Justice Minister promises more change in 2011

Justice Minister Simon Power says the fast pace of changes in the justice sector will continue in 2011.

“We have got a very busy 12 months ahead, so any indication we might be slowing up in 2011, I can tell you we’re not,” Mr Power says in an interview published in the latest issue of the New Zealand Law Society’s magazine LawTalk.

“I’ve spent nine years thinking about all this in Opposition, so when we got across to the Beehive, we were ready to go.”

Mr Power has told LawTalk that the “Drivers of Crime” initiative is making real progress, and the alcohol reform package and Criminal Simplification and Modernisation Bill will be cornerstones of the work the government does in 2011.

He says these two pieces of legislation “are going to take up much of the Justice and Electoral Committee’s work for the first half of the year.”

Mr Power says another important area people can expect to see him working on is the treatment of child witnesses and victims by the criminal justice system.

A Victims Rights Act review is nearly completed and Mr Power says this means he will be looking at the legislative framework for victims’ interaction with the criminal justice system in 2011.

LawTalk also says Mr Power has been working on a review of prosecutorial services in the same was as has been done for legally aided work.

“Mr Power has been working on this project with his colleagues the Minister of Police and the Attorney-General,” it says.

© New Zealand Law Society 2008