Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionAnnual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:26. Text is subject to correction.]Annual Review DebateIn CommitteeDebate resumed from 28 April on the Appropriation (2013/14 Confirmation and Validation) Bill.Infrastructure (continued)The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): The House is in Committee for the Appropriation (2013/14 Confirmation and Validation) Bill. The Committee is debating the question that the reports of committees relevant to services for infrastructure—Canterbury earthquake recovery communications energy and transport—be noted. Many of the supplementary calls available for the debate have already been used by parties. National has five supplementary calls remaining. Labour has one. The Greens have one. New Zealand First has three. The Māori Party and ACT have one each.BRETT HUDSON (National):This Governmentis aspirational for New Zealand because we have the absolute confidence in Kiwis and Kiwi businesses to compete and succeed when they have a Government behind them that is providing the framework to help them to be successful. And in this National-led Government that is precisely what they have. Our Business Growth Agenda provides the framework for Kiwi businesses to succeed to grow and to employ more people.Today I would like to talk about investing in infrastructure and what we are doing there to provide enablers for Kiwi businesses to succeed in their markets and to grow and employ more people. I would like to talk about our broadband initiatives: our Ultra-fast Broadband Initiative and our Rural Broadband Initiative. I sit on the Commerce Committee and we were very fortunate in the annual review process to hear from Crown Fibre Holdings. The information it shared with us was that in the 12 months to December 2014 end-users with access to ultra-fast broadband grew by 57 percent. The number of businesses passed by the ultra-fast broadband project has increased by 47 percent. Over 231000 businesses and households have access to ultra-fast broadband. Over 2200 schools including 1000 rural schools have access to the capabilities that broadband can provide. Average quarterly orders have increased by 153 percent. That is about this Government investing in infrastructure that Kiwis and Kiwi businesses can use to be successful.What does it really mean? I have heard Opposition members talk about struggles in the regions falling employment and economic woes. Well this Government has just been getting on and putting things in place to lift prospects in our regions. So what does ultra-fast broadband mean? In South Canterbury information and communications technology is now the third-largest sector and the fastest-growing sector in South Canterbury. In Timaru there is an example of an IT development company that prior to ultra-fast broadband employed one employee. It now employs over a dozen because ultra-fast broadband gave it the reach and the capability to take its services and address a broader market. It is the regions that are benefiting and not just in South Canterbury.How about the productivity gains that we see in places like Whangarei? In Whangarei there is a software development company. Its network infrastructure was so poor that it used to have to ship all of its development out on CD-Roms; now it can deliver it via the internet saving it and its clients valuable time and money. Or how about the case in the world of medicine?Dr David Clark: It’s not working in Karitane. It’s not working in Warrington.BRETT HUDSON: And that Dr Clark is the weakest interjection in 50 years. In the area of health a medical practitioner also in Whangarei used to have to go with his patients to the base hospital to perform retina scans. He can now do that in his practice and send that data across the internet to the hospital saving time and money and particularly saving inconvenience to his patients.Or how about the panel beater on the North Shore? The panel beater who has reported a 15 percent improvement in productivity because he can now send videos and photos of damage and assessment directly to insurance assessors saving incredible amounts of time and helping to get his clients back on the road sooner?This is a Government that is investing in infrastructure that makes a real positive difference to Kiwis and to their businesses. It is not just in the information superhighway that we are doing this; we are also doing it with highways. In my own electorate in this region we are finally seeing action on Transmission Gully a 27 kilometre four-lane motorway between McKaysin Kāpiti and Linden on the edge of my own electorate of Ōhāriu a motorway that will see between 18000 and 22500 vehicle movements per day. It is an initiative that is unlocking productivity helping us to move people and goods far more efficiently in our region.This is a Government that is investing in the things that matter the things that will make a real difference to Kiwis and to Kiwi businesses helping to promote growth and an increase in employment. This is a Government that is working for New Zealand.PHIL TWYFORD (Labour—Te Atatū):Nothingsaps the legitimacy of a third-term Government more than the perception that it is governing in the interests of a certain section of society and ignoring another. And regional New Zealand over the last few years has formed a very strong view that this Government governs in the interests of Auckland and the big urban centres and neglects the rest. It is not just the centralisation of services and infrastructure. It is not just the loss of jobs and the cutbacks. Yesterday Air New Zealand abandoned Kaitāia it abandoned Taupō it abandoned Whakatāne and it abandoned Westport and not a word was said by the National Party MPs who represent those areas. The Minister in the chair the Minister of Transport hides behind the fact that it is supposedly a commercial decision of Air New Zealand. He does not have a thing to say about how those cutbacks will affect the economies in parts of regional New Zealand.But nothing—nothing—demonstrates the cynical neglect of regional New Zealand by this Government better than its cutting and cutting and cutting of spending on local roads. Under this National Government spending on new local roads has gone down from $180 million in the 2008-09 financial year to $162 million in the year 2013-14 an $18 million cut a 10 percent cut over the time that National has been in office. This Government has been running down a multibillion-dollar taxpayer-owned valuable asset—that is our local road network around the country. Why is it doing that? It is doing it so it can pour billions of dollars into a handful of urban motorway projects some of which will not even pay for themselves because the benefit-cost ratios are so low.Last week I was in Invercargill. Everybody whom I spoke to raised with me the fact that Southland has been hit hard by successive cuts to the funding of local roads. Southland is not getting a fair go under this National Government. In the year 2009-10 funding by central government for local roads in Southland was $56 million. In 2013-14 under this National Government that had been cut to $51 million another 10 percent cut $5 million sliced off the funding of local roads by this National Government. The effect of that on the ratepayers is that they are taking a hit. In Invercargill that means an $810000 cut by central government for local roads every year. For Southland District Council $750000 every year is cut from the spending on local roads. Gore has taken a hit and Clutha has taken a hit.The reason this is such a serious issue in Invercargill and Southland is that Southland has the biggest network of local roads in the country outside of the Auckland super-city but it has only 14000 ratepayers left to pick up the slack when the National Government turns out the light and cuts its funding off. What is the result? The result is that local roads in Southland are falling into disrepair. There are 100 dairy tankers a day on some of the roads in Southland and the Minister in the chair will know that for every dairy tanker that is the equivalent of 1000 regular vehicle movements. So these roads in Southland funded by the poor old Southland ratepayer are clocking up the equivalent of 100000 regular vehicle movements every day. I want to acknowledge the passing recently of Frana Cardno the wonderful former Mayor of Southland District who was a staunch advocate for her region and an outspoken critic of this National Government’s cynical neglect—cynical neglect—of regional New Zealand and the cutting of road funding.Let us contrast Southland with the other end of the country Northland an area that the Minister in the chair knows a little bit about from his recent experience. Let us call him the maestro of National’s humiliating by-election loss in Northland. One bad poll and Simon “Bridges” Bridges went into a flat panic and splashed out $69 million of taxpayer funding on 10 nonsensical one-lane bridges in Northland.Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Energy and Resources):I washoping to give a relatively thoughtful cerebral speech but then I heard some slippery comments from the member for Te Atatū Phil Twyford and I think they really do have to be counted. Firstly we have this baseless claim that somehow in aviation the regions have been forgotten. Actually in every single case where Air New Zealand has left whether it is Whakatāne whether it is Kaitāia whether it is Westport or whether it is Taupō they have new and enhanced services from little players—Phil Twyford: Rubbish!Hon SIMON BRIDGES: Mr Twyford may not like it but they have new and enhanced players with more seats and I think in most of those cases bigger planes or good planes. That may be something that Phil Twyford does not like but actually that is what has happened and I know because I have talked with the mayors and I have talked with the local players. They feel very confident actually about the situation that they are placed in.We have had this discussion about roading cuts. Well if you talk with the Greens all you ever hear is that that is all we do spend the money on. Actually in a sense neither has any truth to it. What is true is that in the latest Government policy statement we have increased funding in every single aspect of transport whether that is local roads whether that is State highways whether that is cycling and walking or whether that is improvements or maintenance that is what we have done. In fact we have spent an unprecedented amount on transport in this country—higher than OECD averages—Phil Twyford: Not on local roads.Hon SIMON BRIDGES:—and on local roads. I commend to the member an excellent speech if I do say so myself that I gave in a general debate a few weeks ago where I ran through the figures region by region in local roading and it made quite clear that in almost all of the areas we have increased funding in local roading. I say to the member to watch that speech. If the facts are wrong come back to me in question time. Here is what I know—the member will not. The member says that actually it all adds up to a picture of the regions not being backed. Well again I refer the member to that speech. The facts do not lie. We have backed the regions and we have spent more in a number of areas.What I want to say very briefly on this annual review process is that it is new and it is something of an innovation and we are going thematic. I think that is excellent actually because it does allow us—Phil Twyford failed the test—to just stand back and be a little bit thematic across what is happening in infrastructure. In a sense if we think about the hard infrastructure—energy and transport—what is not to like? This Government has invested $16 billion in the last 3 years. I would say it is unprecedented. The rebuilding of Canterbury is probably the biggest if you want to say it this way project—certainly undertaking—in the history of New Zealand infrastructure which this Government is doing and it is making a good job of it.I want to say that I like what the chief executive of the Auckland Airport said to me a little while ago. He does not think of his company if you like as an aviation company or a port company or an infrastructure company. He sees it as a travel trade and tourism business. I think that is a helpful way to think about these things not in terms of the raw infrastructure—the crass way Phil Twyford likes to think about these things—but actually what it means for the end-users and how it enables the end-users. In that sense yes transport is roads it is rail and it is aviation but it is also transport it is travel and it is enabling lifestyles. Yes energy is transmission and lines and smart meters and all of these things that we have seen unprecedented take up of in New Zealand when they have mucked up the way of doing it in other countries. But it is also fundamentally for the end-user not the anoraks like Phil Twyford or the gentleman over there who is running for the leadership of the Green Party who obsess about whether it is a bus what kind of bus or the colour of the seats. Actually it is about enabling lifestyles and enabling people to get on with their day.In energy it is not about the start line. It is about turning on the light it is about powering your iPhone and it is about doing good things and we have done that well. Actually infrastructure done well like it has been done by this Government enables New Zealanders to really get on and capture the benefits. Just to keep with that there is significant—Phil Twyford: Come and see about “Darby and Joan”.Hon SIMON BRIDGES: We will come to that. There are significant things going on and significant technological innovations happening every day. That is why you have seen me talk quite a lot in this Chamber publicly about electric vehicles autonomous vehicles unmanned aerial vehicles a number of smart meters and the internet of things because these things are happening. I think that New Zealand with smart regulation and increasingly putting that in place really can be at the front of all this making a difference to New Zealanders’ lives.The Green Party says of course that this is a Government that does not think about climate change. I hope actually we demonstrated today that that is not true. What is true across infrastructure transport and energy is that they do make up a significant part of our emissions. Of course about half is from agriculture. The other half broadly speaking is from transport and energy. We think about those things. We are working through them and technology can actually be a big part of the answer. We as a country have very significant advantages—generally in infrastructure and certainly in energy. I am really proud of the story that we have. We have got I think a very significant competitive and comparative advantage when it comes to energy which is in renewables. I have just been at the World Geothermal Congress. It is remarkable really when you think about the story of geothermal. From pre-European times through to now we probably have the best story in the world and that is setto continue. We are doing special things overseas with that.Actually energy as an export and our expertise and experience as an exporter in this area is something that I think we should be incredibly proud of as a country. We see Hawkins Construction at the moment with hundreds and millions of dollars of contracts that are primarily in Indonesia but they are looking at Kenya and so on. We have got an amazing story in renewables and we have got a renewable advantage that we should be extremely proud of. I have got to say to the member David Parker—he actually turned up in one or two of the slide shows at the World Geothermal Congress. Admittedly he was just cutting the ribbon; I am sure he had nothing to do with the projects but he was there as well. We should be there. We should proud of that.We should not forget though like the Greens want us to the non-renewable side of the equation. I know that David Parker did not make that mistake actually in Government even though the Opposition members now sometimes like to forget. We should actually push on in oil and gas. We should continue what we are doing there because as the world does transition to a lower carbon future that will be an important part of the mix. The Greens make the I think fatal mistake of thinking that all fossil fuels are created the same. They are not actually. Gas and oil have a significant role to play over the time to come.In regard to transport I have already dealt with a number of the I think very wrong-headed complaints of Phil Twyford who frankly speaking is just playing politics. We will be focused in this term of Government on results and driving those from the New