrites parts of this bill and addresses the changes to victim impact statements in clause 11 and clause 12. I just want to say that victims should be allowed a chance within the safety and the control of the court proceedings to give voice to their concerns.Where I was about to go in my last speech on this bill was to talk about a case that we knew so well from the media. That was the case of Sophie Elliot and the need for her family to be able to say what the impact had been on them and at the same time to address the kind of trial in absentia of their daughter by virtue of the defence’s ability to misrepresent her—in fact to say things about her that the family felt were inappropriate unreasonable wrong untrue and in need of rebuttal.This bill allows the victim impact statement to be presented to the court. Its purpose is to provide information to the court about the effects of the offending and to assist the court in understanding the victim’s view of the offending and also to tell the offender about the impact of the offending from the victim’s perspective. This is a critical point. This is something that we support. Even though there had been submissions from members of the judiciary who felt that it could lead to some disorder or to some lengthy hearings that were not enhanced by victim statements going on for too long I would err on the side of giving people the opportunity to have their say. So whether a victim impact statement is read to the court by the victims themselves or read on their behalfby somebody else I think it is part of the process in this Victims of Crime Reform Bill that allows us to support this legislation.We have got no doubt that the situation of victims in law and otherwise has improved greatly since Parliament first dealt with the issue in 1987 and we do not oppose that. We do feel that this bill represents another little bit of incremental change. The bill following this one this evening will demonstrate another piece of incremental change that could really have been done with a bit more boldness and a bit more of a comprehensive approach and we could have got more in it.I do not wish to incur your correction again Mr Chairman but I am concerned that the Minister who is presenting and sponsoring this bill and the Supplementary Order Paper that makes a number of changes to the bill has done herself and this Parliament damage. We would not wish to see this piece of legislation damaged by the irreparable harm that has been done by the Minister of Justice sponsoring this bill by virtue of her own admission—by virtue of her own words. This is an omnibus bill that addresses and changes four discrete pieces of legislation and it should be able to proceed. Even if we do believe that it is incremental in its approach it should be able to proceed unsullied in its passage through this House. But quite frankly everything this Minister touches now is sullied and it is that reputation that is part of the shadow that now hangs over everything that this Minister touches. This bill is one of those things that she has sponsored but it is a good bill.