McKelvie Ian: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
McKelvie Ian: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 10 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2192. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to have the opportunity to speak on the Bail Amendment Bill. I intend perhaps not to go into the legal part of this bill and the bill part of this bill as much as some members because I have got two very competent members a lawyer and a former member of the constabulary following me. I am sure they will go into that for me. But I firstly want to congratulate the Minister of Justice on the introduction— 
Kris Faafoi 
: You’re being watched. 
IAN McKELVIE 
: Ha ha! I have got great support. I want to congratulate the Minister on the introduction of this bill which will be welcomed by many in New Zealand and particularly by the officers of the courts and the police who as a result of this will have more and sharper teeth to deal with these types of people.  
I want to comment briefly on our communities and how they work. As a grandparent I guess I particularly welcome this bill—as I am sure all grandparents will—as the older you get the more concerned you get with law and order matters and of course that is because you have got so many generations following you. But I want to go back to the days when I went to school. In my day we walked down a 2-kilometre metal road to go to school. 
Kris Faafoi 
: In the snow. 
IAN McKELVIE 
: No snow where I come from Kris Faafoi. We never have snow there actually. But we walked down the metal road 2 kilometres to school. Nowadays mothers and fathers do not let their children walk 2 kilometres to school down a metal road for the very reason that we are introducing stricter measures around bail conditions to this Parliament. There is no doubt that this type of activity in the country and the releasing of these people prematurely and without just cause into our community has given a lot of grief to many in our community.  
The key aspect of this bill as has been stated is that it makes it more difficult for serious offenders to get bail and I think that is critical. I think the murderers the class A drug abusers and people who abuse the law around class A drugs and the people who commit violence particularly violence in our homes are great issues for us today. Sex offences are something else that I think not only is our community intimidated by but also a large percentage of our community is frightened of. Consequently I think the opportunity for us to impose stricter conditions around the people who are charged with these types of offences is hugely important to us.  
This bill also allows the community which detests and fears the people who commit those crimes to put much stricter conditions around younger people. Historically we have let our under-20-year-olds have a much more lenient set of bail conditions around them than was required. I think that the insertion into this legislation of stricter clauses around our under-20-year-olds is a great opportunity for us to tidy that part of the criminal sector up. Also with regard to our under-17-year-olds for whom the police have historically had to get a warrant to reinforce their bail conditions the police will no longer have to do that. That makes it much easier to deal with those types of crimes.  
I would also remind the House that in 2007 Labour introduced legislation making the acquisition of bail easier. I think— 
Kris Faafoi 
: Oh we’ve been through this. 
IAN McKELVIE 
: You have got it again unfortunately. I was not here when you went through that so I had to reinforce it. But public confidence in the integrity of the New Zealand bail system—and as a consequence of that in our law and order programme—will improve dramatically as a result of this legislation. The bill also complements the Government policy of delivering public services in a more efficient and economic manner. I have no problem supporting the referral of this bill to the Law and Order Committee and I look forward to its passing. Thank you.