Goldsmith PaulGENERAL DEBATEHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (Minister of Justice): I move That the House take note of miscellaneous business. Six years of loose spending of hopeless naive law and order policies of waffle and of almost comically poor delivery came to an end last year. Now our country has a coalition Government led by the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon that has the capability the plan and the determination to get our country back on track. Unconstrained Government spending by Labour has added to the inflation that every family knows about and is struggling with. That inflation has forced higher interest rates for families and businesses. Those higher borrowing costs are squeezing the economy. We as a Government right now are going through the arduous process of restoring discipline to Government spending. And I can tell you it's a lot harder than flinging money around like the previous Government did for six years but it needs to be done in order to deal effectively with the cost of living crisis.A naive approach to justice exemplified by Labour's only clearly articulated justice sector target to reduce the prison population by 30 percent irrespective of what's happening in our community on our streets and in our houses has been followed by a rise in violent crime an explosion in retail crime ram raids gang membership and paying for the victims of crime. Week in week out we have seen hard-working New Zealanders—often new New Zealanders—at their wits end having their businesses done over and seeing no consequences for the younger offenders. Well that's going to change. Last week the Government announced ending the 30 percent target. Our focus is on reducing violent crime lowering the number of serious repeat youth offenders and then on the nuts and bolts of the justice system which is the hard gritty task of dealing with the chronic delays to justice—we can't continue to have Kiwis waiting years to get an outcome for their changes. And we're going to deal with the boondoggles that were left unchecked by Andrew Little by Kris Faafoi by Kelvin Davis by Kiri Allan and by Ginny Andersen and all the long crew of justice people who made no progress. The section 27 reports that went from $40000 a year in 2017 to $7.5 million will not be funded anymore. That cottage industry is gone.SPEAKER: I don't like to interrupt the member but look this place is just not where you have discussions in the aisles. So we had a discussion going on over here before—I sort of let that go. Would those two members standing in the aisles talking go back to their seats or leave the Chamber. I'm sorry to interrupt the member I'm inclined to give him another 30 seconds.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: Well that's very kind. That's very kind—SPEAKER: But then I'm not going to do it. So carry on.Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: I've always enjoyed your support Mr Speaker. We're not pleased with the advertising promises in some of those section 27 reports. New Zealanders are sick and tired of reading about people convicted of serious violent offences that would attract significant prison sentences and finding that those sentences are whittled down by a series of discounts. So offenders end up on home detention playing PlayStation which is not dealing real consequences for crime. That's why we're going to limit discounts to 40 percent and next in our 100-day plan to restore law and order we'll be giving the police the powers they need to deal effectively with gangs.Finally I want to make some comments on Waitangi Day. I spent several days up North and joined the Prime Minister and many Ministers on the Opureroa Marae. We experienced like all members of the House that unique blend of confrontation and friendliness up at Waitangi that Waitangi Day brings. Many New Zealanders don't see the friendliness and the constructive debate but it was there I can assure you. What we're trying to achieve as a country isn't easy. At bottom it is to try to honour the Treaty and Treaty settlements while at the same time not losing sight of or undermining those core human rights that all people in modern democratic societies expect—equal voting rights equality before the law and an equal say in the big decisions affecting their lives. We have to appreciate that there is tension between those two things—Hon Willie Jackson: Are you supporting the Treaty bill now Goldie"?Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH: And the previous Government led by—including Willie Jackson leaned too heavily away from those core human rights most notably in the move away from equal voting rights in Canterbury and through some of the co-governance arrangements and they never made a case. They just stood up on the TV once and said "Democracy has changed." with no explanation and not bringing the people of New Zealand along with them. So we need to unwind some of those changes and we will. We also heard from many people in Northland that there are two things that will make a real difference to that beautiful part of the country. First is a decent road—ridiculously described as a holiday highway by the Hon Phil Twyford and so many MPs on the other side. A decent road is the best thing you can do for Northland. And secondly they want to see a Ngāphui settlement and ultimately success on that front will be determined by the various hapū of Ngāphui. But we stand on this side ready to do a deal. So thank you Mr Speaker."