Tolley Anne: Bail Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTolley Anne: Bail Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 02 July 2013. Volume:691;Page:11518. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Police)on behalf of theMinister of Justice: I moveThat the Bail Amendment Bill be now read a second time . This bill makes changes that will improve public safety and ensure the overall integrity of New Zealand’s bail system. In particular the changes will make it harder for those accused of serious offences to get bail. We want to ensure that bail decisions strike the right balance between keeping the public safe and maintaining fundamental rights such as the presumption of innocence and freedom from arbitrary detention.I would like to commend the Law and Order Committee for its thorough consideration of the bill and for the sensible amendments it has proposed. The Government has adopted all of the proposed changes. The committee received 282 written submissions on the bill and heard 42 oral submissions. A number of the oral submissions were from victims of crime and their families. On behalf of the Minister of Justice I would like to thank those people for their courage and their willingness to share their experiences in order to inform the committee in its consideration of the bill. I note that 119 submitters supported changes contained in the bill. Many submittersreferenced the petition of Tracey Marceau on behalf of the Christie’s Law group and 58000 others. Some proposals in the petition such as those relating to judicial accountability were outside the scope of this bill. They are being addressed by the Law and Order Committee separately.The bill contains two parts. Part 1 makes amendments to the Bail Act and Part 2 makes amendments to other related legislation including the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act and the Sentencing Act. The changes contained in the bill fall into six broad categories. The first set reverses the burden of proof in certain cases to target defendants charged with the most serious offences and those with the highest risk of offending while on bail. A reverse burden of proof means that the defendant must prove that he or she should be granted bail. Under the bill there will be a reverse burden of proof for defendants charged with murder. These defendants will need to satisfy the court that they will not commit any violent offences while on bail. Public safety will be the court’s primary consideration in these cases. The bill also extends the list of very serious offences that currently carry a reverse burden of proof when the defendant has a previous conviction for one of these offences.Secondly the bill improves the courts’ ability to deal with defendants facing serious drug charges. Defendants charged with class A drug offences will now be subject to a reverse burden of proof when being considered for bail.Thirdly the bill strengthens the ability of the police and the courts to deal with young defendants on bail. The bill retains the strong presumption in favour of bail for 17-year-olds who have not previously been imprisoned. Those aged 17 who have previously been imprisoned and those aged 18 and 19 will be subject to the standard adult test for bail. The bill also gives the police new powers to deal with defendants under 17 years of age who repeatedly breach their bail conditions.The fourth set of important changes contained in the bill relates to police bail. This is bail granted by the police before the defendant appears in court for the first time. The bill increases the penalty for failing to answer bail in these circumstances to 3 months’ imprisonment in addition to the existing maximum fine of up to $1000. The bill abolishes monetary bonds and sureties for defendants on police bail. These bonds and sureties are not available in the District Court. They were seldom if ever used by the police because they are very difficult to enforce.The fifth group of provisions relates to electronically monitored or EM bail. Currently electronically monitored bail is granted by the courts under the generic power to impose bail conditions. The Government believes however that there should be specific provision for electronically monitored bail in the legislation to ensure that it is applied consistently and effectively. The bill formalises the current arrangements whereby defendants can apply for electronically monitored bail only after they have been remanded in custody. The statutory regime will ensure a consistent process for assessing the suitability of defendants for electronically monitored bail and for monitoring them in the community.The final set of provisions promotes the integrity and operational effectiveness of the bail system. These amendments will reduce situations where a defendant will be bailable as of right and will restore the jurisdiction of justices of the peace and community magistrates to deal with certain defendants who breach bail.Finally the committee has recommended a number of minor and technical amendments to the Bail Act. These recommendations follow on from the recent reforms made by this Government under the Criminal Procedure Act and ensure consistency with recent changes to criminal procedure. This Government recognises that a person charged with a crime has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty and the right not to be arbitrarily detained. However these rights must be balanced against thesafety of the public. The Government is committed to bail laws that make New Zealand a safer place and keep victims at the heart of our criminal justice system and this bill demonstrates this commitment. The New Zealand public deserve bail laws that protect them.The Minister of Justice will be tabling a Supplementary Order Paper that will clarify the drafting and technical amendments required to bring the bill in line with the recent changes to criminal procedure. The Supplementary Order Paper will also propose changes to the management of the electronic monitoring regime so that Department of Corrections staff as well as the police may undertake assessments for electronically monitored bail. I believe that the amendments recommended by the committee respond appropriately to issues raised in submissions and once again on behalf of the Minister I thank the committee members for the work they have done on this bill. I commend this bill to the House.