11. Question No. 11—JusticeCHRIS PENK (National—Kaipara ki Mahurangi) to the Minister of JusticeQuestion No. 11—Justice11. CHRIS PENK (National—Kaipara ki Mahurangi) to the Minister of Justice: Does she have confidence victims of crime are receiving adequate support with timely access to justice; if not why not?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Justice): Victims as I've said in this House are a priority for our Government which is why I'm pleased that Budget 2022 made long-overdue investments both for victims and for access to justice including $41.5 million to cover the costs of existing demand for legal-aid services $45.7 million across the justice sector towards improving outcomes for victims of crime $12.3 million for assistance grants to victims of crime providing for an additional 7200 financial grants per year and $148.7 million to address core issues limiting access to legal aid by raising income eligibility thresholds debt-repayment thresholds civil and family eligibility thresholds removing the legal-aid user charge and increasing the hourly rate paid to legal-aid providers.Chris Penk: Why should victims of crime take comfort from the answer that the Minister has just given regarding additional spending when the $3 million fund for victims of serious crime as announced in Budget 2021 has supported zero victims after having been open for five months?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: The core focus for this year's Budget in particular has been to make sure that services are provided earlier. And that indeed has been a direction that our Government has requested which is why you've seen the bolstering of fiscal support for victims of crime in particular through the uplift of finances available to those that are eligible for grants through that $12 million made available through Budget 2022.Chris Penk: Is availability of funds not the issue when it has been the case that according to Budget documents victims have been deliberately excluded" from accessing Government support to which they are entitled during a time in which violent crime has increased by 21 percent over four years?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: To reiterate the statements I have made in this House there have been multiple years of under-investment into victims of crime but to quote the Chief Victims Advisor Dr Kim McGregor described Budget 2022 as a "game-changer" for victims and in particular the focus of this Government is "to join up the siloed parts of the justice system." It's what the Victims Advisor has been calling on she says "for several years"—"There hasn't been a victims-focused team with a view across the entire system—police courts corrections parole board—from a victim's perspective." So she says the Chief Advisor that the National Government appointed in 2015 that this is "hugely significant"—"a game-changer for … victims of crime".Chris Penk: Do the years of significant under-investment to which the Minister's just referred include the last 4½ years?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: Yes they do. There has been for multiple years of Government—yeah that's absolutely right and I don't think that anyone could decry that. For years and years there has been an under-investment into the way that the right services in a joined-up approach across Government has been able to be provided to our victims and that is why there were two major priorities through the justice Budget cluster this year. The first is access to justice and the second was victims and focusing on their needs.Chris Penk: What is her response to victims of violent crimes who have stated in relation to the Government's proposed repeal of the three-strikes law "We believe the proposed changes are misconceived misguided and certain to create more members of the club to which we all belong the club which no one wants to join."?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: First of all to any victim of crime we would say that we want to ensure that they have all of the right support available to them. Secondly with respect to three strikes we heard from many victims through the select committee process about their experiences of which many were absolutely horrific. The thing about the three-strikes law however is that this doesn't diminish the ability of any judicial officer to be able to provide the minimum or the maximum penalties and it's restoring the discretion of the judicial officer to exercise their duties and functions. Just this year we have seen the exercise of a judicial officer imposing the maximum penalty—life sentence without parole—for an individual that hasn't met the three-strikes threshold. We do not have any intention of providing any kind of retrospectivity when it comes to those that have suffered at the hands of crime and criminals but we are reinstating the integrity of our judicial branch of Government so that they exercise their discretion within the bands of the Sentencing Act.Chris Penk: Are the Government's reported new justice priorities of curbing violent crime and looking after victims an admission that the Government has failed to address the 21 percent increase in violent crime under its watch?Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN: I refute the proposition of that question. This isn't a new priority; it's one that's ongoing for this side of the House.Chris Penk: Supplementary question.SPEAKER: No no. The member has used all his supplementaries."