Little AndrewDISTRICT COURT (DISTRICT COURT JUDGES) AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister for Courts): I move That the District Court (District Court Judges) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.This bill will amend the District Court Act 2016 to increase the maximum number of District Court judges that can be appointed at any time from 160 fulltime-equivalent judges to 182 fulltime-equivalent judges. Judges as many members of this House will know are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Attorney-General. This bill is being considered under urgency because Budget decisions to appoint an additional 10 District Court judges and two further Youth Court judges cannot be implemented until the District Court Act has been amended. Recruitment will commence immediately after the enactment of this legislation. The new judges will as I've said be appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Attorney-General.I consider urgency to be appropriate because of the technical nature of the bill and because its primary purpose is to give effect to Budget decisions. The usual parliamentary process will delay these appointments for several months and the reality is that the backlog is here now and the workload pressures on the District Court are great. There are already long wait times and these will continue to increase until more judicial resources are added.The courts play a vital role in New Zealand's democracy as every member in this House knows. They help to ensure social stability by giving confidence that rights can be upheld and that offenders will be held to account. Courts also provide a very important forum for the resolution of private differences and conflicts.The District Court deals with over 200000 cases each year. Over the past few years the amount of time it has taken to resolve cases especially in the family and criminal jurisdictions has increased. This is largely due to increases in the volume and also the complexity of cases. Family Court cases involving family violence protection of children custodial disputes and family separations have all added to the workload that that court faces. The criminal jurisdiction deals with serious offending such as rape and aggravated assault. As District Court judges are required to deal with more cases and more difficult cases with more events more judges are needed to help manage the increased workload.The more time people—whether they are plaintiffs defendants offenders witnesses whatever—spend in the court system or are waiting around for it the greater the adverse impact on their mental emotional and in some cases physical wellbeing. These people are already vulnerable stressed and sometimes traumatised before they come to court. The pressure of having to recall everything that happened to them for months afterwards while the court case progresses can have a serious impact on their wellbeing. Delays also cause defendants who may not be guilty to spend more time in prison on remand. This severely disrupts their lives.The two additional Youth Court judges will assist the Youth Court to deal with the additional work arising from the expansion of its jurisdiction to include 17-year-olds. In future the Youth Court will deal with young offenders in the 14 to 17 year age range. This expanded jurisdiction is expected to improve reoffending outcomes for 17-year-olds—when I say improve" reoffending outcomes I mean "reduce" reoffending for those in that age bracket—because of the Youth Court's rehabilitative focus. Those dealt with in adult courts have a 15 percent higher reoffending rate than those dealt with in the Youth Court.This bill will also create a buffer of a further 10 unfunded positions to enable further judges to be funded through future Budgets without the need for further legislative change. I commend this bill to the House."