Faafoi Kris: Legal Services Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Faafoi Kris: Legal Services Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
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KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 I will begin following the fashion of Simon Bridges and Charles Chauvel by acknowledging Minister Simon Power since his announcement that he will not seek re-election. I think everyone on both sides of the Committee would agree that he is a Minister who is well respected. Even in my former trade he was a politician who was well respected too. I wish him all the best. 
In terms of his last contribution I will touch on the affordability of providing what we are trying to achieve with the bill. We are looking at around a $405 million shortfall to give this bill teeth. Labour while giving broad support to this bill will be watching that very closely. Without that resource to back up what is in this bill we will not be able to achieve it. 
I think the most important part of Part 2 is clause 9(1) which basically streamlines the granting of legal aid when grants are not or are unlikely to be under the amount set by regulations. That will basically allow people who do not have the means to seek legal aid to be granted legal aid which of course achieves the purpose of the bill. 
I am the member for Mana which is home to the Porirua District Court. It is a court where I am proud to say all parties try to work towards a strong collaborative relationship and work for the community. Therefore this bill will be acutely felt by those who work there every day like the Whitireia Community Law Centre and family lawyers like Peter Foster who is based out in Raumati. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Good on you that you found out where it was! 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: Ha ha! In terms of the purpose of this bill which is to provide legal services to people of insufficient funds clause 9(1) in Part 2 of this bill is absolutely fundamental. For those people in my electorate who do not necessarily have sufficient means to seek legal help whom I am very worried about this clause will be very important because it is one less hoop to jump through. But as I said before when I was addressing the issue of affordability if we do not have the resource to give to them then this bill will have no teeth. Creating fewer hoops for those people whom I am concerned about is very important because they are facing increasing costs. 
Grant Robertson mentioned that for the people we are talking about unfortunately the fact that they have insufficient means is half the reason they are turning up to court. They are facing increased power prices increased food bills and increased petrol prices and the cost of living is going up. So those people are finding themselves before the courts. Whether it is because of ratbag lenders their own banks that are calling in debts or collection agencies some of those people are turning up to court because they have insufficient funds and insufficient means. When they get to court they will need the assistance of this legislation to make sure that they can be represented in an adequate way before a court. 
As I said clause 9(1) will take the pressure off people with insufficient means. Therefore it achieves the bill’s purpose which is to promote access to justice by establishing a system that provides legal services to people of insufficient means. For me as the member for Mana most of the people who are turning up to the Porirua District Court have insufficient means unfortunately so this bill is very important to them. That is why I said during the election campaign which I was victorious in that I would fight for them. That is why I am addressing this part of the bill to make sure that those people who are struggling to make ends meet whose struggle is not being made any easier by this National Government have adequate access to justice. 
As David Parker pointed out before as we address the issue of affordability one way to make sure we can make up that shortfall of about $405 million in order to achieve the goal of this bill is to look at one of the fish-hooks that comes about in this legislation due to the “three strikes” policy. Those who are accused of a serious crime will have no other option than to plead not guilty. Then we face the situation where we have long and protracted cases sucking on very valuable resources which we need to make sure are going to the people who need them. 
Clause 9(1) in Part 2 is the fundamental part of this bill in terms of achieving its goal. I will support any move to make sure that we can get enough resource and funding to achieve the purpose of the bill which is to provide legal services to people of insufficient means. Unfortunately they are coming in and out of the Porirua District Court every day.