A Long-term Insights Briefing (LTIB) shares insights on future challenges and opportunities that affect, or may affect, Aotearoa New Zealand. LTIBs encourage public servants to consider opportunities and talk with a wide range of people about what matters most for the long-term wellbeing of New Zealand. Under the Public Service Act 2020, government departments are required to publish a Briefing at least once every three years.
LTIBs are not government policy and are developed independently of ministers.
For more information about LTIBs visit the Public Service Commission website.(external link)
For general guidance on the LTIB process, visit the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) website.(external link)
Following consultation, the Ministry decided on “the future operation of the courts and justice services” as the topic for its second LTIB.
An Easy Read summary version, commissioned in response to feedback on the accessibility of the draft LTIB, will also be made available shortly.
This LTIB looks at the broad design of the court system, the costs of running it, user experiences and trends that might affect the operation of the courts and justice services in the future. It identifies future trends, highlights current initiatives, and presents six strategic choices that could shape the system over the next two decades.
The Briefing was presented in Parliament in December 2025 and will be examined by a parliamentary select committee in 2026.
If you have any questions about the LTIB, you can contact the Ministry’s LTIB project team at: LTIB@justice.govt.nz
We consulted on our draft LTIB from 9 October to 9 November 2025. The final LTIB takes account of feedback received during this public consultation, which broadly supported the themes it identified and its focus on how the system could be made more efficient, easy to use, affordable, fair, safe, and resilient.
We received 31 written submissions and held two further meetings to discuss the draft LTIB. Submissions and meetings allowed us to hear views from the general public, NGOs and advocates, iwi, academics, government agencies, and others, including people with experience working in or going through the justice system.
Crown Law has developed its companion LTIB, The Future Operations of the Courts and Justice services: Potential implications for the prosecution of serious crime, as a companion to the Ministry’s LTIB.
For more information visit the LTIB section on Crown Law's website(external link)
An earlier discussion document on the topic for our 2025 Long-term Insights Briefing remains available on our Consultation hub.(external link)
The topic for the first Justice Sector Briefing was: Long-term insights about imprisonment 1960-2050. It was published in December 2022.
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