te Heuheu Georgina: Crimes Amendment Bill (No 6) — In Committee Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Crimes Amendment Bill (No 6) — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:609;Page:7084] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (NZ National) 
: 
 I want to follow on from my colleague Tony Ryall and basically just to emphasise what clearly is— 
Judith Collins 
: A Supplementary Order Paper. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: The Government has clarified that there is a Supplementary Order Paper. It has been sitting around for quite some time and when did the Government actually realise that? When did the Government realise there was the anomaly that my colleague Judith Collins has pointed out? 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: About a month ago after 4 years. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: That is symptomatic of the Government’s knee-jerk reaction on a whole raft of things. We saw that earlier in the week with the immigration legislation that was passed through all its stages in urgency. We see it again today. Stuff-ups occur and suddenly people think they had better do something about them and with this bill it is the same sort of thing. The problem is that these issues are very serious so they deserve a more coherent approach than this Government seems to be willing to give to them. 
In particular the area of crime and penalties for home invasion tugs at the hearts of New Zealanders. We all know that and certainly because of the way the public reacts when various violent things happen out there then yes Parliament feels— 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: This is a narrow debate. Could the member please speak to the title? I know it is difficult. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: Of course this is about the title. What is in that title to tell anybody what the Government is trying to do? OK this is the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 6) but what is this Government attempting to do in this bill other than to react in a knee-jerk way to public reaction and to try to give the impression that the Government is doing something when it has taken 4 years to do anything to fix the anomalies in the bill? We have the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 6) and Supplementary Order Paper 84 in the name of the Hon Phil Goff but that says nothing about the way that the Government approaches a very serious area indeed. It does not give that area its proper attention. 
This bill should be called the “Crimes Amendment (Corrections In Haste) Bill” or the “Crimes Amendment (Corrections in Haste) Bill (No 6)”. The Government has been sitting for 4 years and only now has this bill come to this Committee when the Government knows the matters it deals with concern us as well. It is not as though we have to suddenly go into urgency. If one approached this area in the comprehensive way that it deserves then this bill would have been approached in a different manner. 
This title like a lot of the things that we see in this Parliament while it gives a bare understanding of what might be covered in the bill does not tell the public anything. The title is very innocuous. It does not say to the public that the Government has only just seen fit to address this bill after letting it sit around for so long and that although it knows these matters are important that was the best it could do. Well I say that that is not the best this Parliament can do. I say that this Government should pick up its act approach these things in a more serious manner and stop the knee-jerk reaction kind of stuff that we have seen this week on a number of other bills. That is not the way to treat serious issues. The area of crime and penalties for home invasion is a serious issue for New Zealanders.