Goldsmith PaulHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National): Thank you Mr Chair. It's my pleasure to speak on this debate which is focused on the annual review of the justice ministry and the justice sector more broadly.The justice ministry spends around $800 million a year on its business and the courts; you've got another $2 billion or so on Police and another $2 billion or so on Corrections. Overall the sector is around $5 billion or $6 billion annually spent to keep us safe.As we've had questions to the Minister of Justice in question time around legislation—and she referred to the fact that she is responsible for I think was it 150 pieces of legislation roughly; a very large number. So it's a very broad sector that touches upon the lives of New Zealanders in many ways. Many people fortunately don't have direct dealings with the court and justice process as victims of crime but there sadly are too many but there are also many people touched whether it's police safety whether it's the human rights legislation. Certainly everybody gets an opportunity to vote for the electoral laws that we're responsible for. So any Government has to focus on what are the real burning issues that they have to deal with at a particular time. I put it to the Minister and to the Parliament today that there are I think four real challenges in the justice sector that I want to talk about today and ask questions of the Minister.The first is around the very significant increase in violent crime over the past five or six years. Since we've had a Labour Government there's been a 33 percent increase in violent crime. At the same time there has been only really one tangible clear target operating under this Government in the justice sector which is to be a 30 percent reduction in the prison population. I think that all members here and most New Zealanders don't want to see more and more people imprisoned in this country. Prison is not a great place. But most people want to see the prison numbers reflective of what is going on in the community. Are people safer or not? What we've seen is violent crime going up and the number of people in prison going down. The computer says that it doesn't compute because what we're seeing is people being made less safe and an increase in crime.So the first fundamental question I have to the Minister is: why is the primary focus on reducing the prison population irrespective of what is going on in the community even though we are seeing an increase in violent crime? And indeed has the determination to keep people out of prison actually contributed to an increase in violent crime?" is a related question.The second area that we need to focus on is this whole increase in youth crime that we've seen. Everybody is aware of the 550 percent increase in ram raids. They're aware of the smash and grabs. They're aware of poor old Michael Hill Jewellers being done on just about every second day it seems at a different place around the country. We've all been as members of Parliament—well certainly those on this side of the House have visited retail operators and seen the fear and frustration and despondency in their eyes as they've had to deal with constant harassment and smash-and-grab activities and even ram raids and they don't feel safe they don't feel that their family are safe and they're so despondent about how they can actually make a living because they have to pay for all the fixing up and the high insurance bills and all the losses that come with it.So the broad question in this area that I have for the Minister is: is she actually confident that the money and the legislation that we're investing and that we've employed deal with this rise in youth crime? Is it working? Is it sufficient? My answer to her would be no. Well what is she going to do about it? What is she going to do about the fact that most people conclude that there are no consequences? So I'm interested in some initial thoughts from the Minister on that issue as well and what she is going to do about that 550 percent rise in ram raids.I'll just quickly touch on the other subject. The third big area is the massive delays in the court system and the long delays to justice that New Zealanders are facing. So one basic stat I'd ask to question is: why has there been a 42 percent increase in prisoners on remand—that is people in prison before they're sentenced—because of delays in the system?"