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In a letter to the profession, the Ministry of Justice has advised it will receive ‘new funding of $245.5 million over 5 years across Vote Justice and Vote Courts to address pressures in the courts and legal aid, increase judicial capacity, and improve court timeliness.’
This includes funding within a new ‘Court timeliness’ initiative, which includes:
$2.174 million to allow the appointment of 2 permanent High Court judges, 3 additional community magistrates and a Chief Community Magistrate.
$8.659 million to support the delivery of ‘core functions’ to improve timeliness in the Courts and across the justice system. (No further detail is currently available as what this encompasses.)
The Judicature (Timeliness) Legislation Amendment Bill will be introduced, to make changes to the Senior Courts Act 2016, Coroners Act 2006, and Criminal Procedure Act 2011. This omnibus bill will make the changes necessary to implement Budget initiatives and otherwise manage pressures.
Read more in the Ministry’s letter to the profession here.
$32.1 million of tagged contingency funding for the expansion of the Te Ao Mārama programme will be returned. While Te Ao Mārama continues at its eight existing sites, the planned expansion (initially paused in Budget 2024), remains on hold.
Te Ao Mārama is a judicial initiative in the District Court, focusing on ensuring that all court participants can understand and take part in cases that relate to them. It recognises that timely justice is fundamental and aims to address factors contributing to case backlogs. The work is based on years of research and judicial advice and aims to reduce offending while improving the wellbeing of court participants and their communities.
The Law Society has supported Te Ao Mārama since its commencement and endorses the aim of improving court processes for all participants, including lawyers and the wider community.
An evaluation of Te Ao Mārama is due to be completed in 2026 and decisions on funding of an expansion of the programme will be made as part of future budget processes.
Currently under review, the legal aid scheme has received a small increase to meet anticipated demand: from $320.551 million estimated actual expenditure in 2024/25 to $328.0 million in 2025/26.
A new performance indicator has been introduced, setting a target for Legal Service of 250 to 350 audits of legal aid lawyers conducted each year under section 91 of the Legal Services Act. This is stated to be a reflection of ‘the Ministry’s commitment to maintaining high standards of legal aid assistance.’ Audit numbers reported by the Ministry in previous years suggest this will be a significant increase:¹
2017/18: 101
2018/19: 113
2019/2020: 111
2020/2021 – 2022/2023: no data
2023/2024: 32
Spending initiatives in the justice portfolio were signalled in the 2025 Budget Policy Statement² released in December last year, citing one of the Government’s overarching goals as ‘to restore law and order’, as well as in a pre-Budget speech, where Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced that ‘new spending initiatives are strictly limited to the most important priorities’, including law and order.³
A continued focus on ‘law and order’ seems likely, with dedicated policy resource increasing to $618 million (from $493 million) in 2025/26.
As anticipated, youth offending is the focus of several new initiatives, including (over the next four budgets):
$22 million for repairs and upgrade of Oranga Tamariki residences.
Around $16 million for implementation of the new Young Serious Offenders regime, currently before Parliament in the Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Amendment Bill
Military-style academies and transitional support will receive $33 million.
Like Budget 2024, the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update for 2025 identifies the increasing prison population as a fiscal risk. It notes that the prison population has increased ‘significantly’ since April 2023, and advises:
Recent and future justice policy changes, including changes to sentencing legislation, are likely to further increase the prison population. While funding has been provided in Budget 2024 and Budget 2025 to address the immediate impact, there remains a risk that further funding is needed if the increase in prison numbers is higher than allowed for in the fiscal forecasts. This creates an additional cost pressure relating to reconditioning retired capacity within the existing prison network, maintaining safe staffing ratios, prisoner upkeep and potential capital costs to enable additional capacity.
This has resulted in funding of Corrections for a prisoner level of 10,860 by the end of the 2025/26 year, and $472 million in additional funding to manage prison growth. That funding will include 580 new frontline staff.
Budget 2025 will also deliver 240 new high security beds at Christchurch Men’s Prison, along with a new Health Centre and Intervention and Support Unit containing 52 beds.
Courthouses
Budget 2025 provides for continued investment in the new Tauranga Criminal Courthouse. There appears to be no new investment in other courthouses needing urgent renovations or replacement. Work on the Auckland District Court Building Infrastructure Replacement is funded to continue.
In its letter to the profession, the Ministry of Justice has advised the Government has decided not to fund new courthouses for the Rotorua District and High Court, Rotorua Māori Land Court and Waitākere District Court as part of Budget 2025. However, the Ministry has advised it will continue to work on options to deliver these new courthouses.
Safety and security
Budget 2025 delivers an increase of $10.005 million for remuneration costs for staff delivering frontline services, including court and security staff.
Te Au Reka
The Law Society welcomes increased capital investment for Te Au Reka in 2025/26, with over $10 million allocated for the initiative, which is due to commence piloting in the Family Court in the upcoming financial year.
Te Au Reka is the new digital case management system for the courts, representing a significant transformation of administration in the courts.
While not part of Budget 2025, the Ministry of Justice has also advised there will be a 3.65% increase to the fees in all courts and most tribunals. These increases are aimed at addressing inflationary cost increases, and to support the effective delivery of court and tribunal services.
The new fees will be gazetted on Budget Day and take effect on 1 July 2025. The Law Society will provide further information about these fee increases in the next issue of LawPoints.