Sosene Lemauga LydiaLEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour—Māngere): Thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): A five-minute call.LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE: Thank you sir. Labour opposes this bill. We heard yesterday and last night the Minister outline—which actually wasn't much in terms of community engagement. Māori and Pasifika communities Māori and Pasifika whānau Māori and Pasifika offenders are not going to get the benefit of the section 27 legal funding when it is removed by this mean-spirited Government who does not care about victims who require support. Of course we know that.In terms of the judicial system and the sentencing judges of the judiciary this report is not an excuse but it helps explain some of the offenders. And we know in Pasifika whānau in Pasifika families the grief when some of our young people who have gone down the judicial system—admittedly for some of them it is their own choice; however many of our Pasifika families struggle in understanding the language and the culture that the prison system has.Another thing is that Pasifika offenders require support from their whānau. They may end up in the judicial system and have caused some grief. However what the report does do is it provides the sentencing judge with further explanations of mitigating factors and the reason and the cause for that. The sentencing judge will appreciate that the section 27 report that is put forward by counsel is an extra explanation.Let's be very clear: this is putting funding and money over people's lives. We heard some great contributions last night in terms of the system. We also heard the angst in the community with regards to the trauma. However I want to just add in my contribution that Māori have specific tikanga that they follow and so do Pasifika. We have far too many young Pasifika people—once they enter the judicial system they spend a lifetime trying to get out of it. And also some of the offending behaviour requires a better explanation to be put forward and considered by that specific sentencing judge.In terms of the section 27 cultural report some of the specific offenders have ended up in the judicial system due to petty crime and just poor decision-making; however the section 27 report that they cannot afford to pay for or their families to provide the extra evidence before that sentencing judge is a lever that could be considered further.For some of the young Pasifika offenders they have had a life of crime and admittedly they have made poor decisions. But the section 27 report is for those who require the legal funding to assist that specific sentencing judge to take in those factors of poverty of not being able to have good English of not being able to understand the reason why they've ended up being incarcerated. I know section 27 will still be there. We've heard a number of contributions that it is still in the system and is able to be put forward to the sentencing judge. But it's only there for those who can afford it. So in fact for our Māori and our Pasifika and our poorer families in this society it is a travesty that the legal funding will not be there to help and assist these families particularly for those offenders who have ended up in the judicial system and need that extra help.Labour opposes this bill Labour does not agree with what the Government members have said in this decision of theirs—$7 million that's what has been outlined in the numbers that we've received—and it is a travesty that we are unable to help these offenders for the sentencing judge to consider further and have it explained further. Thank you.