Borrows Chester: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5513] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 I congratulate the previous speaker Paul Quinn who personified the way that debates on justice must be carried out—with dignity and coherence and in a very planned and logical manner. It is very important that some forethought is given to justice and that there is some understanding of the causes of crime and the way to approach those causes. It has been very good to have been part of a National Government with a Minister of Justice who has taken a cautious and programmed approach towards bringing legislation before the House the manner in which it is debated and the procedures that address it. 
When the National Government was first elected on 8 November we set about a 100-day plan. We got a lot of flak from members on the other side in respect of that 100-day plan. The reason that it was so unpopular with those members was that it set about in a cautious and determined way to achieve the things that we had campaigned on and that we had received a lot of support from the public for. They were not headbanging knee-jerk reactions. They took a considered approach and we aimed at achieving various things including the justice sector. They were outlined very well by the previous speaker Mr Quinn. 
The Minister of Justice talked about four stages to the justice legislative programme. That was the first stage The second stage was to convene a Drivers of Crime seminar with the Hon Pita Sharples the Minister of Maori Affairs and the Associate Minister of Corrections. A number of us in the House were there and a number of members of the public working within the sector were also there. What a wide-ranging debate it was. The report on that seminar is due out any day. It looked at what those drivers of crime are how we could address them in a logical and determined way—the way we should address them in a civilised society—and picked them off one by one. 
The next programme stage 3 was speeding up the court process. We heard the Minister of Justice announce and set about introducing processes that will speed up the delays. As my friend Paul Quinn said just a few moments ago justice delayed is justice denied. 
Hon Member 
: That is not what he said. 
CHESTER BORROWS 
: There have been a number of hiccups. Well he said “justice not done” but I picked up exactly where he was heading. 
We are taking out some of those little hiccups within the system that delay those processes and are seeking to penalise those people who for their own gain would tend to slow them down in order to milk the legal aid system. I think the point has to be made that lawyers have to eat. I am very disappointed when I hear people say that the only people making money out of this are the lawyers. Well lawyers have to eat. I think that is a fair enough comment to make. 
The fourth stage will be to look at some of the defences we have—for instance provocation. We have had some discussion about that in the last week or so and we will be addressing it shortly as well. 
The work in the justice area is wide and has taken some creative initiatives over the last little while. Some of them were implemented by the previous Government. They require evaluation. It is particularly difficult to get hold of those evaluations while the funding stream is running if those evaluations that are already set down are not being run in a parallel way. Across the portfolios we have found that a lack of forethought and planning on the part of the last Government has seen that the evaluation of some of the pilot schemes—for instance the one doing very well in my electorate on early childhood low-decile education—did not start until after the funding had run out for the pilot. It is very difficult to maintain that pilot especially in tough times because the evaluation has not been running in a parallel way. We are concerned about the way that it has been set up. That is what we have found in opening up the cookie jar that is justice delivery within this country. 
But I can say that the justice initiatives taken by the Hon Simon Power show a lot of forethought and a lot of understanding of the justice sector and it is a pleasure to be working alongside him in this area.