O'Rourke Denis: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeO'Rourke Denis: Victims of Crime Reform Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 16 April 2014. Volume:698;Page:17352. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First): New Zealand First does support this bill the Victims of Crime Reform Bill. We see the bill and especially Part 1 as another very welcome step forward in the emerging movement to do more to support and consider the rights and needs of the victims of crime. That movement appears to me to have the support of all of the parties of Parliament because we all do want to see victims of crime better supported and considered than they have been in the past so we especially welcome Part 1 of this bill. New Zealand First also supports the amendments in Supplementary Order Paper 424 for the same reasons.I especially wanted to commend clause 10 which concerns section 16 of the Victims’ Rights Act. It ensures that reference to all of a victim’s contact details as are now listed in the bill will be restricted to ensure the privacy of the victim. That of course adds very greatly to a victim’s sense of security and privacy while allowing them the opportunity to take a full part in the process. It is a minor amendment but it is a very important amendment for victims for those reasons.I also wanted to refer briefly to new section 17 inserted by clause 12 which actually requires a prosecutor to find out from any victim all relevant information about the victim’s injuries property loss or damage and other effects of the offence so that they can be taken into account for sentencing and presumably reparation purposes. The words used are that the prosecutor “must make all reasonable efforts” and that puts the onus on the prosecutor to find out the necessary details so that they can be taken proper account of in the process in the court. That means of course that the prosecutor has to be proactive which was not a requirement in the past. They relied on the victim themselves to make sure that those details were provided and of course they not always were. So I think again that it is a relatively minor improvement but it is a very important improvement to the legislation so that the necessary details actually do get before the court and that is as it should be. So New Zealand First is very happy indeed to see that particular provision in the bill.The information to be sought is actually set out in the new section 17(1A) and it refers to: “(a) any physical injury or emotional harm suffered by the victim through or by means of the offence; and (b) any loss of or damage to property suffered by the victim through or by means of the offence; and (c) any other effects of the offence onthe victim; and (d) any other matter consistent with the purpose of victim impact statements …” as set out elsewhere in the legislation. I think that this is a particularly good provision. It is comprehensive and it does the job.The value of these amendments is that they put the victims first and that is what New Zealand First has argued forfor a number of years. The rights and interests of victims have for far far too long been secondary to the process of convicting the offender. Now we are seeing more and more this movement by which the effects on the victim are being taken account of more and more and real and practical means are being put in place to make sure that they are supported and that their rights are protected. So for all of those reasons New Zealand First is particularly pleased to be able to support Part 1 of this bill as it does the bill as a whole.