Flavell Te Ururoa: Criminal Justice Reform Bill — Second Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Criminal Justice Reform Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:640;Page:9991] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker ka nui te mihi ki a koe i tenei po a kia ora tatou e te Whare. E ai ki ta te rangatira nei ki ta Nelson Mandela: “No-one truly knows a nation until he has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but how it treats its lowest ones”. 
E tika ana to tatou tirito ki tenei huarahi e hiahia nei ki te tini haere i nga kaupapa mau here whai muri mai i te purongo o te Tari Ombudsman. Hei ta tera tari he rere ke noa atu te ture ki tera e whakatinanahia ana i nga whare herehere ki nga waka heri mauhere ranei? 
Ko nga mea kei roto i tenei pire hei korero whakatika i te Bail Act te Sentencing Act me te Parole Act ka mutu kia whakaiti nei i te pikinga o te tokomaha o te hunga mauhere. Kua roa te Pati Maori e korero ana mo to matou riri ki to tatou hiahia ki te mau here i te tangata. He kaha ake a Aotearoa ki etahi atu whenua penei i a tatou i tua atu o Amerika ara ko te hunga rangatahi kua pangia nei e te wairangi e te porangi ranei a he whaiti tonu o ratou matauranga mahi pukenga a-noho. Ko tenei mauiui kei mua i a tatou e puta mai ana i te pikinga ake o te hunga here i nga 10 tau kua hipa ma te 40 o-rau. Kei te putake o tenei momo mauiui ko tera e hangai tonu ana ki te tangata whenua. 
Kati i kimi au i nga rarangi korero mo ngai Maori atu i te tau 1875 ki te tau 2005. I tera 130 tau i eke te tokomaha o nga mauhere Maori ki te 55.3 o te 10000 tangata i te Hune o te tau 2005. Ina ke te nui o nga 130 tau i nga 10 tau i mua i te tau 1995 33.6 te rahi e ki e ki kare kau he raruraru. I waenga i te tau 2000 me te 2005 ko te kaha tipu i eke ki te 21 pai heneti. Koi na te ngau o tenei kaupapa—kei te tipu te kaute o te hunga mauhere. Nau mai ki te whenua o te mau here. He whenua mau here i te hunga parauri. Kei reira ano hoki te kaha mau a-riri nei o te motu ki nga mahi he kino ranei a etahi. 
Kei te pirangi te Pati Maori ki te wananga i te whakahau a etahi kia kaha ake te mau here i te tangata hei karo i te mahi tinihanga o te tangata. Hei ta John Whitty Kaiwhakahaere o te New Zealand Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation ko te ngawari mai o te tikanga mau here he tohu tonu tera o te noho o te whenua—ko ta matou ko te tautoko. Na reira kua rata matou ki ta te Sentencing Council. Ko ta matou e whakapono nei kia tau nga ahuatanga katoa i te whenua me tika te hanga i nga tikanga a-ture. Me titiro ke tatou ki tenei mea e ki ana ko te “restorative justice” hei huarahi kia tau pai nga take. Na ma tenei ka whai wahi te hunga hara i waenga i te hapori kaua mo te tu i tona kotahi anake. He huarahi tenei hei whakapakari ake i te wahanga o te hapori hei whakahoki i te mana o te katoa ko te hunga i rongo nei i te kino o te hunga hara. 
E ai ki ta te Tari Whakatika Tangata $161.91 te utu ia ra mo te hono o te mauhere i te whare herehere. Ehara pea tera i te moni nui engari mena ka kohikohia ka $59097 te utu ia tau. I a tatou e ata titiro nei ki te tokomaha o te hunga mauhere me kimi huarahi tatou mo te painga o te motu a nga ra kei mua i te aroaro. 
Kei te tino pai ki a matou te wahanga o tenei pire ki te whakatu i tetahi Kaunihera Whakatau ki te tuku whainga e pa ana ki nga matapono nga taumata nga momo hara me te whakaaetanga kia puta a-here nei. He nui tonu enei mahi no reira e whakaae ana matou ki te tutohutanga o te Komiti Whaiti o te Justice and Electoral kia kaha tonu te kaunihera ki te whai i enei wahanga kia waiho ake ko te paku rere ketanga ki te Whare mana tera e whakatika. 
E tika ana kia noho motuhake nei nga koti me tona ake mana ki tenei whenua a kei tenei Whare te tikanga mo nga whainga kaua ko te Sentencing Council. Ko tana ke ko te whakahaere i nga rawa kia heke whakarao te kaute mauhere a te wa. Na ko ta matou o te Pati Maori ko te ata titiro ki nga nekeneke i tenei take.  
