Lotu-Iiga Sam: Drug and Alcohol Testing of Community-based Offenders and Bailees Legislation Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLotu-Iiga Sam: Drug and Alcohol Testing of Community-based Offenders and Bailees Legislation Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 26 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:2019. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Corrections): I move That the Drug and Alcohol Testing of Community-based Offenders and Bailees Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Law and Order Committee to consider the bill. The bill implements the Government’s intention to introduce drug and alcohol testing where drug and alcohol abstinence is a condition of bail home detention or other community-based sentences and orders.We all know that the misuse of alcohol and drugs is a major driver of crime. Half of the offender population say they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they offend and 60 percent of community offenders have an identified alcohol or drug dependency. This is something our Government takes extremely seriously. We are committed to achieving the Better Public Services goal of reducing reoffending by 25 percent by 2017. The Department of Corrections has expanded the number of alcohol and drug interventions that it offers—for example in 2014 there were more than 8500 drug and alcohol treatments and interventions which is an increase of nearly 300 percent on the previous year. This complements the police’s Prevention First strategy which has led to record low crime rates. But programmes on their own are certainly not enough. Prevention strategies need effective tools to create the permanent lifestyle changes that offenders need to stop using alcohol and drugs. They must be deterred from using these triggers that lead to reoffending when they are in the community.Each year around 4000 offenders on community sentences and orders and around 15000 people on bail have abstinence as a condition of their release. These conditions can be imposed of course by the court or the Parole Board. The imposition of these conditions reflects the fact that alcohol or drug use contributes to the individual’s increased risk of further offending. It is important that the agency administering the sentence or order knows when the condition has been breached. Compliance with these conditions improves public safety and security.Current legislation does not provide a clear authority to test offenders or those on bail for the presence of alcohol or drugs in their systems. The bill addresses this problem by amending the Bail Act 2000 the Sentencing Act 2002 and the Parole Act 2002. By doing so it creates an explicit legislative mandate for alcohol and drug testing of offenders subject to abstinence conditions. It recognises that such testing is necessary for the proper enforcement of abstinence conditions and that these new technologies provide greater opportunities to improve public safety. The amendments in the bill will require all bailees and community-based offenders subject to abstinence conditions to undergo testing or to submit to continuous monitoring if directed by the police or the Department of Corrections. The ability to test will in practice be confined to those at the highest risk of breaching their abstinence conditions. The high likelihood of detection and the possibility of imprisonment will make these individuals think twice about using alcohol or drugs. On that basis I expect this bill to reduce reoffending by these offenders.So how does the bill work? The bill allows rules about testing methods and procedures to be made by the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections and the Commissioner of Police. These rules will be guided by the principles set out in the bill: testing should be no more intrusive than is reasonably necessary testing should take place no more often than is reasonably necessary and finally those being tested should be afforded as much privacy and dignity as possible. With so many offenders being under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they offend quick action is critical. This bill will ensure that the Department of Corrections and the police can respond to breaches rapidly and prevent serious reoffending before it occurs.Under this Government we have already seen the benefits of GPS technology in ensuring that offenders abide by their conditions. This new technology ensures that when offenders stray into the prohibited areas or remove their ankle bracelets law enforcement is alerted immediately and this enables enforcement agencies to respond quickly. I look forward to the expansion of drug and alcohol monitoring technologies to also help the police and corrections officers identify breaches speedily. The bill is another critical step towards achieving the Government’s goal of a 15 percent reduction in crime and a 25 percent reduction in reoffending by 2017.In summary I am confident that the measures in this bill will significantly help the Department of Corrections and the police enforce drug and alcohol abstinence conditions. I am confident that this bill will deter offenders and those on bail from breaching their conditions. Most important I am confident that it will protect New Zealanders from the negative consequences of drug and alcohol misuse. That is why I highly commend this bill to the House.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Before I put the question to the House I do want to reiterate a warning that was given by the Speaker at the general debate yesterday with regard to the reading of speeches. Although there is some flexibility especially for Ministers on the first reading when they are making technical remarks that was not the case in this particular speech. Although it was appropriate to refer to notes for figures—and there were a number of figures especially in the early part—I want to caution members about reading speeches.