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Speaker 1: So I got some good news from the court system.

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Speaker 1: The backlog's being tackled in Auckland. It's now down by

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Speaker 1: twenty six percent. We've gotten eleven percent reduction. Nationwide. Jury

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Speaker 1: trials have always also reduced by eight percent. Nicole McKy's

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Speaker 1: the Minister for Courts and is with us. Nicole, good morning,

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Mike.

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Speaker 2: Did you know isn't it?

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Speaker 1: It is good news. Did you set targets and if

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Speaker 1: you did, you meeting them or has this just happened?

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Speaker 2: Well? The target that we set as the act party

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Speaker 2: was to say we wanted to come in and look

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Speaker 2: after victims of crime. When we wanted to set a percentage,

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Speaker 2: it was very hard to do because we had these

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Speaker 2: weather events, we've had delays with COVID, and then we

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Speaker 2: found that when the courts got back up and running again,

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Speaker 2: the number of events or court appearances that a person

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Speaker 2: had also increased, So it was hard to set a percentage.

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Speaker 2: This was the district court, sorry, the District Court Chief

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Speaker 2: Justice was set targets for himself and all for the

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Speaker 2: district courts, and it's a who's time he's ever done that,

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Speaker 2: And we're starting to get there. We're seeing the improvement.

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Speaker 2: We're seeing the backlog drop, and it's not just his targets,

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Speaker 2: but it's all the legislation that the government has put

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Speaker 2: through with Act. At the HELM, we're feeling really confident

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Speaker 2: that we're making these good changes for victims, for people

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Speaker 2: that enter the court system, and these reductions are coming down.

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Speaker 2: So the targets that the Chief District Court Judge has set,

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Speaker 2: they are the ones that we're going for. They're pretty aspirational,

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Speaker 2: but I think we can get there. And the outcomes

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Speaker 2: that you've just delivered with the percentages and reduction are

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Speaker 2: really quite outstanding. Even the High Court probate cases, we

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Speaker 2: had only nine percent resolved within fifteen days and twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three, but that figure rose to thirty three percent

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four and it's now sitting at eighty

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Speaker 2: four percent in twenty twenty five. So the legislation we've

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Speaker 2: put through the KPIs that the judges have set for themselves.

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Speaker 2: We're getting there and we're getting this backwog underway, which

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Speaker 2: means victims are getting through their cases quicker, easier, and

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Speaker 2: we are supporting all those people out there who have

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Speaker 2: to enter the duster system and find it really stressful

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Speaker 2: to do so good. It's such good news, Mike.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, nice to talk to you, appreciate it very much.

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Speaker 1: A jury trials down to eight percent, Nicole McKey, who

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Speaker 1: is the Minister for Courts. For more from the Mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd be from

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