I te tau 2003 o te hunga hamene he maha ake te Maori wha rima whakarau e rua whakarau o te hunga Pasifika ki te Pakeha. O te hunga noho mauhere ono whitu whakarau o te Maori toru whakarau a Pasifika ki tera o te Pakeha. O te hunga e tatari ake ana kia whiua e te koti tekau ma tahi whakarau he Maori. 
Ko tetahi korero ngoikore i kite nei au i te Hotaka o te Tari Ture ko tenei: “Being Maori does not make a person an offender.” 
E ki e ki katahi te korero marama ko tera!  
I muri mai ko tenei: “All in all the criminal justice system needs to do far better at stemming the entry of Maori and Pacific peoples and managing their exit.” 
A tautoko. Kua marama ko te mate ke kare i te tino kitea. 
Ara ano tetahi wahanga e ki ana: “The preparation of the proposals in this package in particular as they affect Maori and Pacific peoples has raised the possibility of systemic bias within the criminal justice sector; that is unintended consequences of discretion at various stages in the criminal justice system and unevenness of decision making.” 
Taihoa. Kei te korero tatou mo te whakaaro kino whakaaro kore orite o te whainga a-ture ka mutu ko tona tikanga ko ona rite tona pono mo te iwi Maori Pasifika ranei ka ata tirohia a te wa. Kei nga ropu o tenei Whare te maia te kaha ranei ki te ata titiro ki enei ahuatanga ona timatanga me nga kaiwhakaari kia kore tenei mea te aronga tahi e kitea. Koia nei te pire hei ata wetewete i tenei mea o te aronga tahi. Kaore he take o te tatari ki tetahi purongo ano. 
Ara ano atu tetahi mea hei whakatikatika ara ki te wahanga hou—54H o te Sentencing Act. Ma reira ka taea e te koti te tohu i te whainga i tetahi rongoa a-rongoa wairangi a-rongoa tinana ranei. Mena ka whakakorengia ka taea te tini te whakakore ranei e te whakatau a-koti na ko tona mutunga mai ko te huringa o te whakatau kore noho here ki te whakatau noho here. I tona whakatinanatanga e rua nga huarahi mo te hunga wairangi ko te noho here a-tinana ko te noho here a-rongoa. Ko tona tikanga ka orite te noho o te hunga wairangi e mauheretia ana ka noho pera ki nga mea kei te hapori kia kore a ia e patua na tona mauiui. 
Ko ta matou o te Pati Maori kia whakatinana tatou i te tikanga o te ture ka mutu kia noho tuwhera nga kuaha o te ture ki te tini ki te mano. Kei te pirangi hoki matou ki te noho i te taha o etahi atu e ngakau nui ana ki te whakaaro ki te whakaiti i te hunga mauhere ki te kati i nga whare herehere kia mutu tera pohehe nei ma te mau here o te tangata ka ngawari noa te anga whakamua a ko te hunga e hiahia ana ki te karo i te aronga tahi o te ture me tona mai ara ko te tokomaha o te iwi Maori ki roto i nga whare herehere. No reira ka tautoko matou i te Criminal Justice Reform Bill i tenei panuitanga tuarua i runga i te tumanako ka riro ma te Sentencing Council nga take nei e whakatika mo te painga o te iwi Maori Pasifika hoki koia tona aronga. Kia ora tatou. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker—a huge greeting to you tonight and to us in the House. The great Nelson Mandela once said:  
“No-one truly knows a nation until he has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but how it treats its lowest ones.” 
It is timely to be looking at measures to reform the criminal justice system in the aftermath of the report from the Office of the Ombudsmen that there is a big difference in legislation and what happens on the prison floor or indeed a transport vehicle.  
The measures being introduced in this bill in amending the Bail Act 2000 the Sentencing Act 2002 and the Parole Act 2002 are ostensibly to bring down the sharp increase in the prison population. The Maori Party has brought to this House our consistent anger that this country is imprisoning in larger numbers than any other benchmarking nations apart from the United States young people who may be addicted or mentally ill and who have limited education and work and life skills. The crisis facing this nation stems from a 40 percent increase in the prison population in the last decade. It is a crisis that we have particular concern about in terms of the disproportionate and severe impact upon tangata whenua. 
