Sio Hon Aupito WilliamCOURTS MATTERS BILLTRIBUNALS POWERS AND PROCEDURES LEGISLATION BILLSecond ReadingsHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Associate Minister for Courts): I move That the Courts Matters Bill and the Tribunals Powers and Procedures Legislation Bill be now read a second time.At the outset I want to thank my ministerial colleagues of the coalition Government and support partners for working constructively with me and my staff to ensure that the necessary policy changes were made to improve these bills and to approve the necessary funding that's going to be required to implement the changes that this bill will entail.I also want to acknowledge the efforts of the Justice Committee members in examining the bill. I want to thank the committee members for their hard work in ushering this particular bill through the select committee stage. The committee received 48 written submissions and heard 15 oral submissions. The submissions came from the judiciary professional organisations interested groups and individuals. I want to thank those who took the time to present to the committee. I want to thank them for their energy and for sharing their experiences. I believe that by sharing their experiences they were able to add value to the final outcome as presented to the House this evening.People's experiences with courts and tribunals shape their views of the integrity of our justice system. Some of the legislation governing the courts and tribunals system is outdated and does not meet public needs and expectations and therefore it needs to be changed. These two bills contain relatively small but important changes to the courts' and tribunals' powers and processes.The Tribunals Powers and Procedures Legislation Bill which I will hereafter refer to as the tribunals bill" amends the powers and procedures of 21 tribunals which the Ministry of Justice administers. These tribunals include the disputes tribunal and the Tenancy Tribunal which almost 30000 New Zealanders accessed in the 2016-17 financial year. The tribunals bill will also disestablish the defunct Birdlings Flat Land Titles Commissioner the rarely used Health Boards of Appeal and the Maritime Appeal Authority. The District Court will hear any future cases of the latter two tribunals.I will highlight some of the changes to the tribunals bill that the Justice Committee has recommended. I consider these will improve the bill's effectiveness. One of the most significant changes being made through the tribunals bill is a result of the actions that this Government has taken to address the backlog of cases at the Human Rights Review Tribunal. The Human Rights Review Tribunal provides important services for people who may have had their human rights rights to privacy or health and disability services rights breached. Since 2015 the number of claims filed with the tribunal has exceeded its resources. A significant case backlog has developed over the past several years. Between the 2014-15 and 2016-17 financial years the number of new cases received by the Human Rights Review Tribunal grew by 92 percent. This led the number of backlog cases to grow by 144 percent—from 52 cases as it was at the end of 2014-15 to 127 cases at the end of 2016-17. As of 30 June 2018 there are currently 135 active cases before the tribunal.Following advice from the Ministry of Justice including that of submissions made by the public and notably by the chairperson of the Human Rights Review Tribunal Rodger Haines QC I took a paper to Cabinet to get agreement to amend the Human Rights Act 1993 to enable the appointment of deputy chairpersons to the Human Rights Review Tribunal. I want to thank the Minister of Justice and also both New Zealand First and the Green Party for working with me and my office to reach agreement quickly so that we can collectively work towards a solution that will address the backlog of these cases.The Justice Committee has incorporated the Government's proposal to reduce the case backlog at the Human Rights Review Tribunal. The tribunals bill now authorises the appointment of one or more deputy chairpersons to this tribunal instead of a second chairperson. The new deputy chairpersons will be able to perform the same functions as those of a chairperson. This will help to reduce the unacceptable backlog because much of this tribunal's work has to be undertaken by the chairperson and will provide people with greater access to justice. The tribunals bill will now also include procedural changes to help further reduce the Human Rights Review Tribunal backlog. For example the chairperson or deputy chairperson will be able to decide minor matters on the papers instead of a hearing being held.The reported-back bill has amended the procedures governing the awarding of compensation for financial losses arising from a real estate agent's unsatisfactory conduct. This amendment will reduce duplication of effort. In addition the bill now clarifies that compensation for financial losses caused by a real estate agent's poor behaviour must be an order that a court could make. There are currently no constraints on the nature of the compensation that the Real Estate Agent Disciplinary tribunal can award.The amended bill has also addressed other anomalies. For example the bill has authorised the enforcement of fines fee refunds and compensation that the Legal Complaints Review Officer has ordered. It is currently unclear if these orders can be enforced. This bill has also removed the requirement for these orders to be enforced in the High Court if the amount is more than $12000. In future orders of up to $350000 will be able to be enforced in the District Court. Enforcement in this court is simpler and cheaper.The reported-back bill has authorised insurance companies to be represented at disputes tribunal hearings by agents as well as by employees or officers. This will achieve a better alignment with the way that insurance companies operate. Insurance companies are party to around one-third of disputes tribunal cases.I will now turn to the amended Courts Matters Bill and I will highlight some of the changes the Justice Committee has recommended to this bill. The Courts Matters Bill amends 15 Acts that govern court security fines enforcement and criminal and Family Court procedures. The reported-back bill makes further amendments to criminal court procedures. This bill is now amending the Courts (Remote Participation) Act to enable judges to allow any participant in a criminal procedure hearing to appear via audiovisual link technology or "AVL" as it is commonly known if AVL is available and it's use is not contrary to the interests of justice. This will enable participants such as counsel witnesses to appear by AVL during criminal procedural hearings. Currently defendants who are in custody must appear in criminal procedural hearings via AVL if it is available. AVL can be used in criminal sentencing hearings or in civil proceedings.The committee has removed the amendments for the Court Matters Bill that authorise the Minister for Courts to extend the scope of the Courts Security Act to include further courts and tribunals through a Gazette notice. Instead these decisions will continue to be made by regulations. I plan to progress regulations to extend the scope of the Act to include further tribunals that the Ministry of Justice administers.The committee has recommended changes to the Care of Children Act to limit the release of psychological report writers' material so that a party can only obtain information about themselves. The court will be able to impose any conditions concerning the release of the information it considers necessary. This will give judges greater powers around the release of this information. I note that the psychological report and any associated materials belong to the court. The committee has recommended this House consider further changes in the committee of the whole House to entirely prohibit the release of psychologists' notes and other materials. The Minister of Justice is leading a review of the 2014 family justice system reforms. We've discussed this matter and are in agreement that this important issue is better dealt with in the review. This will enable consultation with the Family Court judiciary the report writers and the Law Society to ensure that changes made are the right ones. I commend this bill to the House."