Zealand Transport Agency in terms of the roads of national significance the regional roading package and the cycleway which will deliver a real step change in urban cycleways right around New Zealand. We will be focused on Auckland where there are significant transport issues and significantly engaging with Auckland on their issues for the long term. We will be re-emphasising actually that we do have a proud record and that there is more that we can do in public transport and in the alternative modes of transport. We spent $1.7 billion on metropolitan rail in Auckland and about half a billion in the greater Wellington area. We will continue that strong story as I say in other areas as well.We will push on in technology because as I say we can capture those benefits really for the advantage of New Zealand. I think there is an economic advantage to us in doing so if we do become a leader in some of these areas—unmanned aerial vehicles potentially electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles. We have been a test bed in these areas before and we can be again. We will also make clear and continue to re-emphasise that transport and energy and infrastructure can be very strong enablers of economic growth and of productivity. That is why we will continue to focus on aviation the good record in the regions the air services internationally where we have seen the number skyrocket under this Government which means more tourists to New Zealand and more of our goods overseas on our ports strategies and on opening New Zealand up to markets regionally and right around the world.We have a very strong cross-infrastructural story to tell as a Government. We are going to continue pressing on with that and getting results. I am sorry that you as a Committee had to put up with Phil Twyford’s appalling speech. This Government knows what it is doing.DENIS O'ROURKE (NZ First):Thedust has not yet settled on the Canterbury earthquakes recovery process and there is a long way to go as far as infrastructure and homes are concerned. What is needed now is a shake-up but a shake-up of the political kind not of course of the physical kind—we have had enough of those. Some of the fixes are obvious and one of those is to fix the position concerning the Quake Outcasts group. Those people were inexplicably offered 50 percent of the 2007 valuation of their bare land or self-insured homes. They have spent years going through the courts and appeals and they have won every one of them. The Supreme Court has finally confirmed that the insurance status of those properties cannot be taken into account by the Government in deciding on an offer. They must surely now get the same 100 percent of the 2007 value that other red zone homeowners got but the Government wants to delay the situation even more with a consultation process that is utterly futile and meaningless. The Minister now needs to accept that Government policy on this was wrong and give full compensation immediately without any further delay.The Government should also direct the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority to take another look at the priorities for the rebuild generally. For example spending hundreds of millions of dollars on showpiece projects when the Christchurch City Council cannot meet the massive costs of its infrastructure repair programme needs review right now. Otherwise huge rate increases can be expected by Christchurch city ratepayers and the council will be forced to sell strategic assets that provide an excellent return for the council and that the people in Christchurch do not want to be sold. The council would also have to borrow—borrow too close to potential limits. So that whole area needs a good review. When Lancaster Park is repairable at a fraction of the cost of a new stadium that sports stadium is a prime example of why such a review is needed. The need is for spending on the basic infrastructure especially in the east of the city and elsewhere. That is the top priority. So much still needs to be done there and it is taking far far too long.The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority - led rebuild of the central business district has also stalled. We see some new buildings going up but they tend to go up outside the central business district zone so that they can avoid having to deal with the authority’s bureaucracy and some of the silly decisions it has made too. Those plans and processes need serious review as well. Some of the silliest proposals need urgent reversal such as the plan to destroy Victoria Square which is not broken and which people want retained as it is.I turn to transport infrastructure. This Government and its agencies seem determined to run down the country’s railway system instead of doing what it should do to invest much more in it. Just a few minutes ago the Minister Simon Bridges talked about how much was being invested but actually that is a tiny fraction of the amount that needs to be invested over the next decade or so in New Zealand. The roading system of course does also need continuing investment but there is a need for a strategy to better integrate transport systems to make better use of the railways in particular. We know that there are plans to de-electrify parts of the North Island electric rail system in favour of inefficient imported diesel locomotives. That is utterly ridiculous. When we have already got an efficient electrified system we could make electric locomotives in New Zealand and yet what are we doing? We are going entirely in the wrong direction under this Government. Within 10 years the amount of freight that must be moved around New Zealand is going to at least double—just think about that for a moment.What we really need is a strategic funding model with more emphasis on long-term strategic planning and the integration of transport systems—all of the transport systems not just Auckland motorways.xxxfo There are many rail routes needing improvement so that they can compete effectively for freight such as for example Auckland Whangarei Ōpua Wellington and Gisborne. Northland also needs a good rail connection to Whangarei’s deep water harbour. That is a harbour that does not require dredging and where there is plenty of land for expansion unlike Auckland which has problems that are virtually insurmountable in the long term. I see today in the newspapers that half of Aucklanders do not want to see the port in Auckland expanded. So let us look at the port at Whangarei and let us get a good railway system between Whangarei and the rest of the country. That is something that needs to be looked at with great urgency.There needs to be a rolling electrification programme for railways throughout New Zealand. That is necessary not just because of the increasing cost of fossil fuels and the fact that we need to do that for climate change and emissions purposes but also because actually it is the most effective and efficient system of moving heavy freight within the country and New Zealand is made for it. A long narrow country should be ideal for an efficient railway system. For example we could start with electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe and also extent electrification north from Waikanae and from Upper Hutt to Masterton amongst a lot of other very good opportunities that there are.There is so much that we should be doing in transport that we did not hear from the Minister in his recent speeches that really it is a huge disappointment. Railways in particular need much more attention but so do the Cook Strait ferries for example. There is not enough investment in them. So we do need a more strategic approach and that is what New Zealand First wants to see. We do also need to see much more progress and much more intelligent progress in the infrastructure in Christchurch as a result of those earthquakes. New Zealand First wants to see the Government take a more considered and strategic approach and to actually get things done and it is not doing that so far.ALASTAIR SCOTT (National—Wairarapa):Thank youfor the opportunity to take a short call on the infrastructure services theme. Specifically I am going to talk about connections—connectivity—and that specifically relates to the internet. And then if I have some time I will talk aboutroaming. Some facts: ultra-fast broadband is now in 2200 schools including 1000 rural schools. Most of the schools in my rural