Whaitiri MekaHon MEKA WHAITIRI (Chairperson of the Justice Committee): He mihi tuatahi ki Te Atua tōku hoa a Pita Paraone e te rangatira haere haere moe mai rā. [Firstly I acknowledge God. My friend Pita Paraone my leader farewell—rest in peace.]With other members I too want to acknowledge the very sad passing of a dear colleague the honourable member Pita Paraone of Ngāti Hine and of Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu and to add my words and to go on Hansard in acknowledging what a fine outstanding New Zealander Pita Paraone was and his contribution in this House and his commitment to his people of Ngāti Hine and of Ngāpuhi particularly. It is important for me as the member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti to send our dear condolences to Pita Paraone's whānau Ngāti Hine and of Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu as well as to our dear colleagues of the New Zealand First Party. Nō reira tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa. Mr Chair I'm proud to take a call on this section of our law and order system as the new chair of the Justice Committee. Like you said we've had seven votes that have come before our select committee. You've acknowledged them. We've had four Ministers—Minister Parker Minister Davis Minister Little and Minister Nash—across the various votes that we've examined. In my own research as a contribution to this debate I looked at the last five or six years' votes across the law and order sector and I see that it has significantly increased more so in the last two years—particularly around corrections and police and don't the police do a fine job for this country? Don't the police do a fine job for this country? I want to acknowledge the former chair of the select committee Raymond Huo who chaired this committee—and who was actually present during the Estimates examinations—and also the members of the Justice Committee who did a thorough job. I do want to touch on the police particularly as an immediate result of the horror that happened in Christchurch and the move to introduce the buy-back scheme for guns. Of course the select committee did ask whether the compensation regime was fit for purpose and we had several experts come and talk about that. It was a concern raised at the select committee around whether we'd got that right. Today we've had another take on that with a supposed leak of draft legislation where we were trying to address the horrors of Christchurch as a nation by taking semi-automatic guns off the street. I do hope the Opposition reconsiders its position as we commit to making New Zealand a safe place. This is about ensuring the communities in this part of the votes in this debate are safe but we also are a Government that wants to do things differently. In no better place do we see that but in the corrections area where in this vote 80 new policy initiatives were shared with the select committee including increased funding around custodial services community-based sentences rehabilitation programmes increased services for mental health—and we can see the prevalence of mental health coming across the various votes. It is no different in corrections which was examined at the select committee around the importance—and it's interesting the percentage. Almost 91 percent of prisoners in our prisons actually have mental health issues or substance abuse—91 percent—and this Minister Kelvin Davis is addressing that. He is addressing that by ensuring that we have got the support within the prisons for those that suffer from both mental health issues and drug and alcohol addictions. Of course one that's really dear to my heart that was raised in the select committee was this new kaupapa Māori programme which the Minister launched recently called Hōkai Rangi. It is a new way of operating that I think is going to be world class in this nation around giving offenders the opportunity to reconnect to their whānau their people. We all know that over 50 percent of all those who are incarcerated are of Māori descent. I actually believe that this strategy is going to make a big difference as we go forward to make sure both the safety of our communities but also that people are given a fair shot.