Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:653;Page:2699] 
5.  
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
 to the  
Minister for Courts 
: What advice has she received about the collection of levies that would be required by the Sentencing (Offender Levy) Amendment Bill from those officials in the Ministry of Justice who report to her? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Minister for Courts) 
: 
 In late January I was briefed by officials on the offender levy: what it was for who was going to pay it how much money it would collect and proposed administrative arrangements for collection of the levy. I have also received documentation about the funding for the operation of the levy but this is Budget sensitive and the member will have to wait until the Budget. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Is she aware of advice from the Ministry of Justice as contained in the document  
Structure of Operations in the Ministry: Proposals for Consultation 
 that people who owe the offender levy will be grouped based on their “willingness and ability to pay and their attitude towards compliance”; and does this mean that the Government is prepared to tolerate targeting only those most likely to pay while hard-core fine defaulters are let off the hook? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: No not at all. The Government’s approach is that every offender who owes the levy fines or reparation will be held responsible for the payment of those. Anything else that the member has inferred is not going to happen because this Government is serious about collecting those fines. I will be introducing into the House pretty soon a courts and criminal matters bill that will address some of the matters around enforcement. But I stress once again that no offender who owes fines will be allowed to get away with not being responsible for them. 
Shane Ardern 
: What reports has she received about previous attempts to establish a victims’ compensation scheme? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: A very good question. I have seen three reports. In Labour’s 1996 election campaign policy the party promised to investigate the establishment of a separate criminal injuries compensation scheme. In Labour’s 2005 election campaign policy it said it would “inquire into the level of immediate financial support available to victims or families of victims of serious crime especially homicide and examine options for providing improved support”. Again in February 2008 in the Prime Minister’s opening statement to the House she said that Labour would look into a victims’ compensation scheme. We are a Government of action. We have taken less than 100 days to do something that Labour thought about for over 13 years. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How does she reconcile her answer to my previous supplementary question in which she said that all those owing their levies would pay with the statement from the Minister of Justice—who also advocated a levy collection system that selectively targets some offenders over others based on how easy it will be to recover the money from them—who stated in a Cabinet paper of 26 January 2009 that enforcement actions such as seizure of property or bringing the defendant before the court will be used for some offenders but not for others because the cost of those enforcement actions “would be greater than the levy amount rendering it uneconomic to pursue.”? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: I can easily reconcile them. Where a person owes only the offender levy enforcement actions will be limited to court-ordered deductions from wages a benefit or a bank account. That keeps overall enforcement costs from becoming greater than the value of the outstanding levy and recognises that the levy is not a fine. We will be endeavouring to collect payment on the levy although that will take second place to reparations. As I said this Government is serious about addressing the concerns of victims. The party opposite thought about the matter for over 13 years and did nothing about it. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Given that the Minister has not reconciled the two answers are we now going to have two classes of victims: a first class of victims where offenders are pursued and compelled to pay their levy because of their “willingness and ability to pay” and a second class of victims where offenders make life difficult and are therefore let off the hook by this Government? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: That is rubbish. Nobody will be let off responsibility for paying a levy fines or reparation. No one will get away without paying the fines or reparation that he or she owes. Everyone will have to deal with his or her fines reparation or levy. One way or another people will be held responsible for what they owe. Those who decide not to pay will feel the full force of the law and quickly. Every day action is being taken to enforce payment by taking money out of wages benefits or directly from bank accounts by seizing and selling assets by clamping vehicles by arresting offenders— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That answer is excessively long.