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Justice and Courts Minister Amy Adams has acknowledged New Zealand’s courts for their hard work in 2015.

“There’s a lot of work underway to modernise our court system and this year we’ve made some good progress. In particular there’s been a huge improvement in the way courts services are managed and improving these services for the public,” Ms Adams says.

New Zealand has reinforced its commitment to combating corruption by ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.

The Convention is a legally binding global agreement to address corruption in the private and public spheres.

“While New Zealand already has a strong reputation for having low levels of corruption, we cannot be complacent. We have broadly complied with the Convention for a number of years, but we needed to make a limited number of law changes before we could ratify it,” says Ms Adams.

Justice Minister Amy Adams and Police Minister Michael Woodhouse welcome a pilot by frontline Police staff in Palmerston North to record victim video statements using their iPhone 6+ at the scene of certain family violence incidents.

Justice Minister Amy Adams has asked the Law Commission to begin three new projects in 2016.

These are to review the Property (Relationships) Act 1976, the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 and the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908.

Greymouth has become the twelfth New Zealand town to be fully-fibred under the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband programme, Communications Minister Amy Adams announced today.

“Around 4000 homes, businesses, schools and health facilities in Greymouth are now able to connect to ultra-fast internet using our world class fibre-to-the-premise network,” says Ms Adams. 

White Ribbon Day highlights the need for a continued focus on helping to reduce family and sexual violence, Justice Minister Amy Adams says.

The theme for this year’s White Ribbon campaign focuses on respectful relationships between men and women, ‘consent’ as a necessary requirement of all sexual relationships, and challenging attitudes and behaviour around violence against women.

More than 133,000 homes and businesses have now connected to the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) programme as the build gathers pace, Communications Minister Amy Adams announced today.

The September 2015 quarterly report for the first phase of UFB shows almost 56 per cent of the build is complete and more than 815,000 homes, schools and workplaces can now connect to the network.

Connectivity is growing rapidly in the regions with more New Zealanders than ever before now able to access faster rural broadband, Communications Minister Amy Adams says.

The latest quarterly report for phase one of the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) build as at 30 September 2015 shows 271,000 rural addresses can connect to the network.

“With 35.6 per cent uptake across the network, RBI is making sure that New Zealanders living in our rural and remote areas can enjoy the benefits of faster, better internet,” Ms Adams says.

New powers to monitor and supervise returning offenders have received wide-spread support in Parliament following the passing of a new Bill, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.

The Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill passed its Third Reading unopposed in Parliament today.

“This is balanced and proportionate legislation that will mean returning offenders who arrive in New Zealand shortly after being released from prison will be subject to the same sort of oversight as offenders who served a similar sentence here,” says Ms Adams.

A new Bill to pass under urgency will give authorities the power to assess and supervise offenders returning to our shores, Justice Minister Amy Adams has announced.

The Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill introduced by the Government is a key measure in a suite of initiatives to strengthen oversight of deported offenders.

Broadcasting Minister Amy Adams says the extension of captioning to Prime Television will ensure more content availability for deaf and hard of hearing people.

From early next year, service providers Sky and Able will make captioning available on Prime Television with a focus on local, NZ on Air funded and prime time content.

Justice Minister Amy Adams has announced that a new Chief Electoral Officer is to be sought following the expiry of Robert Peden's five-year term.

Mr Peden has advised the Minister he will not be reapplying for the role.

Justice Minister Amy Adams today announced the appointment of renowned victims advocate Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, to the role of Chief Victims Advisor to Government.

Ms Adams says Dr McGregor has nearly 30 years’ experience working first-hand with victims of sexual and family violence and is the ideal candidate for this newly created position. 

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman and Communications Minister Amy Adams have announced that all rural public hospitals and integrated family health centres now have access to high speed broadband.

The 39 hospitals and integrated family health centres identified by DHBs as candidates for the Government’s Rural Broadband Initiative are now all able to connect to fibre capable of peak speeds of at least 100 Mbps.

Justice and Courts Minister Amy Adams and Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell marked 150 years of Te Kooti Whenua Māori –or the Māori Land Court – in Parliament this evening.

“The Māori Land Court is New Zealand’s oldest and longest established specialist court. It holds a special place in New Zealand and is one of a few courts of its kind in the world so it’s important we recognise this significant milestone,” says Ms Adams.

Ms Adams said the Māori Land Court played an important role in New Zealand’s justice system.

New Zealand’s organised crime and corruption laws are now stronger with the passing of the Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Legislation Bill today, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.

The Bill, which introduces a range of measures to tackle illicit activities such as money laundering, bribery and drug-related crime, passed its third reading in Parliament with the support of all parties except for New Zealand First.

Justice and Courts Minister Amy Adams and Police Minister Michael Woodhouse will travel to Canberra today to represent the New Zealand Government at the fourth meeting of the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council.

“With key sessions on law enforcement, law reform, and family and community safety, this is an invaluable forum for discussing current justice sector issues and sharing ideas and experiences,” Ms Adams says.

A new text message reminder service is now available for those appearing in court, Justice Minister Amy Adams has announced.

The new service offers defendants the option to receive an automated text message the day before their district court hearing, reminding them of the date, time and location.

“Text reminders are commonplace for many sorts of appointments, from hospital to hairdressers, and this new service should help defendants by prompting them the day before they are due in court,” says Ms Adams.

Justice Minister Amy Adams and Immigration and Police Minister Michael Woodhouse have today met with Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton in Sydney to continue discussions around the deportation of New Zealanders.

“The issue around the deportation of New Zealanders from Australia is a significant issue for us and this meeting was an opportunity to continue to work through our ongoing concerns,” Ms Adams says.

Justice Minister Amy Adams has announced the details of a new supervision regime being proposed for offenders who return to New Zealand after serving a prison sentence overseas.

“Our paramount concern in this regard is the safety and security of the New Zealand public,” Ms Adams says.

“From the outset, it’s been my intention that criminals being returned to New Zealand should be subject to the same sort of oversight, as offenders who had served a similar prison sentence in New Zealand.

Reforms to make the coronial system more efficient and reduce the impact on families took a step forward in Parliament last night, says Justice Minister Amy Adams.

“Making the coronial system more responsive is beneficial for everyone involved, especially those affected by a sudden or unexplained death,” Ms Adams says.

The Bill stems from a targeted review of the Coroners Act 2006 which showed the system was working well overall but improvements could be made.

The Bill makes several changes, including:

Opening remarks

APEC TEL Chair Mr Andrey Mukhanov, Vice Chair Mr Morris Lin, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen.

It’s a privilege to once more welcome you here to Auckland New Zealand, for 52nd Meeting of the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group.

Some of you may be aware that this is the second time APEC TEL has met in Auckland – the first was in 2006.

APEC represents a regional bloc of considerable economic and political significance to New Zealand. 

Communications Minister Amy Adams and Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell have announced eight appointees to the Māori ICT Development Fund Expert Advisory Group.

In Budget 2014, the Government allocated $30 million for a Māori ICT Development Fund to support Māori economic development and support access to Māori language and culture through digital literacy initiatives.

The latest New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey (NZCASS) released today shows personal and household crime has reduced by a third over five years, Justice Minister Amy Adams says.

NZCASS is New Zealand’s most comprehensive victimisation survey that gathers information on a range of personal and household offences such as assaults, sexual assaults, threats and burglaries.