Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBakshi Kanwaljit Singh: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 03 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10678. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (Chairperson of the Law and Order Committee): Thank you Mr Chair for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate on the justice sector. First of all I would like to acknowledge the Ministers for this sector the Hon Amy Adams and the Hon Judith Collins for their leadership and the work they have been doing in this sector. I would also like to acknowledge Jacqui Dean the chair of the Justice and Electoral Committee who is doing a fantastic job in that select committee.This Government has been working hard to reduce crime and I would also like to acknowledge the police as well as the Department of Corrections for the work they are doing in helping this Government to achieve its targets in reducing crime. The Government has been taking steps to prevent crime from happening supporting the vulnerable in our society and preventing them from being victimised. It is the National-led Government’s priority to provide safer communities and focus on reducing the crime rate in this country.I would also like once again to say that this Government has been very successful by adding an additional 600 front-line policemen to reduce crime. Mr Chair you are one of those members who have been a policeman. As well as being a member of Parliament you have been a lawyer and you have seen the court system. Under your leadership of the Justice and Electoral Committee—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Don’t bring me into this debate thank you.KANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI: I would like to mention that during the select committee process of the Law and Order Committee there were issues raised by the Opposition in respect of burglaries in New Zealand. A wide range of crimes is dealt with by the police from time to time and when the police are called for an offence like a burglary where the offender is still present the response is immediate. Sometimes the police have to go and handle other cases such as homicides or serious violence cases and these take priority over crimes like burglary. But wherever the evidence is provided the police have been successful in their resolution and they really work hard to make the community safer.I would also like to touch upon a very important area that this Government has been focusing on and that is the corrections system. In the select committee process we saw that the Department of Corrections has been doing a fantastic job of reducing the reoffending rate which has fallen 6.8 percent since June 2011. This means 1250 fewer offenders returning to the department’s management. The amount of reoffending is down 24 percent as of December 2015 compared with 2011.The vast majority of prisoners will be released back into our communities which is why we are committed to ensuring that they do not create one more victim. Through our commitment to prisoners’ education mental health support training and addiction treatment our work in prisons is making a lot of progress. There is no magic bullet for reducing reoffending. We are tackling the drivers of crime in a number of ways and we will continue to do so. Thank you.