Dalziel Lianne: Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dalziel Lianne: Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Sitting date: 31 July 2012. Volume:682;Page:4139. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Labour—Christchurch East) 
: 
 The Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill has a similar history to the bill we were previously debating. It was introduced on 13 October 2010. It had its first reading on 12 April 2011. It was referred to the Law and Order Committee. Submissions were obviously called for in a relatively short period of time. It had a mission. On 26 May 2011 the submissions closed. The select committee report was referred back to this House on 7 July 2011. We had the second reading earlier on this year on 8 February 2012 and now today we are at the end of July; tomorrow is 1 August. So this bill has been around for some time but I do appreciate what the Minister in the chair the Minister of Justice has just said about the importance of having conversations with each other about particular elements of legislation if we do want to see change. 
Can I repeat in the House the plea that I have made outside the House to have some conversation about the Alcohol Reform Bill because my colleague’s amendment—[ 
Interruption 
] No it is absolutely relevant to the amendment that is going to be accepted by the Government the Supplementary Order Paper moved by my colleague Charles Chauvel relating to our emergency front-line first responders particularly those in the ambulance service. They face alcohol-fuelled attacks every single day and that is one of the huge motivating factors for the amendment that the Minister has agreed to. One of my colleagues Louisa Wall who has a Supplementary Order Paper on the Alcohol Reform Bill would like to be able to put to the Minister directly the concerns she has. There are a number of amendments that we would make and I do want to meet with the Minister personally to go through those because I believe that if we actually sat down and had a conversation about some of these issues we would find a meeting of the minds on some of them—not all of them. I do not have unrealistic expectations but I do believe that— 
Andrew Little 
: You might have to be a liquor baron to get a meeting. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: No—the same as me. I think the Minister and I both agree that there are some issues that are more important than some of the positions that may be adopted from time to time and alcohol is such a fuel of the type of violence that we are seeking to address with this particular measure that we are debating here tonight. It would seem to me to be one of those ones. Because one of my colleagues came and tapped me on the shoulder and said that she would like to take up the challenge that the Minister had just made about speaking directly on the matter I informed her that I have made the same request and I would like to formalise that request in the House. 
I want to congratulate Charles Chauvel on making this an issue and on dealing with it in the way he has because I think it is important that we do set aside party political positions when there are issues where we can find common ground and this has been one where we have found common ground. The common ground does relate to how important all of our first responders are whether they are in the prison setting whether they are our police or whether they are our emergency services at the front line. They will find themselves in challenging circumstances and I know that I have personally spoken to ambulance officers and on occasion to volunteer firefighters who found themselves in the position of seeking to save somebody who did not feel like they wanted to be saved at that particular moment whether they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol or whether they were in fact quite disturbed for a variety of different reasons. The person who goes to save another can find themselves on the receiving end of a vicious attack. All of us in this House would want to join together to find ways of resolving that. I have never particularly found that deterrent sentences deter behaviour such as that but I do think that having sentencing around aggravating factors is the right way to go. So I am very supportive of the particular measure as introduced by the Government then also as improved by the amendment that has been put up by my colleague Charles Chauvel. 
I do hope that the Committee of the whole House takes notes of I think the goodwill that is being expressed on both sides of this House as we deal with these difficult issues but I think important issues for the sake of all those who are affected by them.