electorate are connected. Over 231000 households have access to rural broadband—and I say “rural” rather than ultra-fast broadband—but there is more to do. So we are planning to raise the percentage so that more than 75 percent of Kiwis—stepping up to 80 percent—have access to ultra-fast broadband. We are also aiming by June next year to connect rural Integrated Family Health Centres.So what does that mean? What does that really mean for the people in my electorate? Well when we get internet ultra-fast broadband in say Carterton or Dannevirke it will not be for the work that people can come to those places to do. It is not going to be about creating work driving trucks or work in retail. People will be going there to export services. It will be about what work can be done from that town. So it is quite a different approach. For example just recently I was at Dannevirke High School judging an entrepreneurial competition amongst year 13s. There were about a dozen entrepreneurial teams and more than half of them invented or created products that one could not touch—they were all internet-based.xxxfo They were all out to service the world from Dannevirke. There are guys in Dannevirke who have Chinese customers—an accounting firm has Chinese customers and customers on the west coast of America. That is possibleonly because of their access to the internet.Minister Adams has initiated the bid to raisethe percentage of uptake from 75 to 80 percent and I am pleased to say that all five of my councils are participating in that process. They know that the internet will make a difference to the people in their communities. Because it is all about productivity is it not? This internet—this connection—was not even around 10 years ago. If we think about the world it is now a much smaller place not just because of the internet but because of travel. Travel has become cheaper. Just think about 25 years ago when I jumped on a plane to go overseas goodness me the price of that airfare has not changed a hell of a lot. Communications have become cheaper. You could not make a toll call from London to New Zealand—it was just too expensive—but now we can text instantly.Communications have become cheaper faster and more efficient enabling us to conduct business on one of these phones. These phones were not even around 10 years ago. These are the enablers of the future. These things will increase productivity and free up people to be more creative and to provide income and wealth for themselves and their families. These smartphones and technologies like them are the steam engine of centuries ago when manual labour was automated and weaving became a mundane process and became automated because of steam engines. This is what we are going to see and we will continue to see simply because of the access to market driven by the internet.We will be able to conduct our business from anywhere in my electorate. Martinborough Carterton and Masterton are very commutable to Wellington. Fast speeds enable architects and movie directors—and they do—to live in the Wairarapa to spend a couple of days at home and then to see their customers in Wellington a couple of days later. This is the way we are going to develop our rural electorates and towns. This enables the private sector to get on and create products that are able to be sold to the Chinese or the Koreans and accentuate promote and support the free-trade agreements we have with those countries.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am just checking that the Green Party is choosing not to take its call on this. OK.Reports noted.JusticeThe CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Thequestion now is That the reports of committees relevant to justice—corrections courts Crown legal and drafting services justice police and serious fraud—be noted. In calling members for this debate can I just ask people to at some time make a reference to the period of expenditure under review or one of the select committee reports just to make the speeches relevant to the year before last.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National):Firstof all I would like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the people of Nepal India and Tibet where the earthquake happened. I see that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Murray McCully has just announced another $1 million of aid to Nepal bringing it to $2 million of contributions from New Zealand. So that is what I wanted to start with.Thanks Mr Chair for the opportunity to talk about the justice system in New Zealand. As you said the reference should be to the last year. I will try to deal with this and try to comment on the things that we have achieved in the last year.It has been a clear policy of National to have better public services—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! Sorry one thing that the member has to do at the beginning of his speech—I let him go on because he was making comments about Nepal—is move that the report be noted.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: I move That the reports be noted. As I was saying National has concentrated on delivering better public services in the past few years. We have built up a strong economy and safer communities and we are proud of that. That is the reason why we are in Government. Everyone wants to have a place of work that is safe and they also want to reside where there is no crime. People are feeling safe under the National-led Government. When I go out and talk to people they really appreciate what we have done. They are very comfortable with the economic conditions plus they feel safe at their workplaces as well as in their homes.The issue relating to the needs of victims and their families has been in the forefront of the mind. Labour promised on a number of occasions that a victim compensation scheme would be delivered but nothing happened. I would like to bring to the notice of this Committee and the people of New Zealand that National has delivered that. We gave support to more than 6000 victims from the offender levy. Another thing that I would like to share with this Committee is that we have passed a law to improve the coordination and delivery of victim support services where by giving their victim impact statement victims can express how the criminal action has or had affected their families and their future.The third thing that I would like to bring to the notice of the Committee is protection for victims by reducing the likelihood of offenders of serious violent and sexual offences coming into contact with them. Legislation bringing in tougher penalties for those who breach protection orders and increasing the term from 2 years to 3 years in jail was passed last year. We have plans to reduce reoffending and modernise our justice system.National has adopted a number of initiatives to move communities away from the crimes. Audiovisual links are one of the examples where courts and prisons are connected. These give an opportunity for the offenders to appear in court through these links—another example of modernising the justice system.I would like to acknowledge the Minister of Justice the Hon Amy Adams the Minister of Police the Hon Michael Woodhouse and the Minister of Corrections the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga for their work and commitment to improve our law and order situation in New Zealand. Our better policing has helped the country to achieve the lowest crime rate since 1978. Also our approach to addressing the issues involving family violence is well taken care of. This approach has helped—JACINDA ARDERN (Labour):Itis my pleasure to rise to speak to elements of the appropriations that relate to the justice sector. I want to start though by just making a general statement about the Government’s aspirations generally when it comes to the appropriations and its Budgets generally. We have heard repeatedly from this Government that its goal is to reach surplus in the upcoming Budget. We have heard it repeatedly. Only recently has the goal of reaching surplus been removed. I do not think it is fair though for the Government—having said that that was its priority having said that that was its promise—to now claim that it was an artificial target and to back away from it altogether.xxxfo The public place their trust in the Governments they elect. Governments do not get to walk away from promises that they make in such loose terms simply because it is a target that they could not reach. They must take responsibility for when they fail as often as they take responsibility when they succeed.In that regard I want to speak to some of the massive failings that we have seen in the justice system. Clearly in the past few Budgets the appropriations for the police have been blatantly inadequate. I know that our police spokesperson will speak to this but you cannot run a well-functioning justice system with early intervention and prevention as a priority and at the same time cut $40 million from the police budget. We are seeing stations close. We are seeing police who are no longer able to employ the same level of support staff. We are seeing police no longer attending callouts. Mr Bakshi is listening to this because he knows that members from his community have been raising this with Labour frequently. I know they will have been raising it with him.Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi: That’s not true.JACINDA ARDERN: It is not true—so the communities are safer are you saying Mr Bakshi?Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi: Yes they are. They are much safer.JACINDA ARDERN: Well I will send some of those individuals back to see you if you are making that claim. That could not be further from the truth. Crime reporting is dependent on people raising with the police when they have been the victim of a crime. If the police do not attend it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Minister said when I raised it in the select committee that it was a very 1990s view. It is not a 1990s view; it is a reality today. At the same time it is an indictment. This Government’s main target when it comes to justice is to reduce reoffending. What about reducing offending? What about reducing the incarceration rate in this country? Because as much as that Government claims that crime is coming down incarceration rates certainly are not. In fact the Government is in the middle of opening its mega private prison at Wiri. You can bet your bottom dollar that we are contracted to keep that place full. Who benefits from that? Nobody but a foreign company under the banner of Serco. That is an indictment on this country as is our access to justice issues generally. Big cases like for instance the Teina Pora case which the Minister of Justice claimed demonstrated that our justice system works are in fact the exact opposite. Real justice is timely justice and the delay in that case was not timely justice.What we should be considering as a Parliament is having an independent criminal case review commission and it is something that we as the Labour Party will continue to champion as we will continue to champion the issue that was raised in the select committee the last time we had the ability to review the Ministry of Justice and that was legal aid thresholds. It is a bureaucratic roundabout when 10000 people are granted legal aid write-offs because they cannot afford to repay their legal aid debt. That is an indication to the Minister that something must change and that is what we are pushing for.I want to finish with a final plea. Protection orders in this country should be free. They are not. A woman who is in a violent relationship who may have equity in a home that the perpetrator of that violence shares the equity in cannot access a free protection order. That is wrong. I call on the Minister in her address to this Committee to acknowledge that issue and to acknowledge that she is going to do something about it. If we can afford nothing else in this country we should be able to afford protection for victims of family and domestic violence.Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister of Justice):Thankyou for the opportunity to take a call in this section of the Appropriation (2013/14 Confirmation and Validation) Bill debate looking at the broad issue of justice. In one sense that really does indicate where I want to start. Since I have been the Minister of Justice one thing that has become incredibly clear is that you cannot look at issues like justice through the lens of individual portfolios. What my colleagues and I have been very focused on is the need to ensure that when we think about justice and justice issues they do not stop just with justice police and corrections but really do extend right across the social services. The issues that you see in the justice sector of crime and victimisation and the terrible harm that they cause are really manifestations more often than not of much wider and deeper social issues that are addressed primarily through interventions in health education and welfare. Along with my colleagues we are working very much in a joined-up way to address those issues.What you have seen from this National-led Government is a considerable focus on having fewer victims in our system. When I am looking at policy issues and the spending on our appropriations the touchstone for me is always whether this will create fewer victims. Will this reduce the harm that is suffered in our society? What we know is that over recent years—and I take no personal credit for it; I have recently come into the portfolio—the success has not only been in bringing down the overall crime rate which as I mentioned this afternoon is at its lowest since 1978. There have been significant drops in the youth crime rate—a 38 percent drop since 2001—and drops in the violent offending rate and the reoffending rate. Those last two I would like to see more movement in but it is certainly very pleasing that those rates have dropped.One of the areas where I think we have to recognise that there is not enough movement by any stretch is family violence. The speaker who resumed her seat just before me Jacinda Ardern certainly addressed this in the last part of her comments. Family violence is an absolute scourge on our society. It is an appalling statistic and an appalling state and the prevalence of it is a national shame. When I speak on this topic I never fail to let the audience know that every 6 minutes we have a notification to the police of family violence. Those are just the issues that are being reported. We have taken a number of steps already as a Government and there are more to come to try to address this issue. But it is not simply an issue that you can fix by regulation or spending money in the right way. It really does require a quite different approach from society a different level of—we have to change the level of tolerance or acceptance or expectation that I think exists in society.Some of the things that I did want to highlight are the efforts that we have put into police safety orders so that safety orders can be put in place on the spot. We have increased the penalties already for the breach of protection orders but I do acknowledge there is more work to do in the space of protection orders. I think that is a system that we can look for better outcomes from and shortly I will be launching a document looking at the review of the Domestic Violence Act so that we can engage in that. We have put in place victim safety orders against violent offenders. We have tightened the sentencing parole and bail laws for those who offend against the most vulnerable in our system. Just recently of course we passed the Objectionable Publications and Indecency Legislation Bill to make sure that those who offend against the most vulnerable in our society children and those who seek to exploit them online receive much more significant punitive sentences than would otherwise have been the case. This House will soon continue its consideration of the Harmful Digital Communications Bill to again try to protect children and young people particularly but actually all of our communities from harmful digital communications.I come back to domestic violence specifically. There are two other initiatives in terms of the appropriations that I did want particularly to highlight because I think they are incredibly successful. The first of those is moving from the pilot programme for the National Home Safety Service to a nationwide programme. This has been one of the most successful pilots I have ever seen certainly in my time in politics but actually more widely than that. Before the pilot programme 85 percent of I will say women but it is victims—sometimes it is men—in this category reported having to move