Andersen Ginny; Dean JacquiGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. The aim of this bill is to better align the treatment of victims of offenders found legally insane—those who are legally insane—with victims of regular offenders in our justice system. I want to pause here for a moment because in terms of the law and the way that that term insane" is used can be perceived as being quite offensive to many people in New Zealand today. So in terms of unpacking that term the defence of insanity is regularly used within a courtroom setting when someone is seen not fit to stand trial due to their mental state. So while that term is used throughout the discussions in this debate I think it's important to make clear that it is not intended with offence but merely a reflection of the legal terms that we are faced with using.This is a sensitive and incredibly important area of law that requires a delicate and accurate legislative approach so it is good that the committee took the time to consider it so fully and worked together so well and also was resourced to do so. I'd like to firstly acknowledge Louise Upston the member in charge of the bill. Advocacy on behalf of victims is incredibly important and she's done an excellent job in this space. I would like to also acknowledge victims and their whānau who came before the committee and who spoke to the committee members about their experiences. I'd like to also acknowledge those victims who did not come before the committee but are yet still affected by this particular area of law. I'd like to acknowledge the committee members in one of those instances where committee members work together incredibly well to produce what I think to be a far better piece of legislation than what we initially started with and I think that's a sign of democracy working well in New Zealand. I'd like to also acknowledge the Minister of Health Andrew Little. He gave full remit for officials to provide advice on this particular piece of legislation and that from my experience to date is rare on a member's bill. I would like to off the back of that thank the officials that provided extensive advice and time to deal with this complex bill. I think members only need to pick the bill up to see it's a substantive piece of legislation much more so than the typical member's bill that we are looking at on a day-to-day basis or week-to-week basis.I think it's important to outline right at the start why the Government is supporting this bill at second reading. This bill reflects Labour's values. It promotes justice and transparency while respecting survivors of crime and their communities. Mental health is pivotal to many of this Government's policies. Since we supported the bill at its first reading it has had extensive and significant work done by the Justice Committee to improve and to ensure it will have positive outcomes when implemented into law. It also tries to obtain a far more victim-centred approach when the court is considering cases involving defendants around those who are unfit to stand trial or acquitted on account of insanity. At the select committee stage victims and their families and the advocates of those groups told of some of the most devastating experiences that I have heard in a select committee experience with offending committed by people who had been judged to be legally insane. While this bill cannot undo or mitigate the things that these people have experienced we hope that it can alleviate some of the most difficult elements of dealing with this complex and challenging area of our law and our legal system and also the tradition for people in the future.The Justice Committee heard from numerous submitters on the bill including victims of insane offenders their families and their advocates. The submitters who were overwhelmingly in favour of the bill recounted to the committee some very strong examples and also looked at how they felt when the verdict of not guilty due to insanity was provided in the courtroom setting. When we supported the bill at the first reading we expressed some reservations about the specific drafting of the bill that we were keen to see examined by the Justice Committee. This is a substantial bill as a member's bill and significant changes were made.So I think it's important that I—and I apologise that it's long but I think it's important that we outline all of the areas that this bill will be amending and identifying to change the current legislation. We will be renaming the verdict of "not guilty on account of insanity" to "proven but insane" requiring notification to victims when an insane offender is being considered a leave of absence giving a victim the right to submit their view to the Minister when an insane offender is being considered for a leave of absence requiring notification to a victim when insane offending is being considered or for short-term leave giving the victim the right to submit their view to the Director of Mental Health when the insane offender is being considered for short-term leave giving victims the right to make a submission to the Mental Health Review Tribunal when it is reviewing the patient's condition ensuring victims are notified and giving them the right to submit when leave with a greater degree of autonomy than had previously been considered for a special patient under the Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act. It also amends the Victims' Rights Act to make it clear that the definitions of "offence" and "offender" include offences and offenders where the verdict of proven but insane has been returned. Finally it gives victims of insane offenders the right to make a victim impact statement at disposition hearings. The select committee received 66 submissions and out of those 66 submissions 55 supported the bill with five more supporting the intent but not the—sorry I lost my way. The Justice Committee unanimously recommended significant amendments to the bill that fundamentally changed how it will operate. And I think it's important that the key amendments are outlined below.First of all the commencement date. This was something that we debated quite considerably. The committee members were unified in agreeing that we would give a longer term for the commencement date because of the significant nature of the changes that we were making at select committee. So that has been extended to 1 July next year. The main change which will make the most difference in terms of victims is a new verdict for insanity. In the bill as introduced there was a version that the member in charge of the bill Louise Upston outlined initially that was longer. The purpose of this change has been condensed to be removing that "not guilty". The purpose of this change is to remove the upsetting not guilty element of the verdict which is distressing to victims because there is usually no doubt that the person committed the act or admission and the verdict makes it seem like this is not the case. To accompany this new verdict the bill also recommended adding a two-step trial process to the Act. The committee agreed that renaming the verdict was an important thing to do; however they felt it could be better achieved and not require a new trial process by simply renaming the verdict to "proven but insane".The next main change was requiring notification to victims when an insane offender is being considered for leave of absence. The Justice Committee examined section 50 of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act which provides that the Minister of Health may grant a leave of absence to a special patient from a hospital or community subject to conditions specified in the section. We decided that the bill should require that victims of persons found to be insane be notified when the special patient is being considered for a leave of absence. This would in the committee's estimation prepare the victim for the possibility of the patient getting greater autonomy or being released. This bill has made significant changes in this space.I want to acknowledge the big one that I haven't had time to get to: victim impact statements and also enabling victims of those offences to be able to make a victim impact statement. This is a long pathway the interaction between the justice system and mental health treatment and the provision of mental health care. We have a lot more to do in this space. I see this is a good start. I see this is a collegial start. And I would like to see this level of cooperation in an area that affects so many New Zealanders' lives to continue happening for many years to come. I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."