SpeechCOVID-19 RESPONSE (COURTS SAFETY) LEGISLATION BILLThird ReadingHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Justice): I present a legislative statement on the COVID-19 Response (Courts Safety) Legislation Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I move That the COVID-19 Response (Courts Safety) Legislation Bill be now read a third time. This bill supports the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice to keep courts and tribunals operating safely and effectively during the pandemic. This is critical to ensuring people can continue accessing justice. The amendments are not tied to the severity of the pandemic at a particular time. There continues to be a need to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in courts and tribunals even as we pass through the peak of the current Omicron outbreak.The changes in the bill are temporary linked to the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act being in force and this ensures new powers exist for only as long as they are needed. The bill does not mandate any specific safety requirements; instead it authorises the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice to develop requirements that will minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission. These safety requirements will apply to the people entering the court or serving as a juror. The judiciary and the ministry will be able to rapidly adjust these requirements to respond to changing health risks and to ensure the requirements remain a reasonable and proportionate response to the pandemic. The requirements will be subject to safeguards. They must be necessary in the interests of justice and to protect health and safety in the courts to take account of the effects of COVID-19. People who are compelled to attend court such as criminal defendants will be able to enter into the court even if they do not meet the safety requirements and this is because the requirements cannot override the legislation regulating who is entitled to attend court. Judges will also be able to override the safety requirements on a case by case basis and this means people who do not meet the requirements will be able to enter court or be eligible to serve as a juror where a judge determines this is in the interests of justice. In addition the requirements must be consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.Existing law already authorises the judiciary and the ministry to manage safety and security at courts and tribunals; however it is not a perfect fit for the risks that arise in the pandemic. This bill therefore amends the Courts Security Act to clarify and supplement the ability of the judiciary and the ministry to respond to safety risks. It clarifies their ability to set safety requirements relating to COVID-19 and importantly it makes express provision for senior members of courts and tribunals to set these requirements. This supports rules to be set consistently across jurisdictions. Court security officers will be able to enforce these safety requirements and this includes an ability to refuse entry to people who do not comply with them. People summonsed for jury service need to be able to come to court confident that measures are in place to protect them from COVID-19. These people are compelled to attend court and jury trials may pose a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission because these trials involve strangers who have travelled from many locations and who may be required to be in a confined space together for several hours and in some cases for several weeks. Addressing these risks the bill amends the Juries Act to authorise the Chief High Court Judge and the Chief District Court Judge to set safety requirements that jurors and potential jurors must meet. These requirements will be additional to and applied despite the jury rules and provisions in the Juries Act relating to juror summoning and selection service and discharging of jurors. Judges and registrars will be able to proactively defer or excuse a person from jury service if they are unable to comply with the safety requirements and these people will be told in advance that their jury service has been postponed or cancelled. This will ensure that most of the people who attend court for jury service comply with the requirements and this will reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission amongst potential jurors.The Juries Act is also being amended to expressly enable a person's jury service to be deferred or excused for a reason related to COVID-19. People will be able to apply to have their jury service deferred or excused if they or a member of their household or family are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 or if their finances have been significantly negatively affected by COVID-19. Most of the bill will be repealed when the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act is repealed; however a few provisions relating to jury service will continue for a further two years. These provisions aim to return people whose jury service was deferred for a COVID-19 - related reason to the position they would have been in but for the pandemic and these people will be able to be excused from jury service on less stringent grounds than currently typically apply. The bill also amends the Criminal Procedure Act to clarify two areas of uncertainty that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The Criminal Procedure Act contains protections for the public and media access to criminal hearings and the bill before us clarifies the relationship between these protections for open justice on the one hand and the use of remote technology and court entry requirements on the other. Firstly the bill clarifies that these protections for open justice are satisfied if a hearing is held remotely and the public and media has the right to observe via remote technology. I would emphasise that the bill does not change the circumstances in which remote technology can be used or the types of criminal hearings that can be conducted remotely. The use of remote technology will continue to be regulated by existing law. Secondly the bill clarifies that the protections for open justice do not limit the ability of the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice to set court entry requirements.In conclusion the COVID-19 Response (Courts Safety) Legislation Bill will enable the judiciary and the ministry to manage COVID-19 risks in the courts while maintaining access to justice fair trial rights and public confidence in the courts. This will help keep the court participants safe and will also avoid the social and financial costs of delayed trials. I commend this bill to the House.