Ardern Jacinda: Legal Services Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Jacinda: Legal Services Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:659;Page:8347] 
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to rise and speak as a member of the Justice and Electoral Committee and firstly thank the Minister in the chair the Hon Simon Power for progressing what was very important Labour legislation. The Legal Services Amendment Bill was introduced in response to a particular crime that demonstrated what we would all agree—on the select committee and probably more widely across the Chamber—was an anomaly in the law that deserved to be corrected. I am pleased that we are continuing to progress this bill. 
My residual memory of the consideration of the bill and of the submissions was the heavy focus of the submitters on the view that although this was an important change much more needed to be done in support of victims as they proceed through our criminal justice system. That was not something that the committee was in a position to progress within the scope of this bill but it was something that we all obviously noted as a select committee. I also reflect that although this bill was a response to a quite discrete situation there was every chance in the world that this could happen again. There were many other circumstances in which the previous Labour Government tried to be proactive in strengthening the rights of victims in our criminal justice system through legislation such as the Victims’ Rights Act the Sentencing Act and what was a very important fundamental shift towards highlighting and putting a preference towards reparation for victims when sentences are handed down through our courts. 
But I come back to the bill. As the Minister has already pointed out it makes three substantive changes to the Legal Services Act. The first and probably the most important removes the financial eligibility testing and repayment conditions for victims of crime. The next two provisions are really a safeguard to ensure that the select committee does not have to go through such a substantive and onerous legislative process again when we are facing an issue of pure and simple justice. In that regard there are two extra changes. One is the discretion given to the Legal Services Agency to decide at any point during the granting of legal aid process not to recover legal aid debt. I will come back to that provision. The second change is the ability to change by regulation any future circumstances or criteria where it would again be a matter of natural justice not to recover a legal aid debt from a victim. I would not necessarily describe the select committee’s changes as substantive but I think they add clarity to what the previous Government and the current Government wished to achieve. 
The first change is the insertion of new clause 4A to clarify some of the other provisions in Part 1 where these changes will apply and I will cover those very briefly for the sake of clarity. Substituted section 9(8)(b)(ii) set out in clause 5 clarifies that legal aid may be granted in civil matters where there is “a hearing of the New Zealand Parole Board (other than one in a proceeding specified in section 6(c)(i)) that concerns an offender and is a hearing at which the victim may appear as of right or with the Board’s leave;”. That provision ensures that any case where a victim has the right to be present and chooses to exercise that right will fall within the ambit of that clause. Again to avoid any doubt that change was an important but reasonably minor clarification made by the select committee. A similar amendment to section 15(6)(d)(ii) was made in clause 6 so that at “a hearing of the New Zealand Parole Board … that concerns an offender and is a hearing at which the victim may appear as of right or with the Board’s leave;” a victim is again eligible to be covered by this legislation. 
I will reflect in a little more detail about the recovery of legal aid debt being able to occur at any point in a process currently undertaken. Under the existing legislation the Legal Services Agency will act to recover debt at the end of legal proceedings but currently does not have the power to make a decision midway through that legal process. Clause 7 allows the agency to decide not to recover debt basically at any time. I think that is important. We have seen from some of the high-profile cases that go through our court system that they have the ability to take quite some time for that full process to be carried out. If we simply allow a situation—like the situation that gave rise to this bill—to endure to the very end of the case without giving a victim certainty over whether that debt will then be recovered that may impact on the person’s ability to participate in the justice process. It may have other unintended consequences. I think those people deserve the certainty that this bill will now give them. 
Finally I reflect on the third provision which deals with regulations and the ability of the Minister to suggest amendment by regulation to incorporate additional circumstances where it would be deemed appropriate once this bill is passed to add additional criteria or classes of person. The bill adds important checks and balances to ensure that those powers granted to the Minister will be used in an appropriate way but I think the power is appropriate. Some of those specific criteria are set out in clause 8 and I note that we always have the backstop check of any regulations made by the Minister by the Regulations Review Committee which is a fine committee and is chaired very well by Charles Chauvel. He is not even noticing my flattery! I have no doubt that any regulations or changes made under clause 8 will be under considerable rigorous scrutiny by that select committee. All in all this is a bill that I was pleased to consider as a member of the Justice and Electoral Committee. I think that members on both sides of the Chamber will agree that it is a necessary change and I am pleased to see that we have appropriate provisions contained in the bill to ensure that we will not have to go through a similar process in the future.