Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

Labour will enact reforms to promote access to a rational system that delivers
uniform justice to all New Zealanders. Specifically, we will:
Place a 12 month moratorium on the implementation of National‟s cuts to
legal aid, the introduction of contestability in the funding of community legal
services, and related changes
During that moratorium, work to create a nationwide level of quality service to
support those who need to participate in the justice system, but who cannot
finance all or part of that participation
Update and implement the work undertaken by the Law Commission in its
2004 report, Delivering Justice for All: A Vision for New Zealand Courts and
Tribunals
As part of this implementation exercise, revise the jurisdiction thresholds for
civil courts to take proper account of contemporary circumstances; rationalise
the existing system of tribunals, with a view to providing swifter and more
cost-effective justice at this tier of the system; make available at first instance
a form of alternative dispute resolution in all civil litigation; and maximise the
efficiencies offered by new technologies
Implement evidence-based interventions, such as neighbourhood justice
centres, therapeutic courts, and restorative justice, where community support
exists for these interventions
Enhance the transparency and independence of the operation of New
Zealand‟s courts, ensuring that judicial officers have sufficient information
available to promote a consistent approach to the administration of justice to
be taken nationwide, including by reconstituting the Sentencing Council
abolished by National in 2009.
Rationalising the purchase of Government legal services
The State spends significant resource every year on its own legal services. Many hundreds
of millions of dollars every year fund the work of the Crown Law Office and the counsel it
briefs under the Cabinet Directions for the Conduct of Crown Legal Business, the work of
Police prosecutors, the work of warranted crown solicitors and their staff, and the spending
by departments and crown entities on legal services not covered by the Cabinet
Directions. Reviews are currently underway into procurement by departments generally, and
into the work of crown solicitors. But no general overview of the efficiency and effectiveness
of the overall spend by the state on legal services exists.
Labour will review total public expenditure on the procurement of legal services. We
will ascertain whether there are efficiencies and other public benefits that can be
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