home to feel safe from their partner. After the pilot none of them had had to move. So before the pilot 85 percent had had to be moved out of their homes to be safe to none after the pilot. Before the pilot 73 percent of those with children had had their children hurt by the offender. After the pilot no children had been hurt. Before the pilot 40 percent of victims reported having suffered serious injuries from their offender and after the pilot again there were no reports of any serious injuries. We accept that pilots are not guarantees of future success but those early indications are tremendously encouraging and so we are very excited to roll that out nationwide.MAHESH BINDRA (NZ First):ThisGovernment has built a brand new prison in South Auckland spending $350 million of public money when there was no need for a prison. We had 1861 spare beds in our prison system as at 31 October 2014 and that includes those that were made available as emergency accommodation.xxxfo That $350 million could have been used to fund or upgrade schools or hospitals. But now this Government’s priority is towards building a brand new prison that is not required—not educating Kiwi kids or providing better health-care services. This is not even close to common sense.The South Auckland prison was built with a view to be handed over later to a corporate to run so that the corporate—principally Serco which is known to carry out shonky financial deals in the UK—could improve its bottom line. Prisons for profits: this in spite of the fact that the rehabilitative programmes provided by that company are in no way comparable to the ones provided by the public prison service. The public do not get any value for money. The staff do not get the benefits. The prisoners do not get the benefits. The only one to see any benefit is the company called Serco.Staff and prison safety: the Minister of Corrections admitted that private companies are not required to maintain the prisoner to staff ratio that is required in public prisons. This has had a detrimental effect on the safety of both staff and prisoners as evidenced at Mt Eden prison. There have been some serious assaults on staff at the Serco-run Mt Eden Corrections Facility and the Minister is aware of those. The number of prisoner assaults on staff and on other prisoners is relatively high in that prison and the reason for that is that there are fewer staff to manage violent incidents in that prison. That is when the prisoners are unlocked there are fewer staff to manage those units which results in prisoners getting violent and staff getting hurt. This has had a demoralising effect on staff and there has been a high staff turnover in that prison. New Zealanders do not feel safe working in privately-run prisons.The next thing this Government does is close down units in publicly-run prisons in order to fill the privately-run prisons because that is what the contract says. We see no wisdom in this. In fact it is pure folly. This is the only way that the Government can justify the building of a new prison—shut the ones that we already have and move the prisoners into the new one at Wiri. It might seem like sense to this Government but to New Zealanders it makes no sense at all. This move is likely to render around 260 staff jobless—this from a Government that prides itself on creating jobs. It makes no sense at all. Our thoughts are with those staff and their families who will be affected by this new prison and with the communities that face an uncertain future. Thank you.DAVID CLENDON (Green):Readingthe reports of the Ministry of Justice one could be forgiven for thinking all was well. Certainly the ministry has not been idle. Nor has the Minister of Justice over the previous financial year. There has been legislative change. There have been new programmes implemented—a lot of change a lot of restructuring. What is not so apparent—and one has to dig a little deeper to discover—is that actually we have a very serious problem in New Zealand emerging in terms of people’s access to the justice sector and particularly to the courts.Largely one of the major barriers to access to justice is a financial barrier. That is becoming a very serious problem. The former Chief High Court Judge Justice Helen Winkelmann commented on this last year in the Ethel Benjamin Address when she talked about the justice gap that is emerging and indeed widening in New Zealand. She pointed to one of the primary symptoms of that which is a dramatic increase in the number of people self-representing to the courts—so-called self-litigants. People are endeavouring to navigate their way through the court system unaided by professional legal assistance. The ministry has only recently started to record the numbers of people self-litigating but it is evident anecdotally and from informed members of the judiciary and of the legal profession that the numbers are increasing dramatically. In the Wellington High Court last year some 20 percent of active appeals involved self-represented litigants. In the Auckland High Court the figure was around 30 percent. Something like 50 percent of applications for leave to appeal in civil cases in the Supreme Court last year were from people intending to endeavour to represent themselves. That is a symptom of something seriously wrong in our justice system.We live in a liberal democratic country. The people of this country expect to have access to the courts to resolve their differences to defend their rights or to assert their rights—whatever it might be. We are fast reaching a position where New Zealanders will be able to rely on one thing and that is that they can get the best justice that they can afford. That is not a situation we want. The cost of a simple straightforward 1-day hearing in the High Court is approaching $7000 simply for filing fees scheduling the cost of the hearing and the sealing of the judgment. It is almost $7000 before anybody gets anywhere near a lawyer. That is beyond the ability of most people to pay. Certainly the registrars can choose to waive and on occasion they do but nevertheless the barriers are mounting. The financial barriers are becoming serious.We have a legal aid funding system. Of course we do. As a member has previously commented the financial threshold for eligibility is set extraordinarily low—ridiculously low in fact. For a single person it is a gross annual income of $22000 or less before one can apply for legal aid. That is significantly below the minimum wage for a person working full time. For an applicant with a partner or one child it is $35000. Again that is a very low income by our current standards. Justice Winkelmann has commented on that and pointed out that that is simply inadequate to allow legal practitioners to do any useful work for their clients. In the event that a person is successful in getting legal aid they may be obliged to repay that money. If they are so obliged they have 6 months to pay it back or 8 percent interest is applied to that money getting people further into a financial hole if they have not had the money to come up with that.The deanof law at the University of Canterbury Dr Chris Gallavin wrote recently: “The deficit between eligibility for Legal Aid and the reality of paying for legal presentation oneself is large and likely places a significant number of ‘middle class’ in an intolerable situation.” It has been noted that a large number of lawyers and legal firms are simply withdrawing from legal aid because with the best will in the world they simply cannot afford to devote hours to that work given the cost the legal obligations placed on them and the associated cost of running a legal practice. They simply cannot afford to participate in legal aid work to the extent that they might wish to and that indeed we require. Some of the slack as we know has been taken up—KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau):It was refreshing to hear Minister Adams speaking earlier about the emphasis that the Government is placing on domestic violence. The Labour Party agrees entirely with the importance of this issue. Our law and order caucus committee has written to the Minister asking that we participate in an apolitical way to address this issue. We look forward to the Minister taking us up on the offer to sit down and work out solutions around this issue.It is not just domestic violence that is an issue. Sexual violence is