Mark Ron: Sentencing (Community Sentencing to Fit the Crime) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Mark Ron: Sentencing (Community Sentencing to Fit the Crime) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:623;Page:18941] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 It was very interesting was it not to hear the speech from the Minister of Corrections. That is the same Minister of Corrections who has told the nation that the Government will tidy up home detention yet I am aware of a case that will literally knock the socks off that Minister once it becomes public knowledge. We will deal with that in time. 
His colleague the Minister of Justice told the House that after the Sentencing Act and the Parole Act of 2002 were passed life became tougher for criminals. He then had to admit that the deferred sentencing aspect of those changes was an absolute nonsense. We have the ridiculous situation whereby people who are sent to jail do not go straight to jail. They go home for 2 to 3 months whilst they lodge an application for home detention and—surprise surprise—when it is denied people cannot find them. That is what I call nonsense; that is what I call ridiculous. I have to say that New Zealand First will support this bill going through to a select committee and we will participate—although I am not sure which committee it is going to; is it going to the Law and Order Committee? I will definitely be looking at this bill because it is not all rosy in the Labour garden when it comes to community work. 
The old system that we used to have until this Government got its pinky fingers into it was a good system. Let us just remind ourselves: when people were sentenced to periodic detention they could receive up to 12 months. The compliance rate with periodic detention was 75 to 80 percent. The compliance rate with community service is very hard to determine because people who are sentenced to community service have 12 months in which to complete their sentence. As we have already heard from Mr Ryall if they do not complete their sentence or they do not appear what do they receive? They receive more community service or they can even have previous community service wiped and a new community service sentence imposed that they do not have to do. How ridiculous is that? We went from a system where offenders were told when to be where to be and how to be on a particular day and if they did not turn up the courts got in and dragged them back into court. Not now; the people who supervise community service have no idea how many people they might be supervising tomorrow because those people can simply ring up and tell the supervisors that they will not be there. They say that they have to work they have a sick auntie they have a hangover or they still have not come down from their last dak and that they will not be there. 
Russell Fairbrother 
: Don’t make it up. 
RON MARK 
: Do not make it up? This is the problem. There is a member—Fay Richwhite; no Russell Fairbrother—whose electorate committee in Napier is falling apart. His electorate committee and a whole bunch of members do not want him re-elected as a member. Members are leaving the Labour Party. He might be a big hotshot gun lawyer who defends men who ran down women with their cars by telling people that the Treaty of Waitangi or their being colonised made the offenders murderers; he may think it is absolutely correct to defend murderers who run down ladies with their vehicles with the justification that they have been colonised but we know the truth about that member. [ 
Interruption 
] What are the facts? I will give him the facts. [ 
Interruption 
] The member wants to interject. The facts are here and these facts come from people who do the job I say to Mr Fairbrother or whatever his name is. Those are the people who are stuck with this Government’s problems and who say straight up that they do not know how to supervise people who they know will not turn up. 
This bill is a good bill. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I say to Jill Pettis that she is the chief Government whip and she should set an example. I do not want to hear interjections from that member again. 
Jill Pettis 
: Well Mr Speaker— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: Do not argue with me. 
RON MARK 
: The clauses in this bill that should not cause upset amongst the Government ranks are the clauses that require people to be randomly drug tested. What is wrong with that? Surely it is an occupational safety and health issue when people turning up to do community service are whacked out on P. What is wrong with making them pay their fines? To hear the Minister of Corrections say that the fines are being recovered is an absolute joke. New Zealand First was the party that revealed that this Government had $470 million outstanding in fines. It still cannot collect it. It rose to about $500 million which is even more than the Government is giving to Te Wananga o Aotearoa—incredibly. And Government members still have the nerve to sit here and say that the fines have been recovered. What a load of nonsense! 
Debate interrupted.