Borrows Chester: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12710] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to rise and speak in this estimates debate and I am looking forward to the work that the Justice and Electoral Committee will be travelling through in the next 12 months. Some of the bigger chunks of work have already been outlined by the Minister of Justice. I am pleased to note that the response of this Minister to questions that are raised in the public has been to consider those comments and to review the legislation governing those areas or situations and then to make a response. It is interesting to note that where that has happened there has frequently been a positive response right across the House. 
Although some commentators have talked about some responses as being knee-jerk or off the cuff or in response to matters that have been traversed through the courts I do not think that one can fairly reflect that. Given for instance the Drivers of Crime conference that was held last year the response to it and the way that upcoming legislation has been responding to the matters that were thrown up I think one would have to go quite a long way to find a Minister of Justice who has responded in such a pre-emptive way. The Search and Surveillance Bill which is travelling through its select committee consideration at the moment is another indication. In response to some concerns that have been raised through the sector and by the public that bill has been put on hold for some time while some investigations have been made in order to work through some concerns. We will very soon be able to go back to submitters and ask them to respond again in writing once they have seen the way the Government wishes to respond to the matters that were raised. 
Of course the Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill is currently before the committee too. It has been put on hold while we have seen the response of the Law Commission in its report and then seen the public’s response to that report. We await eagerly the Government’s response to the points that have been made. 
It is interesting to note that the public have relished the opportunity to have input into this particular issue. There have been over 3000 submissions to the Law Commission in respect of its discussion paper. Members of the Justice and Electoral Committee have to wonder whether those 3000 people would not then go on and make submissions to the select committee. That will be a lot of fun; we look forward to engaging with them. 
The Criminal Procedure (Simplification) Project will be quite unusual in terms of the way New Zealand has dealt with matters that come before the court procedural matters and the ability to speed up the court process. It will be interesting to see what response the public has to that project but as I understand it a number of people operating within the sector consider that the indications that have been given so far are that it will be quite well received. 
This is a great time for our committee to be working within the justice sector. It is great to be able to look back over 18 months and look at what has progressed through the committee—largely with quite a substantial amount of support from parties across the House. I thank the committee members for their help. I thank the Minister for the aspirations he has for the justice system within New Zealand in the future. I look forward to the challenges of the year ahead. Thank you.