an issue and only 5 percent of crimes are recorded. We need to do more to make sure that people have the strength and the courage to speak out. We need to make sure that we create the conditions where people feel that when they do speak out they will be heard and listened to and their issues will be dealt with. We need to make sure that people will speak out regardless of whether they are survivors of sexual violence whether they are observers of sexual violence or whether in fact they are perpetrators of sexual violence. Would it not be great if we could create the conditions where perpetrators spoke out about their problem before they actually created any victims?XXXFO To take a line from the Madden Brothers’ song we all need to be “done with being a silent many”. We all need to learn to speak out and not put up with sexual violence in any way shape or form.I would just like to touch on a number of issues around the Department of Corrections and if I have time I will get on to some police issues. Issue No. 1 around the Department of Corrections was the absconding of Phillip JohnSmith from his prison cell basically from a Release to Work programme over to South America. He was able from the comfort of his prison cell to apply for a passport under an aliasand then abscond go through Auckland Airport get on a plane and have a bit of a jaunt over to South America.The issue there was that the department and the New Zealand Customs Service did not actually share information around the fact that many people in prisons go under aliases and so he was able to use an alias that he had been known under at another time to get his passport and then to abscond. It is about Government agencies ministries and departments working together and sharing information. I hope that the Minister of Corrections Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga has fixed that issue up.Then we also have the issue around prisoners from Australia who have been paroled and deported back to New Zealand. Sorry—I am talking about New Zealanders in Australian prisons who are paroled and then deported back here. The issue raised its head earlier this year when a woman who participated in a murder in Australia some years ago was deported back to Kaikohe.At the time when I was approached by media I said: “Look it’s obviously a loophole that has been found and needs to be addressed but my concern isn’t so much for this woman who I don’t think poses a problem to the Kaikohe community. But what happens when a sexual offender is released on parole in an Australian prison and he’s sent back here and we aren’t able to track or trace him?”. What if we do not know whether that person is living next to a school or an early childhood centre or a kōhanga reo or a park where children may be playing? He could be a sports coach or a Scoutmaster. The Government needs to make sure that we treat those paroled prisoners from Australia as if they were paroled from New Zealand prisons.Speaking of prisons there have been three recent partial closures of prisons—at Rimutaka at Waikeria and at Rangipō. The member from New Zealand First Mahesh Bindra is correct in saying that 260 jobs have been lost. I know that the Government will say that those corrections officers may be able to go to the new prison at Wiri. Again it will be really difficult I think to sell your house in Tūrangi for probably $120000 or $130000 and shift up to Auckland where the average house price is $750000. I think if you are a 55-year-old corrections officer you would not really want to remortgage to that extent. So it makes it really difficult. But the reality is that the prison at Wiri is a private prison. It cost $900 million to build. The member from New Zealand First gave a different figure—I was told it was $900 million. It was built at the height of the recession. Serco the company that is running the prison has had the Government—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): The member’s time has expired.Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Corrections):It isan honour to stand and take a call in this annual review debate. I want to take a call in the area of corrections. As the Minister of Corrections I think it is appropriate to talk about a department that has $1.2 billion worth of services that are provided firstly to protect the public. It is important that the Department of Corrections protects and secures the public from certain criminal elements that have broken the law.Secondly prisons should be a place of rehabilitation so that when prisoners return to civil society they are able to reintegrate and go back to become contributors to our wonderful society that we have here in New Zealand. Of course it has a certain punitive element whereby prisoners are denied their freedoms and liberties. On any given day there are over 8700 prisoners and we have over 30000 offenders in the community who may be subject to release conditions probation and other such conditions upon release from our prisons.In 2011 this Government the National Government committed to a Better Public Services target of reducing reoffending by 25 percent by the year 2017. Those targets are important as I said last night when I spoke about the health portfolio because it is about accountability it is about outcomes and it is about the prudent and efficient use of taxpayers’ funds. So we set that target in order for us to better rehabilitate people and in order for us to get to a point in our society where we have a prison system that we can be proud of and that is one of the best prison systems in the world. So how do we do that? Well I will talk about three things: firstly I will talk about working prisons; secondly I will talk about the role of education training and opportunities that are available to inmates; and thirdly I will talk about alcohol and drug treatments for prisoners that are available in order for them to go back into society and make a meaningful contribution to our society.Firstly on working prisons we know that the best way out of poverty the best way out of welfare and the best way to contribute to your family and to look after your families and your communities is to be in work. We know that outside the wire—outside of prison—and we also know that for people who are in prison. We are working towards a target in 2017 where every prison in New Zealand will be a working prison where each prisoner will have the opportunity to have a work routine of 40 hours per week. In 2014 the financial year that is under review here in the Committee today three working prisons were delivered with about 650 prisoners subject to or having full working rights within those prisons. We have four more on track this year in Northland in the Hawke’s Bay at Spring Hill Corrections Facility and in Otago. In 2013-14 we had 806 prisoners who participated in the Release to Work programme because we know that prisoners can contribute to society when they are work-ready when they have opportunities to work on the outside and when they are educated and trained.Secondly it is about education because we know that education unlocks opportunities where again those who are released from prison are better able to contribute to society.xxxfo One of the sad facts that is present within the prison system is that two-thirds of prisoners are basically illiterate. They are illiterate. So we have put a great amount of resources into numeracy and literacy programmes inside of prison where last year there was a 206 percent increase in the number of level 2 and level 3 National Certificate of Educational Achievement qualifications that were available to our prisoners—a 206 percent increase. That is important because without basic literacy we know that they are not able to contribute.Finally we come to alcohol and drug treatments. We know that the programmes we have run have made a huge difference to our prison system. Thank you.