Bennett DavidHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East): Thank you Madam Assistant Speaker. I'd just like to congratulate you on being such a great Speaker in this House and to just ask that last member Jenny Salesa: why didn't the Labour Government house our prisoners? Why didn't they build Waikeria Prison? Why are the Labour Party so averse to actually building a prison in New Zealand?Let us answer that question because the Labour Party have made a promise—they've made a promise to the public of New Zealand that they will reduce the prison population by 30 percent over the next 15 years. That is what they have said and they will not build Waikeria on the basis of that promise even though Waikeria was a deal that had been set by the last Government. Actually go to Waikeria; I challenge any member of that side to go to Waikeria. What do they see as they drive towards Waikeria Prison? They see a road upgrade that has been undertaken by the local district council. When you come into Waikeria you see the land works there for the new prison build—$7 million has been spent on that so far and if you look at the Budget that $7 million is clearly identified in the Budget from last year as what is being spent on earthworks and roading to get into Waikeria. And then we look at this year coming forward. How much will be spent at Waikeria in the Budget? Zero. Nothing. Nothing—$7 million is already wasted $7 million is already spent and they will not do anything to house our prison population.In fact this is a Labour left-wing Government that prides itself on looking after the most vulnerable and what is it going to do to some of the most vulnerable people in our community that are prisoners? They're going to put them in gyms in triple bunking. If any of those members had ever been to Waikeria and seen the conditions that prisoners have to be in they would understand that it's not going to work. There would be no rehabilitation there. There is no prospect that those people will change their lives around under the conditions that Labour will make them stay in. We will see prisoners being put into tent-like accommodation on our prison sites. We will see prisoners that will be forced into large areas together and we will see prison guards that will be forced to deal with the consequences of that. That is going to be dangerous for prison guards.The corrections union has come out publicly and asked for this Government to commit to Waikeria. This Government will not commit to Waikeria; they will not look after those people that are looking after the most difficult of all the prisoners.Kieran McAnulty: He's looking out for the unions.Hon DAVID BENNETT: We are looking out for the union and it would be great to see the other side do that. We've even got some union members over there that haven't actually dealt with their union since they've come into Parliament. That's what happens when you're a socialist: you come into Parliament and you're on top of the world—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! Don't bring me into the argument. Thank you.Hon DAVID BENNETT: —and you forget the people that actually need the help. So why will the Government not build Waikeria? Why will it not house the very people that need rehabilitation and education to change their lives? Why not? Why don't the Government invest in the most vulnerable in that society?Hon Shane Jones: Lock 'em up and throw away the key! National policy—National policy.Hon DAVID BENNETT: They will not do it. They will not do it. Now we've got Shane Jones the whale from the north coming in here and telling us to throw away the key. That's New Zealand First rhetoric before an election; New Zealand First policy after an election is to just roll over and do whatever they're told as long as they get the baubles of office. That is what we see from New Zealand First.I cannot understand why that Government has taken away so much rehabilitation from our prisoners. When we look at the list of rehabilitation programmes that were funded last year in our Budget—they were Budget line items last year and this year guess how much is funded for them?Hon Members: How much?Hon DAVID BENNETT: Zero—no money for these rehabilitation programmes. Enhanced Mental Health Support Services; This Way for Work; Addressing Barriers to the Graduated Driver Licence System; Methamphetamine Targeted Screening and Rehabilitation for Prisoners; and the Expansion of the Brainwave Trust Programmes in Prison have not received any funding. The rehabilitation programmes that were funded last year are not funded this year. Why won't they invest in the rehabilitation of our prisoners?Hon Shane Jones: Māori Party policy—Māori Party policy.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Māori Party policy." That is what New Zealand First says—that Māori Party policy is to invest in rehabilitation. Is there something wrong with that Mr Jones? Is there something wrong with investing in rehabilitation for people? I think not and it is a disgrace for that party to take away that rehabilitation.But it actually gets better. It gets better because not only are they not going to build Waikeria Prison and they are actually taking away rehabilitation but the third thing is they're taking away any investigation as to what is happening in our prisons. So when we have a look at the criteria to evaluate our prison system guess what's happened in the Budget?Hon Dr Nick Smith: Tell us.Hon DAVID BENNETT: Well a number of those key indicators are removed. So let's have a look at some of these indicators: the number of escapes will not be measured any more; the number of breakout escapes as a proportion of all escapes will not be measured—Hon Dr Nick Smith: This can't be true.Hon DAVID BENNETT: No it says "Not a measure for 2018/19". OK look at this: the number of prisoner on prisoner assaults that are serious—not to be measured. The number of prisoner on staff assaults that are serious is not to be measured—that is prisoner assaults on staff are not to be measured. The number of justified complaints by prisoners to the corrections inspectorate upheld for not meeting process requirements—not to be measured. The number of justified complaints by prisoners to the corrections inspectorate upheld for reasons of materiality—not to be measured.They are taking away all the measures that would indicate the success of a corrections system. Whether someone escapes or not will be taken away and they will take away the number of assaults that are recorded by prisoner on prisoner and take away the number of assaults by prisoner on prison staff. Why do you take those away? What's the matter with having an open democratic system where people can see what's actually happening in our corrections system? Why did the Government take away the rights of prisoners to actually have their cases heard as well and the other requirements that have been taken away?So not only do we have no Waikeria Prison—because this Government see it as a symbol and they have put their pride ahead of what is actually best for our corrections staff and our prisoners themselves and our wider community. If we have an effective corrections system that keeps New Zealanders safe and the Labour Government has taken that away—taken away that. Secondly they've taken away the rehabilitation to actually make sure that any of those prisoners could actually get a fairer chance in life. And thirdly they've taken away any review or indication of what's actually happening in our corrections system.Matt King: No transparency.Hon DAVID BENNETT: There is no transparency and that is a terrible blight on a new Government within nine months of coming into Government. Why do they not do the things that are needed for one of our biggest parts of Government? Why do they take away the ability of some New Zealanders to make a change in their life? Isn't that a Labour Party value? Isn't that something that the Labour Party always says it's there for? And yet when it comes to the money they take that away. Another Labour Party value we always hear about is the rights of the individual—the rights of the person that's vulnerable—and they take that away. They take away prisoners' rights again in what they're doing in this Budget.So let's have a look at corrections. Would New Zealanders want to support a system that puts themselves at risk—their personal security is at risk—because there are not the facilities there for our criminals? Would they want to put the people that work in that system—the good New Zealand civil servants that work in our corrections system—at risk because this Government is too proud to agree to something that a previous Government did? In doing that their pride has meant that New Zealanders are at risk our prison staff are at risk and actually the prisoners are at risk at well.Hon Aupito William Sio: You're breaking my heart!Hon DAVID BENNETT: Because there is nothing—breaking your heart; well that's exactly what the Labour Party needs to do. They need to get real they need to do things and they do not need to look at ideological things but actually look at what's right for New Zealanders what's right for our prison system and what's right for the prisoners. Instead of that—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! Order! The member's time has expired."