Alexander Marc: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Alexander Marc: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 19 June 2003. Volume:609;Page:6452. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
: 
 United Future will support this bill in its first reading because we believe that legislative changes are needed to a number of Acts in order that the Department for Courts’ fines and civil enforcement activities can operate more effectively. A large part of the problem is the lack of credibility that the Department of Corrections has in terms of effective and timely enforcement activities. It is the perception that enforcement will be unlikely that contributes to most New Zealanders having considerable apathy when it comes to compliance. 
Over the last 32 years the total amount of new fines issued has grown from $22 million to $216 million. During that time the total amount of fines remitted has varied. In 1980 14 percent was collected; in 1990 36 percent; in 2000 30 percent and in 2002 just 23 percent. Clearly a number of people do not pay their fines. They are either not sufficiently informed or pursued to repay their fines or they simply choose not to repay them. In response to a recent drive to recoup fines in the Waikato one chap was reported to have brought out his goldcard and paid $10600 when he realised that his television was being taken out the front door. That indicates that some serious fines defaulters have the ability to pay if they are sufficiently informed or sought after. That apathy has led to approximately $420 million in outstanding and unpaid fines. That is unacceptable and United Future welcomes the move to amend a series of Acts under one bill in order to help identify and rectify the problem of serious fines defaulters. 
The ability for fines defaulters to leave and re-enter the country or to leave permanently without the Department of Corrections’ collections unit being made aware of that is a considerable problem within current legislation—the problem being that there is no sharing of information between the collections unit and the Customs Service to monitor people leaving the country. This bill pre-empts further changes in our current system that will see changes to the personal tax system to reduce the information that can be retained about an individual. This bill will establish a data-matching programme so that arrival and departure information from the Customs Service can be supplied to the Department of Corrections to help locate serious fines defaulters. United Future believes that effective use of technology and effective communication between Government departments is long overdue. A data-matching programme is a logical step towards identifying chronic fines defaulters. Because the information will be shared there is a greater likelihood of having correct and current information. 
Shared information will also help the 40000 applicants to the Tenancy Tribunal who attempt each year to recover rent arrears and compensation for damage to property. At present if a former tenant is a beneficiary Work and Income New Zealand will refuse to provide address details to an officer on the grounds of the Privacy Act yet in clause 29 of this bill the Government can access beneficiary information if the debt is to the Crown. United Future believes that is inconsistent and it intends to investigate whether this bill has the ability to remedy that loophole for property investors seeking civil debt. 
United Future believes it is important that the proposed data-matching system has two levels of alert to differentiate the seriousness of an outstanding fine because it is not appropriate to unduly disrupt an airport. We will be interested to hear submissions on the proposed silent and interception alerts and we are also interested in the processes that will be used at the border for fines defaulters particularly for those who are unable to make the repayments. 
United Future has reservations about the new border controls applying only to international airports. United Future will be advocating that data-matching programmes need to be installed and extended to include other ports of exodus irrespective of what mode of transport a person might use to leave or enter the country. Database programmes need to have that capability at the outset of implementation. 
Another key change in this bill is the increase of powers given to bailiffs. A bailiff will now receive greater powers to execute a warrant and collect fines and the bail bonds of debtors. United Future will be looking to ensure that those legislative changes have appropriate accountability measures. We appreciate at the outset that there are benefits from the increase in the powers of bailiffs but that has the potential to be exploited or abused particularly in rural areas. We will be looking to discuss those provisions in the select committee. 
This bill has particular importance for United Future because it is an opportunity for victims to be considered in relation to payments involving reparation. Figures have shown that in 2002 the total owed to victims was $41.3 million. We believe that victims should be paid reparation before court fines are paid and we would like to see that more explicitly stated in the appropriate amendments. It might also be worth investigating whether victims in some instances could receive reparation in terms of their greatest need rather than a blanket rule of payments being made on a first-time basis. Other changes in this bill—like the ability for a warrant for an arrest for unpaid fines to be issued and executed on a Sunday—is in our view bringing legislation up to date with current mobility. 
We believe it is common sense to coordinate Government department information in the effort to control crime. We predict as others have that updating the technology and communication between Government departments will lead to greater voluntary compliance by fines defaulters. We look forward to the select committee examining the concerns we have and looking in greater detail at the proposals and potential consequences of data-matching and increased collaboration between Government departments regarding fines defaulters. United Future supports the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill to its first reading.