Pillay Lynne: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Pillay Lynne: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15012] 
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour—Waitakere) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to stand and talk in this debate about the wonderful ministries and in this case I will talk about the Ministry of Justice and acknowledge all of the good work the ministry does. I will in particular talk about victims’ rights because I was really heartened to see the Government’s response to the select committee’s inquiry into victims’ rights. There were some fantastic recommendations from the hard-working Ministry of Justice. 
Christopher Finlayson 
: I think you’ll find that they’re not. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: In fact despite the denigration from the opposite side of the Chamber I have to say that I believe that the Ministry of Justice must be one of the hardest-working—if not the hardest-working—ministries in this Government. I am very proud to work with the ministry and I am very proud of the work it puts out. We all know that much of the work—usually not supported by National—is very good and is very much valued by this Government. Today we are here to celebrate—and I do mean celebrate—the response into the inquiry into victims’ rights because it shows that this Government listens. This Government listened and it acted. 
What did victims tell us when they came to the select committee? It was not the putting the offenders away and throwing away the key model. They said it was about being treated with dignity getting support having accountability in the system and coordination so that victims knew what was there to support them and how the systems worked so they were not lost in the courts system. They said they generally wanted more support. 
This Government listened and we see victims as our top priority. I noticed that the members on the other side of the House did not speak on victims’ rights. Why is that? When the Justice and Electoral Committee was selected out of every select committee in this Parliament to go to Victoria and look at victims’ rights did the National members go? No they did not. What did they do? They were too lazy to go. They spat the dummy and they thought: “Oh we might get some political mileage out of this. They are actually looking at electoral law reform too. My goodness we don’t want to be anywhere near that.” So as Hone Harawira said the minute they knew that electoral reform was on the agenda we did not see them for dust. They took off like scalded cats. So it meant that the hard-working other members of the committee had to go. The hard-working members and staff of the committee went to Victoria and looked at what they are doing there. 
The people in Victoria acknowledged New Zealand; they said that our Victims’ Rights Act inspired them. They said that our restorative justice programmes are leading edge; they had looked at those and actually done some more work on them—they created a victims’ charter. We the hard-working members—not the lazy ones who stayed home—the Green members the Labour members and the Maori Party member for half the time thought we would sit and listen. We thought: “Boy there’s some good stuff we can do for victims in New Zealand and we want to look after them.” The people in Victoria talked about the charter an 0800 phone line to really expand that and give support to victims and a coordinating agency so that when victims needed support and information and needed to know how the systems worked for them they could actually get all that information through a website and an 0800 phone line. So we were really pleased. We also visited the neighbourhood justice centre. I would have thought that someone from the legal profession like Mr Finlayson would be slightly interested in that. But no he was too lazy and had to stay home. It was a very very fruitful visit. It was very very good. I am so proud that this Government has picked up the recommendations. 
Christopher Finlayson 
: A lightweight agenda for a lightweight chair. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: The member calls me a lightweight. I think that to call me lightweight could possibly be flattering. But I say to Mr Finlayson that I do not think given some members on the opposite side of the Chamber that we should be talking about size. 
When the committee came back we found that this Government listened. Who were at the select committee flip-flopping and saying “Us too!”? Who said they thought it was good wanted to be onside and wanted a unanimous recommendation? The National members did. They did not know what we were talking about—they had never been there and did not know—but by hokey finger up they saw it was a winner and that they would be in on it. That is what National did. The National members did not have the courage to say that their party could not in good faith support these recommendations because they did not know what we were talking about because they were not working on it. No they actually said: “Gee this is a winner.” 
It was like KiwiSaver early childhood education and like everything else that Labour does. National members just said they would pretend that they supported it and thought it was a good idea. That is what they did. But it does not matter—we are not small-minded and petty in the Labour Party; we are visionary. We are looking towards our future and we said that at least we had National onside. They did not contribute anything but we put the recommendation back to the Minister. The hard-working ministry officials prepared an excellent report and our excellent Minister said: “Yes we are going to go with that.” We will make this country even better for victims; we will make sure that they are supported and coordinated. We will support the wonderful Victims Support Agency. We will support the non-government sector by giving it more funding for essential services. What is more—and I heard the Opposition members talk about it—we will get the great Law Commission to do some work for us. We already provide compensation through the Accident Compensation Corporation but we want to look at further compensation for victims. We see that as very valuable work for the Law Commission to do. 
So that is what they did. I am a little bit proud of myself and my select committee colleagues—not the National Party ones but Nandor Tanczos from the Green Party and my hard-working Labour colleagues—because we did work on that and then those recommendations were picked up on by a wonderful Government that looks towards our future. If people want to freeload like the National Party and ride along on our coat-tails I say: “Welcome aboard.” They are welcome aboard although they did not do the hard yards they did not do the work but victims in this country will be better off. However National members did not have the courage to say— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Order! 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: —that they had not helped. Thank you Mr Chair. Victims in this country are far better off because— 
Christopher Finlayson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. The member cannot accuse people of a lack of courage. I ignored it the first time knowing her limitations but she is repeating it like a litany and it should stop. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you. I did call the member to order and members should realise that the use of the word “courage” is a personal reflection under Standing Order 116 and is not permitted. The member will desist. 
LYNNE PILLAY 
: Thank you Mr Chairperson. I promise not to use that word but I will say that those members are lazy. Those members were too lazy to go to Melbourne to look at the projects. I think the National Party might have had a conference on or something else and as we know it has to try to cajole its people to go to them because they are so jolly boring. So those members stayed back but I know the hard-working members who went and looked and listened. We came back with excellent recommendations that this great Government has taken up. I am really proud and again I cannot do more than praise the Ministry of Justice. It has always provided the best advice possible and the best support. I am proud to acknowledge the ministry today in the Chamber. 
Report noted.