Paul TamathaTAMATHA PAUL (Green—Wellington Central): Ngā mihi kia ora koutou. I rise on behalf of the Greens to affirm our support for the Courts (Remote Participation) Amendment Bill because it makes a change that may result in criminal proceedings being less traumatising for victims going through the justice system and may reduce travel time and travel costs for victims as well. More broadly we support centring the needs of victims and survivors throughout the justice process.It's probably already been touched on throughout the debate already but this bill allows victims and support people to remotely observe a criminal trial and sentencing if they wish to and other criteria are met—for example a judicial officer or court registrar do not determine that it is contrary to the interests of justice. This is likely to be better for some victims less re-traumatising and reduce travel times and costs and therefore accessibility. The bill allows the use of audio links such as teleconferences for remote court proceedings and civil proceedings. These can only be used where the defendant is not required to and does not wish to attend the hearing. Finally the bill makes permanent a change during COVID-19 which is to clarify that courts should be able to conduct hearings remotely or virtually and that this does not impact on open justice—as in public—and the media can still observe those proceedings remotely.This is really great and begins to address the issue of court backlogs. We know that there are a significantly high number of cases backed up within the justice system and backlogs can be really traumatising to victims. It is positive that the Government is making changes to try and reduce this backlog without infringing on the rights of defendants in the justice process. When looking into court backlogs I found that 142000 court events have been delayed because of the pandemic since March 2020. That is 142000 out of 2.4 million appearances such as sentencings bail applications and pretrial hearings. Court backlogs can cause significant distress to survivors. One survivor of sexual violence Rosie Veldkamp said that as a result of the delays she felt like giving up on her case. She said My mental health was getting worse. I was just always upset and honestly felt like it was never going to happen." This point was echoed by independent victims' advocate Ruth Money who said "The trauma involved in waiting for a trial or waiting for a sentencing or even a bail hearing—it distracts you." So yeah anything that can improve outcomes for victims we support that.In the Strengthening the Criminal Justice System for Victims survey report they found that 77 percent of victims in a 2018 survey disagreed or strongly disagreed that victims' views concerns and needs are listened to throughout the justice process. But the big thing that I want to focus on is the way that this bill might improve one aspect of the justice system for victims navigating the system. There are ways that we can make trauma-informed adjustments to our courtrooms to protect and uplift the mana of victim/survivors. In Backbone a national coalition of survivors of violence against women in Aotearoa New Zealand—in their survey in 2017 496 victim/survivors from Aotearoa New Zealand reported their experiences of family court proceedings. According to the guide 58 percent of the survey participants said they had been threatened intimidated or physically assaulted by their abuser while attending court-related appointments or hearings. By including remote access we will reduce the chances of this happening if a victim/survivor chooses to participate remotely.Trauma isn't just present in a few unique or exceptional cases; it's a pervasive theme running through our entire criminal legal system. By recognising that trauma and actively accommodating people who have experienced it our courts have the potential to break cycles of harm in people's lives and in our communities. In a quote from the Centre for Justice Innovation the Chief Victims Advisor report to the Government in 2019 said that we could look to making changes to the physical layout of the courtrooms to increase security and protection of victim survivors. This could include creating safe blocked-off waiting areas for survivors as well as secure entrances and exits to courtrooms. Some survivors have called on the courts to implement totally separate facilities for victims in the courthouse to keep them away from their perpetrator to prevent violent encounters or traumatisation. Some further suggestions for trauma-informed approaches to courtrooms include lowering the judge's bench to not have it towering over survivors having well-lit car parks and warm welcoming artwork. These suggestions can help make a courtroom be more inviting and less sterile to traumatised survivors. We want courtrooms to be safe places particularly for victims children people who do not speak English and people with disabilities as has been recommended in Turuki! Turuki! by the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group.I want to finish off my contribution in the House today to talk about my own work that I've done supporting survivors of sexual violence. A few years ago I supported a large group of women who had been victims of sexual assault and harassment by local musicians here in Wellington. When I was supporting those women we talked extensively about what pathways they had available to them. They could either go down the legal pathway route and press charges or there were other pathways working with different organisations that respond to harm and support survivors through their healing. Some of them chose to go down the legal pathway but some of them also chose not to because they did not feel safe within the justice system they didn't want to participate in a system where they felt that the odds were stacked against them and they felt that they wouldn't be believed. Not all people who experience harm choose to take up a criminal proceeding against the perpetrator and a big reason for that—and a core reason behind the Me Too movement—is that victims often feel the justice system re-traumatises them. They feel that they will not be believed if they come forward. So any small steps that we can take towards making our justice system safer for victims are important steps. I commend this bill to the House."