Power Simon: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Power Simon: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12707] 
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I will have to take a call on this vote. I cannot let the entire justice sector pass by without a comment being made by anybody in the Chamber. I find it remarkable that nobody in the Committee rose to take a call on the justice sector as it is one of the most important components of the Government’s work and one that has received some legislative attention in recent times. 
I think it is worth starting by thanking the Justice and Electoral Committee for its extremely hard work over the last short while and indeed the work that it is about to do as part of the result of the estimates hearing. In recent times the committee has had a prodigious work rate. In fact to this point 14 bills have been referred by me to the committee and it has handled them all extremely well. They have ranged from smaller bills to very large bills. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: I was surprised when we got to Vote Justice just before the dinner break because no one wanted to take a call. I decided that I had better stand up and say something; otherwise the entire justice sector would have passed through a vote in the Committee stage of the estimates debate without anybody from any other political party making a comment. I am pleased to see that on the Committee resuming a number of people with an interest in Vote Justice are here and I look forward to hearing them make a contribution. 
Before the dinner break I was— 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Which ones? 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: Well specifically not Mr Hughes; it is not his strong point. Before the dinner break I was thanking the select committee for its enormous work rate over the last 18 months and I was about to embark on a bit of insight into what the 18 months ahead may look like for that committee as part of the estimates process which of course is forward-looking as opposed to backward-looking. The common thread that bound those initial reforms the 14 bills that the committee dealt with during that 18 months and that will continue to keep that committee busy is frankly the need to protect the vulnerable. That will continue to run through justice policy in the year ahead. We have an ongoing review of victims’ rights which is currently having its submissions looked through by the Ministry of Justice; the Government’s response to the Task Force for Action on Sexual Violence; and further changes to sentencing for crimes against children. I will talk in my remaining time a bit more about some of these reforms and other priorities for the coming year. 
In addition to the way that we will look at Part 8 of the Crimes Act “Crimes against the person” the year ahead will also see reform to some of the institutions through which the justice system functions. Institutions often evolve particularly in the justice sector through precedent tradition history repeated practices and the like. Those institutions need to provide continuity and predictability for those who use the justice system. But the danger is that such incrementalism can lose sight of the fact that society’s expectations may have changed with regard to those institutions. The review of legal aid by Dame Margaret Bazley in the last 18 months showed us that reform in this area could not wait. The Government has largely accepted Dame Margaret Bazley’s recommendations and plans to implement the key recommendations over the next 2 years. Some of the changes will require legislative amendment and I intend to introduce that legislation very shortly. 
Simplification of the criminal justice system will also feature in the year ahead. One of the historic points that is worth making in the Committee is that when I first became the Minister of Justice everybody told me that in order to fix problems in the justice system all that the Government needed to do were two things: appoint more judges and build more courthouses. It struck me that that must have been the advice that all of my predecessors had received over a long period of time and nobody had sat down and asked himself or herself what is was about the justice system that actually needed to be improved. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: He’s a watershed Minister! 
Hon SIMON POWER 
: Somebody has to do something around here I say to Mr Hughes. So members of the Committee—[ 
Interruption 
]—now that I have started I am not going to stop. Now that this piece of work is well under way—and the first discrete part of that reform was dealt with in the audiovisual links legislation recently in the House—more legislation in this area will be coming forward. 
Some of the other work that is likely to arrive in the House this year is work that relates to the Law Commission’s report in respect of changes to the legislation dealing with alcohol. Those changes which are making their way through the system presently will probably be the largest piece of work that the select committee will deal with over the next 12 to 18 months. The issue is not uncomplicated and it will test the skills of the very able chair of that committee and his able colleagues as they work their way through it trying to determine whether appropriate legislation can target the real harm and the impact that alcohol has particularly on the wider justice system. 
Also within the ambit of Vote Justice in the year ahead will be the confirmation of work done on the interaction between the citizenry and the State by way of elections which means that we will work our way through the second reading Committee stage and third reading of legislation asking the public whether they wish to have a binding referendum on MMP. If that legislation makes its way through all stages of the House then that will occur. The first two questions as part of that process will occur at the 2011 election. And of course all members of the House will be anxious to cast aside historic grievances and deal in a sensible and forward-looking way with the matter of electoral finance reform. I look forward to continuing discussions with colleagues on all sides of the House about that historically rather controversial issue. But I have no doubt that it will not contain the same level of vitriol and controversy that it did as we move into the future in a way that hopefully will see some of the issues that remain controversial for some members on either side of the House ironed out in a way that will see electoral finance law reform endure beyond just one election. 
These are exciting times for Vote Justice and I ask all members of this Committee to join me in this debate in advancing their own thoughts on how to improve the justice system in the years ahead.