Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. Labour opposes this bill for three main reasons. The first reason is that it will increase reoffending. The second reason is more offending will create more victims of crime. And third it creates a two-tiered justice system. It is just another example of a Government that is hooked on slogans not solutions and they have no interest in fixing the challenges that New Zealand now confronts.Number one: increase offending. Section 27 reports look at reasons not excuses. They look at what the offender's behaviour is. They consider how someone's background might have contributed to the offending; if any actions may have been taken to resolve the offending; and most importantly what support mechanisms might prevent further offending. The backgrounds of these offenders commonly include things like substance abuse personality disorders neurodivergence learning difficulties brain injuries poverty and trauma including family violence—extraordinary rates of historic family sexual and violent victimisations. These are the drivers of crime. ACT and National are not interested in understanding the drivers of crime. Having this information allows judges to more deeply consider why someone has come before the court and how to prevent them from coming back again and reoffending. These drivers of crime if they go unaddressed the likelihood of further reoffending is high. If a judge doesn't know what factors contributed to an offender's behaviour they cannot address those factors at sentencing.We know through written parliamentary questions that the Minister of Justice has not asked for or received any analysis of the impact of section 27 reports on reoffending and so he has no understanding of the impacts of taking these away on the victims of crime. So for a Government that has set out to be intent on increasing victims' rights and improving New Zealand for victims this legislation does exactly the opposite of what they've set out to do.This bill sadly will mean there are more victims of crime because the drivers of crime are not addressed and offenders reoffend. I suspect that the Ministry of Justice may well have done some analysis on this and maybe that is the reason why we are not proceeding through to the committee stage tonight. I can't wait to take a good look at this regulatory impact statement and to understand exactly what's gone on behind the scenes but instead of facts tonight we'll be hearing the political reckons from those opposite. ACT claims that section 27 reports are being used to favour criminals and go soft on victims and that scrapping them will make our country safer and ensure that sentencing is appropriate to the crime. These claims have no basis in evidence or reality; they just sound tough. The president of the New Zealand Bar Association has said in relation to this bill There are significant risks that will make it harder for judges to impose appropriate sentences [it will] undermine rehabilitation and adversely impact [the] reoffending [rate]." That means more victims.Finally what this bill does is create a two-tiered justice system giving those people who can pay for a section 27 report an unfair advantage. Section 27 and its predecessor arose from a clear need an urgent need to address inequitable criminal justice outcomes for Māori to recognise that prison sentences were failing to prevent recidivist offending and also to prioritise options for rehabilitation and action on those fronts. With funding of written reports removed section 27 provisions will only be available for those with private financial resources wealthier groups that have a greater level of representation and those in poverty go hard out. This will directly impact Māori and Pasifika communities in New Zealand. There are issues or problems with how these reports are doing and let's look into that. Let's have a crack at fixing them. But this Government has no interest in solutions only sound bites. For a Government that funds tax cuts with more smoking and cutting benefits there seems to be no limit on how low they will punch. This bill is just another ornament on the 100-day plan of nothing. If National and ACT genuinely cared about the victims of crime they would turn around and stop this bill."