Simpson Scott: Third Readings —Text is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSimpson Scott: Third Readings —[Sitting date: 27 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18372. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): As chair of the Justice and Electoral Committee it is a great pleasure for me to rise and speak in support of the third reading of the legislation arising out of the Victims of Crime Reform Bill in the name of the Minister of Justice the Hon Judith Collins. Following AndrewLittle’s contribution I am very pleased to hear that the Labour Party is going to support this legislation because so often in the history of that party’s time in Government it has not supported victims or victims’ rights.Mr Little is of course correct when he makes the point that our criminal justice system is an adversarial system. It is a system that is based on the contest of evidence and cases and it is a system that has proved us well and our system well. But over the years it has not catered well for victims. Too often in our criminal justice system the victims are the forgotten players in the courtroom and for too long victims have not had an opportunity to have their views properly expressed and properly recorded for the court for the public and of course for offenders. This piece of comprehensive and innovative legislation is a very significant step forward in terms of correcting the non-involvement of victims in our criminal justice system.I am pleased also to note from the second reading that New Zealand First is I think supporting this legislation. I am pleased that those members are also supporting the rights of victims in our criminal justice system.This is omnibus legislation that amends the Victims’ Rights Act of 2002 the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act of 1989 the Parole Act of 2002 and also of course the Sentencing Act of 2002. Our Government was elected back in 2008 with a mandate to improve our justice system and particularly to improve the lot of those who find themselves the victims of crime and who are not in our criminal justicesystem by any act other than by mere accident or who are just partly to blame for being there in the wrong place at the wrong time perhaps—nothing more complicated than that.One of the key aspects of this legislation is to make significant changes in the role of the victim impact statement. The role of the victim impact statement has been a good part of our criminal justice system in recent years but there is an opportunity—and this legislation does it very nicely—to extend the role in a way that makes the statement far more meaningful for the victim. We are going to widen the scope and provide victims of serious offences with the right to read their statements out in court and to present a statement in whatever form suits them. This could include pictures graphics poems or a whole range of methods other than just the written word.Although legislation can never legislate away the pain and suffering faced by victims this legislation will go a long way to help ensure that victims are notrevictimised by their participation in the process that we call our criminal justice system. This is just another piece of legislation as part of a suite of new bills that have been introduced by Judith Collins and the justice team on this side of the House that will focus clearly—and we will make no apology for doing so—on putting victims first in our criminal justice system.It is very good to note that since our coming into Government in 2008 crime is at record lows the numbers for serious criminal offending are at lows and the job that this Government has been doing is a very fine one. It is a tribute to the Minister it is a tribute to this Government and it is a tribute to the foresight and innovative imagination of a Government that really does put victims first that we can bring this legislation to the House and that it can be widely supported across the House. It deserves to be passed. I fully and totally commend this legislation to the House.