Simpson Scott: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Simpson Scott: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 12 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8434. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 As the new chair of the Justice and Electoral Committee it is my pleasure to stand and have a call this evening on this financial review. One of the hallmarks of any civilised society is a robust judicial system—a justice system in which people can have confidence that is not corrupt that is efficient and that is one that dispenses fair and equitable justice that people are by and large happy with. I am pleased to say that here in New Zealand of course we have a very good justice system and we have a very good Minister of Justice. In the very capable Judith Collins we have a Minister of Justice who has a big agenda ahead of her for my committee and for this Parliament in the months ahead. We have one of the very best performing justice systems in the world. There is very little corruption—in fact I would dare say minimal corruption—we have a strong judiciary and we have high public confidence in our institutions. Of course this is of huge advantage to us as citizens of New Zealand. And the approach that Minister Collins is taking in terms of justice is working. Total reported crime has fallen by almost 6 percent. 
Dr Cam Calder 
: How much? 
SCOTT SIMPSON 
: Almost 6 percent—6 percent. Youth crime itself has fallen by about 4 percent and reoffending by nearly 6 percent. That is something like 21000 fewer crimes. We had 3000 fewer violent crimes over the past year and that means therefore thousands and thousands fewer victims. Members will be pleased to know that the rate of homicide and related offences such as attempted murder and manslaughter has dropped by a whopping 22 percent. The rate of serious assaults resulting in injury has dropped by 8 percent. So this Government’s plan for better public services within tight financial constraints is working very well. This is a Government that has ambitious targets for justice. Reducing the crime rate by 15 percent violent crime by 20 percent youth crime by 5 percent and the reoffending rate by 25 percent—these are targets that are aspirational and ambitious. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Order! Sorry to interrupt the member. Members may have just entered the Chamber but we are working under duress without amplification inside the Chamber. We have broadcasts going outside and I have asked members to be conscious of the fact that our environment is not what we are used to and to curtail their desire to incessantly put in interjections. 
Hon Annette King 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Could you just confirm which vote we are discussing? I felt the member was talking about Vote Police rather than Vote Justice. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Ministry of Justice. 
SCOTT SIMPSON 
: I am speaking about the Ministry of Justice and the very capable and wonderful job that the Minister of Justice the Hon Judith Collins is doing. You see justice results are very important. Delivering better public services to New Zealanders within tight financial constraints as I said earlier is the sort of thing that this Government is all about. 
Within the justice sector we have various departments working more closely together. So we do have police and corrections working more closely with justice—more closely than ever before—and that helps us achieve targets. That is a good thing in my view and something that we will be encouraging on this side of the Chamber. For instance crime when it is down means that our court numbers are down our number of sessions is down and appearances in court are fewer. So we have a unique opportunity—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Louise Upston 
: That was brief! 
SCOTT SIMPSON 
: —a brief but unique opportunity—here we go again. [ 
Interruption 
] This is good—yes. So we have a unique opportunity—hello? Can you—no I will go back to this one. Any minute now if I were Brendan Horan I would burst into song. I am going to resist that urge to burst into song. We have within justice an opportunity to work differently to focus more on the underlying causes of crime and of course crime prevention. We have a unique opportunity to—[ 
Interruption 
] Down? Oh I was just getting into the really good bit! We have a unique opportunity to work differently to focus more on those underlying causes of crime to modernise and improve our operating justice model and to build I suspect a more customer-focused lower-cost and more accessible justice system. 
One of the areas that my select committee is exploring at the moment is the Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill which is going through at the moment. That is a very good piece of legislation being put through at a time when we can reform the Family Court in a way that focuses on the most serious cases while at the same time putting children and vulnerable people first. It is this putting children and vulnerable people first rather than those with just relationship problems that is a very important part. 
Report noted.