As an organisation at the forefront of law reform, the New Zealand Law Society has a major interest in presenting the policies and proposals for changes in New Zealand’s justice system. Parties which are registered to contest the 23 September General Election were sent five questions related to the justice sector on 20 June. A word limit of 200 words per answer and a deadline of 7 August for responses were set. Reminders were sent where necessary and the deadline was extended to enable as many responses as possible. The MANA Movement was the only party contacted which failed to provide responses. The Ban1080 Party replied that “none [of the questions] seem to apply to us.”

To ensure the presentation is as fair as possible, there was a ballot for the answer publication order for each question. The abbreviation registered with the Electoral Commission (where available) has been used to identify parties in each response. Responses are reproduced as received, with obvious spelling and other errors corrected.

1. What are your party’s key objectives in the justice portfolio and how do you plan to meet these objectives?
2. What are your party’s policies in relation to access to legal aid?
3. What are your party’s views on proposed law changes to improve the legislative response to family violence?
4. How would your party improve the courts and court processes?
5. What are your party’s views on the extension of the anti-money laundering legislation (AML/CFT Act 2009) to lawyers and other professions, and the timeframe it is being worked in?