More Funding To Cut Court Case Backlogs
' Hon Paul Goldsmith
Minister of Justice
Minister for Courts
Court case backlogs will be further reduced through extra funding to improve court timeliness and access to justice, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Courts Minister Nicole McKee say.
'Justice delayed is justice denied. Waiting months or years for a case to be resolved only adds to the frustration and trauma for victims and, indeed, all court participants,' Mr Goldsmith says.
'While there has been progress, it's really important that we keep things moving. This funding will to do exactly that.'
Budget 2025 will provide New Zealand's courts with $246 million of additional funding over the next four years.
'This funding will support the ongoing operation of specialist courts, tribunals, the District Court, senior courts, the Coroners Court, and the legal aid system.'
'This Government is supporting the courts to be more efficient and minimise delays, to ensure everyone can navigate the process smoothly and have trust and confidence in the system,'
Mrs McKee says.
'An efficient court system that delivers timely justice is an important part of the Government's plan to restore law and order. Through Budget 2025 we are making sure we keep our foot on
the pedal.'
In the year ending 31 March 2025, cases disposed of within expected timeframes has stabilised at 81 per cent, after almost a decade of declining timeliness.
Backlog cases have decreased by 9 per cent to 7,067, while active cases decreased by 3 per cent to 37,920, with a reduction of 1,074 cases on hand.
Disposals of district court jury trials are at historically high levels, reflecting the approach of applying additional resources to reduce the post-Covid backlog of trials in Auckland courts.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
5 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Music proposed as way to calm bus hub conduct
Music could be used to soothe savage behaviour at Dunedin's city centre bus hub, a regional councillor has suggested. Cr Kate Wilson said she was not suggesting following the lead of former speaker Trevor Mallard, who blasted music in an attempt to deter protesters camped outside Parliament to protest government control during the Covid-19 pandemic. But she questioned the absence of music as one of the "actionable insights" contained in Collective Strategy principal consultant Angela Davis' 29-page report on developing and refining the approach to safety in the central city. "Sound can be very calming," Cr Wilson said. "We often build 'traffic calming' areas into design, but we don't do 'people calming'." She said she was "intrigued" the report had not canvassed the concept, which she understood was used in hospitals. Council regional planning and transport general manager Anita Dawe said it appeared not to be one of the strategies used elsewhere, which Ms Davis examined in the report. "I do know it's successful in supermarkets — it changes shopping behaviour," Ms Dawe said. The Otago Regional Council's public and active transport committee yesterday received the report, commissioned by the council for the central city advisory group — the multi-agency group created in the wake of the fatal stabbing last year of 16-year-old Enere McLaren-Taana. Cr Alexa Forbes, who chaired yesterday's committee meeting, said the report appeared focused on "preventing crime through inclusion and visibility". "It doesn't actually rule out sound, or music." Council chairwoman Gretchen Robertson said there were benefits to working on safety issues with other agencies in a collaborative way. It was a "privilege" for the regional council to run public transport, and the council wanted public transport to be "welcoming and [a] preferred mode of travel", she said. The council had taken a close look at what it could do in the short term to improve safety and had taken "well reported" steps to improve safety at the bus hub. But the report also contained statistical analysis showing the bus hub was not the only problematic area in Dunedin's city centre. The report revealed most documented "victimisation" in the city centre occurred very early on Sunday morning. " I don't think that's a youth issue," Cr Robertson said. "This is a whole-of-community issue. "I think it requires collaboration," Cr Robertson said. "It requires looking at the hub. "It requires looking broader than that as well to the central city." Council chief executive Richard Saunders suggested there was more of a leadership role for the Dunedin City Council in safety issues than the regional council. "The issues largely arise in public space, which are the responsibility of the territorial authorities," Mr Saunders said. "So they have a critical role to play in the management of that public space and any bylaws that may seek to change behaviours in that space. "The fact that the group is focused on inner-city safety, not bus hub safety, speaks to the role of DCC in terms of that overall management of that public space through the city. "They won't achieve anything on their own, but the leadership, I think, is quite a critical piece. "And I suspect the reference in here points more to leadership in the public space than it does within the transport network." The city council has been approached for comment.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
CityLink, BusLink Fares To Increase From August
Prices will increase across Northland's public transport network from Friday 01 August with authorities saying they have been left with little choice in the matter. Northland Regional Council member Joe Carr, who chairs the Northland Regional Transport Committee, says fares on Whangārei's CityLink service will revert to their 2018 level of $3 for adults and $2 for children, an increase of $1 per journey on the present fares. Fares on the rural BusLink services will rise by 50 cents per journey from Friday 01 August. Infants up to four years of age will continue to travel free of charge. Concessions for Community Service Card and Gold Card holders remain in place for CityLink and BusLink routes. From 01 August these concessions will also apply for the first time to BusLink's Bream Bay Link and Hikurangi Link, which had not previously been able to offer these discounts. "Council recognises that cost of living pressures are impacting on Northlanders and has for many years made every effort to keep bus fares as low as possible," Chair Carr says. However, he says the council - which administers the services - had been left with very little option, but to review fares. "Regional councils nationwide are having to find additional forms of funding to cover bus operational, infrastructure and administration costs in keeping with the Government Policy on Land Transport 2024.". During Covid and to assist with the cost-of-living crisis, the government had funded several fare reduction schemes across the country, but this funding had ceased in 2023. Chair Carr says even with the increased fares, Northland's charges are still largely in line with other parts of New Zealand. He says over the past two years CityLink has also made several improvements to the service, including the introduction of the SchoolLink service and extension to Route 3, an online bus tracking system, and the Rose Street bus hub redevelopment currently underway with Whangarei District Council. The council will run an awareness campaign shortly to inform passengers of the intended increases.
1News
a day ago
- 1News
NZ's natural gas supply running out faster than thought
The country's natural gas supply is running out faster than previously thought. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said previous forecasts showed annual gas production falling below 100 petajoules by 2029, but revised forecasts indicated that level would be reached by next year. A petajoule, or PJ, is a unit measurement of energy use commonly used for large-scale energy use, with one petajoule equal to one million billion joules. MBIE also said as of January this year, natural gas reserves were down 27% compared to last year - also falling faster than previously estimated. "In 2024, natural gas proven plus probable (2P) reserves reduced from 1300 PJ to 948 PJ," MBIE head of data service delivery Karlene Tipler said. ADVERTISEMENT "The reduction in natural gas reserves is largely driven by field operators reducing their estimates of gas readily extractable in the ground by 234 PJ." MBIE said contingent gas reserves, or gas that existed in the ground but could not be extracted for various reasons such as economic or technical, increased by 184 PJ or 10% on last year. "Some of this increase can be attributed to natural gas reserves being downgraded to contingent resources," Tipler said. "A significant contributor to this is Pohokura field, which included a large volume of contingent gas which had previously not been reported." Tipler said some contingent gas may have the potential to be upgraded to 2P if there were changes to economic or technical conditions. Govt says data proves it's 'correct to act now' Resources Minister Shane Jones said the decline in gas reserves was a "stark reminder" of why the Government was seeking greater investment in exploration and production. ADVERTISEMENT "New Zealand needs a secure supply of affordable and reliable gas for industry to continue and for Kiwis to keep the lights on," Jones said. "A 27% year-on-year decline in our natural gas reserves is further proof that the coalition Government has made the right decisions in overturning the oil and gas ban, and is willing to become a cornerstone investor in gas production," he said. As part of Budget 2025, the Government announced $200 million over four years for co-investment in new domestic gas field developments.
