10. Question No. 10—CourtsGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu) to the Minister for CourtsQuestion No. 10—Courts10. GREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu) to the Minister for Courts: Is she concerned that the impact of Government policy combined with the 6.5 percent reduction in funding will exacerbate the pressure on the courts?Hon NICOLE McKEE (Minister for Courts): No. But what I am concerned about is resolving the growing court backlog that was allowed to persist under his party's watch since 2017.Greg O'Connor: How does the Minister intend to reduce the backlog of court cases while also delivering 6.5 percent cuts in funding?Hon NICOLE McKEE: This Government has inherited backlogs caused by more recent unpredictable events such as Cyclone Gabrielle and the flooding in Auckland which caused some of our busiest courthouses to close. We are actively working on developing law which will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of court services and address the backlog that the Labour Party left behind.DEPUTY SPEAKER: No the last bit of that answer we would probably be better without.Greg O'Connor: What initiatives has the Minister introduced to reduce the backlog in court cases since 24 November 2023?Hon NICOLE McKEE: This Government is actively considering policy and legislation to reduce the court backlogs that Labour failed to clear. In the year since January 2023 alone there's been a 3 percent increase in the District Court criminal backlog rising to a total backlog of 37 percent of active cases. Our 100-day plan includes commitments to increase the efficiency of court proceedings and clean up the mess left behind. The member can expect an announcement on this soon.Greg O'Connor: Point of order Madam Speaker. The question was quite clear—what initiatives? She's outlined the problem. What initiatives has she introduced?DEPUTY SPEAKER: I believe the member did talk about initiatives in the 100-day plan. Does the member have a further supplementary question?Greg O'Connor: Well I'm keen to know what those initiatives are.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Would the member like to expand on those—Hon NICOLE McKEE: Was that another question Madam Speaker? Was that another supplementary?DEPUTY SPEAKER: It's a point of order.Hon NICOLE McKEE: Speaking to the point of order Madam Speaker you already said that I addressed the question so if he wants to ask another supplementary I'm quite happy to answer that.DEPUTY SPEAKER: No—I actually said that you'd addressed the 100-day plan. The member now raised a point of order. Did you want to extend on that or not? The choice is yours.Hon NICOLE McKEE: I believe I answered the first part of his question.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you.Greg O'Connor: What initiatives has the Minister introduced to reduce the backlog in court cases since 24 November 2023?Hon NICOLE McKEE: I'm so happy to let that member on that side know that this Government is going to be releasing—as part of our 100-day plan—early next week our initiatives to address the mess that was left behind for us to fix.Hon Paul Goldsmith: When can we expect her to announce new policy which will provide effective solutions for reducing court backlogs?Hon NICOLE McKEE: Thank you honourable Minister of Justice. I am pleased to inform you that we can expect this announcement outlining how this Government plans to address the court backlogs left behind by the Labour Party very early next week.Greg O'Connor: Can I thank that member for saving me a supplementary question—what is the projected increase in the number of court cases as a result of the Government's proposed legislation banning gang patches?Hon NICOLE McKEE: Legislative changes to crack down on the gangs are the responsibility of my colleague the honourable Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith. We work closely to ensure that the system-level implications of such policies are well understood and accounted for in our decision making.