Macindoe Tim: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Macindoe Tim: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 02 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:1892. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 The chairman of the Justice and Electoral Committee is indeed in the House and is delighted to accept Mr Chauvel’s invitation to follow him in this debate. In fact that seems to be my standard practice. I cannot think of many times when I do not follow Mr Chauvel.  
Could I just crave the indulgence of the House for one moment— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Would the member care to rephrase that? 
TIM MACINDOE 
: —no I am going to move right along—to acknowledge the outstanding Shakespearean performance of Kennedy Graham in the previous debate. It was wonderful to have “Shylock” speaking in the Budget Policy Statement debate but I find now that I follow “Hamlet” in this particular debate as he has agonised over the Labour Party’s position on this particular bill that is before the House. The particular bill the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill is of course an interim measure and we must not forget that.  
National is firmly committed to building a safer New Zealand and I do want to repeat that because it is an absolutely core priority for our Government. This bill is part of a large measure a large arsenal of initiatives to improve public safety and respect for law and order and indeed for the rule of law in this country. We are committed to improving the rights of victims and the support that is offered to them and so we should for no one chooses to be a victim or to become caught up in our criminal justice system because of the offending of others. So I do look forward to the cooperation of members opposite as has just been indicated by Mr Chauvel. I appreciate that indication of support and I look forward to working with him to facilitate the passage of this bill through the business agenda of the Justice and Electoral Committee.  
The bill’s purpose is to amend the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Act 2005 to extend the restrictions on the awarding of compensation for 1 more year from 1 July of this year until 30 June 2013 and to ensure that “the victims’ claims process … applies to compensation awarded or to be paid pursuant to an out-of-court final settlement in respect of a prisoner’s claim made on or after 1 July [of this year] but before 1 July 2013.” So as I have said it is an interim measure but it is no less important for that. We are on this side of the House directing prisoner compensation to victims to put victims at the heart of our criminal justice system.  
Victims have to deal with the financial emotional and physical effects of crime long after it has been committed. As I mentioned when I spoke in the financial review debate yesterday this is something that no one chooses—to be in the position of having to endure yet again everything that they suffered as a result of the offending of someone else often in the most gruesome of circumstances. So we are ensuring that victims are heard that they get the support that they need and that they are not brutalised again when the defendants who subjected them to such cruelty are tried. We are making sure that victims get better information and protection when offenders are released back into the community and how often have we all heard claims of absolute despair and disgust when that principle has not been followed.  
At the same time we are modernising court processes to make the justice system safer and more efficient. We are speeding up court cases reforming legal aid and improving civil justice. All of these are important initiatives that the public has been calling out for for a long time. We are absolutely convinced that not only do we enjoy a very strong mandate to move in this direction but also the public is demanding it of us. We have got to ensure that we meet those demands and we are.  
We established a victim compensation scheme that imposed among other things a $50 offender levy on all offenders regardless of the crime they commit. We did that in the face of considerable opposition from members opposite. Yet the levy has already in its first year collected more than twice the expected target of $2 million. In its first year we paid out through this levy $1.64 million in services and entitlements for victims of crime and their families.  
The levy has funded 13 different services for victims of serious crime. These services include funeral grants for families of murder victims; increased grants for travel and accommodation and child care assistance for people who are having to go through the justice system; access for sexual violence victims to a trained adviser who has knowledge of the dynamics of sexual violence cases—and these victims need ongoing support great sensitivity and understanding—expanded financial help of up to $1000 for victims attending case-related hearings; and new financial assistance and counselling for those whose family members have been killed through a criminal act that is not homicide such as dangerous driving causing death. So there is a whole range of initiatives that are very important.  
We inherited a criminal justice system that was falling into some disarray. It was lacking accountability particularly to those who were victims and it lacked that focus on the needs of victims. So I am very proud to be part of a Government that has delivered and continues to deliver. I commend this interim measure to the House as we continue to strengthen our justice system and give it the priorities that all New Zealanders require it to have.