Just recently I sought a breakdown of the Maori prison population from 1875 through to 2005. Over that 130 years the highest rate of Maori prison inmates was 55.3 of 10000 people in June 2005. Just 10 years earlier in 1995 the rate was just 33.6—so tell me there is no crisis! The overall growth rate of imprisonment between 2000 and 2005 was 21 percent. How bad is that! The nation is experiencing unprecedented and sustained growth in numbers incarcerated. Welcome to New Zealand—land of the locked up crowd; and that is increasingly becoming a brown crowd. The crisis has been fuelled by judicial sentencing patterns that reflect a public mood of hostility and intolerance in relation to criminal behaviour. 
The Maori Party wants to see an active and rational debate about how we can decrease our over-reliance on the use of imprisonment as a response to crime. John Whitty the National Director of New Zealand Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation has described  
a less punitive criminal justice system as one of the signs of a mature and inclusive society—a comment that we fully endorse. So within this context we have greatly welcomed the initiative of a Sentencing Council. We believe that it is essential that the ideal of a fair and just community be established both in the structural functioning of society and in the operations of its justice system.  
As part of a fair and just society we would want to see  
restorative justice 
 become an integral part of the sentencing process; a solution that treats an offender as part of the wider community and not as isolated individual; a solution that would both  
enhance community involvement in the justice process and also enable the restoration of the mana of all who have been affected by criminal behaviour or wrongdoing. 
The Department of Corrections currently estimates that each prisoner costs the State the grand sum of $161.91 per day inside. It may not sound very much but add it up and it comes to a total of $59097 per year. So when we look at the rocketing rates of incarceration we know we must act decisively now in the social and economic interests of our future development as a nation. 
We have greatly welcomed the initiative in this bill to establish a Sentencing Council that will issue guidelines on sentencing principles levels types and the granting of parole. This is quite enough of a work programme for it to get started on so we agree with the recommendation of the Justice and Electoral Committee that the council should work on these areas and leave the alterations of parliamentary procedure to the House to control. 
It is of course an essential rule of law that the judiciary should retain its own integrity separate from the executive and accordingly the setting of guidelines through House conventions and the Standing Orders is not something this Sentencing Council should do. What it should do of course is manage penal resources but in a way that aims to dramatically reduce the incarceration rate over time. The Maori Party has a particularly urgent interest in progress being achieved in this area.  
In the year 2003 of those apprehended prosecuted and convicted there were about four to five times as many Maori and about twice as many Pasifika peoples as Europeans. Of those given a custodial sentence or serving prison sentences there were six or seven times as many Maori and three times as many Pasifika peoples. Of those remanded in custody awaiting trial 11 times more were Maori. 
One of the greatest understatements of all that I found in the “Programme of Action” taken from the Ministry of Justice website is this:  
“Being Maori does not make a person an offender.” 
Incredible! An astounding discovery! This is cutting-edge policy here folks!  
Following that was this one:  
“All in all the criminal justice system needs to do far better at stemming the entry of Maori and Pacific peoples and managing their exit.” 
Agreed. It is clear the problem really is that one cannot really find it. 
There is another section which states:  
“The preparation of the proposals in this package in particular as they affect Maori and Pacific peoples has raised the possibility of systemic bias within the criminal justice sector; that is unintended consequences of discretion at various stages in the criminal justice system and unevenness of decision making.” 
Hold on a minute here. We are talking about the justice system being biased being unfair being uneven and that as a consequence the implications of consistency and fairness for Maori and Pacific peoples are identified as matters that must be investigated further. Do parties in this House have the intestinal fortitude the courage to have a good look at this bias its origins and the actors who apply and ensure that the bias continues without ever being openly challenged? The Maori Party for one has and I am sure our friends the Greens have who will join us. The Maori Party believes that this bill is exactly the opportunity to be investigating further these charges of systemic bias. Why wait for another report?  
There is another major injustice that this Bill could remedy and that is the proposed new section 54H of the Sentencing Act whereby the court can order the taking of prescription medicine including psychiatric medical or medical treatment. If consent is removed the sentence can be varied or cancelled—having the effect of changing a non-custodial sentence to a custodial one. What all this means in practice is that mentally ill offenders have the choice between physical or chemical incarceration. Given the high correlation between mental illness offending and incarceration it is important that inmates with mental health issues are treated exactly the same as anyone in the community with a mental illness.  
We the Maori Party believe in justice being seen to be done and that it is accessible to the multitude. We are also prepared to work with anyone who is willing to take up the challenge of working towards a society that will decrease the prison population that will close prisons that will stop believing that to move forward in this country means to lock up its people and that is prepared to put an end to the bias in a system that to date has ensured that more and more Maori end up in jail. So we will be supporting the Criminal Justice Reform Bill at this second reading because we hold great hopes that the Sentencing Council must address the implications of consistency and fairness for Maori and Pacific peoples as a key driver for its work.Greetings to us all 
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