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Police):It is my pleasure to follow my colleague Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and to talk on the Justice group of portfolios. I want to commence by acknowledging the member for Te Tai Tokerau Kelvin Davis and in his intervention his advocacy for victims—and for perpetrators actually—of adult sexual assault. In his intervention he referred to a statistic that is quite alarming—the fact that only 5 percent of victims speak up about that.I was in the Counties Manukau area last week visiting not only the police station but also the Manukau multi-agency centre. It is a very good area and a very good centre which is the joint collaboration between New Zealand Police the Counties Manukau District Health Board and Child Youth and Family. I was extremely impressed with the approach to family violence and to child and adult sexual abuse cases that are reported in that district. It is a concerningly high number but I think the model they have and the multi-agency approach that they take to that very important issue is an excellent initiative and I applaud everybody who is working in that very challenging area.Of course we have recently had both the Independent Police Conduct Authority report and the findings of Operation Clover into the Roast Busters case and I know that police are very committed to joining the dots that failed to be joined in respect of that case. I am pleased—and relieved actually—that the authority’s findings were that this was not a systemic issue and that police are working extremely well on improving victim empathy and their commitment to the resolution of those complaints.It is a very interesting environment in which police have been operating. Naturally they are straitened times. But through the Policing Excellence programme that they have initiated their challenging targets have not only been achieved but have also been considerably exceeded. In the 2013-14 year a 13 percent reduction in recorded crime and a 19 percent reduction in non-traffic prosecutions was the goal. They exceeded that by a considerable margin I have to say: a 20.1 percent reduction in recorded crime and a 41.3 percent reduction in non-traffic prosecutions. I think that reflects very much a professional police organisation that is regarded extremely highly not only in New Zealand but also around the world. As a consequence of those efforts that equates to 90000 fewer crimes being committed in that period. That means tens of thousands fewer victims and I think that is what we would all like to see.They have done that by very very smart uses of technology. I think the deployment of smartphones and tablets in order to increase the mobility and the technical capability of New Zealand Police has had a significant impact on the reduction of crime and also on the visibility of our police. You know there has been a lot of talk about bricks and mortar—and I think that is important—but actually what people want is to see their police on the street on the beat and being very visible; not just investigating but preventing crime from happening in the first place.Phil Twyford: How about resolving burglaries?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Yes burglaries have gone up that is right. The burglary rate has gone down but the resolution rate has too and that is something that I have spoken about at length with the Commissioner of Police and his leadership team. I think that is an area of homework but one cannot deny—one cannot deny—the statistics on the lowest reported crime rate in 30 years and I think we need to congratulate New Zealand Police for its excellent efforts in that.I want to come back to that technology. Mr Davis: I must say that although I will give him a bouquet I will give him a brickbat as well for his irrational release in January on the upgrade of the iPhones and iPads which was actually part of a very generous contractual arrangement with Vodafone to improve the ubiquity and the technical capability of New Zealand Police. In December I opened the Vodafone Mobility Innovation Lab and Experience Centre in Newtown in south Wellington where a number of organisations are working on tools to enable police to be more mobile and more visible and more efficient with the resources that they deploy. Those efficiencies are real. About 900000 extra hours of policing time have been available to them and that dividend has been paid right back to the New Zealand public because we have maintained the number of sworn officers reduced the number of crimes and increased policepresence on the street and I think that is a very good outcome.JONO NAYLOR (National):Well these opportunities for debate are incredibly valuable. They are valuable to the Opposition because they give it the opportunity to practise its unsubstantiated wild accusations and they give us on this side of the Chamber a very valuable opportunity to reflect objectively on the advancements and the achievements that we have been able to make over a period of time. So it is great for me to be able to objectively reflect and objectively reflect on the fact that we have now the lowest crime in New Zealand since 1978. We have been able to achieve this while staying tough on criminals because that is something that we have always wanted to do and something that our public want us to be is tough on the perpetuators of crime. But more important we have been continuing to work hard on putting the victims of crime at the centre of our policies at the centre of our thinking and ensuring that victims of crime are foremost in our mind when we are doing things. It is really really important that we do this and so we have been passing legislation to reflect this focus on victims.We have been working on the parole amendment legislation. The parole amendment legislation has served to reduce the number of unnecessary parole hearings that an offender has to have when they have little prospect of release. I know that some people will confuse this with being tough on the criminals but of course with the parole hearing what often has to happen is that victims have to be notified and they have to relive the process all over again. So by passing this parole amendment legislation we are indeed focusing on victims.We have been able to work on the objectionable publications and indecency legislation to increase the maximum penalties for child sexual abuse online. This is something that has been pervading society not just in New Zealand but right around the world for far too long and so this Government has been taking steps to ensure that children not just here but overseas are offered greater protection through this legislation by ensuring that we are getting tougheron people who are either downloading it or sourcing it—it is not just about storing in on your computer any more but accessing it alone. By our getting tougher on those people we are again supporting victims of this kind of behaviour.We are working on the Harmful Digital Communications Bill to tackle cyberbullying. Again it is showing that this is a Government that is responding to the technological challenges of our time. It is a Government that is recognising that there are new ways that people are finding to victimise others and we are responding to it through things like the Harmful Digital Communications Bill and we hope to see some improvement in the way that that is affecting particularly young people in New Zealand but not just them through social media and other methods as well. We are progressing the Coroners Amendment Bill again to improve the timeliness and the efficiency of the coronial system to better support families. This is a Government that is caring about families. This is a Government that is focusing on victims and we have been working on this legislative programme that reflects that and is ensuring that New Zealand will be a better place.We are working on policies too that will also improve the outlook for people within this country. We have just heard from the Minister of Police about IT upgrades that have been occurring throughout the police in terms of the type of technology that they have available to them. That has meant extra hours that they can now spend on front-line police services which is what we want them to be doing not necessarily sitting back at the station filling in forms. Through these technological advances we have been able to create effectively 300 fulltime-equivalent extra policing hours. It is like employing 300 extra people just by being smarter just by being innovative and just by doing the right things and responding to what our country needs. We have been able to put 600 extra police on the front line. Our offending rates are also decreasing. I heard a previous speaker from the other side ask earlier what we were doing about offending rates and why we were concerned only about reoffending.Reports noted.