Harawira Hone: Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:669;Page:15762] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 The Maori Party will be supporting the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill at the first reading but at this stage that support is conditional on the sort of information we are likely to hear when it goes to the Justice and Electoral Committee. We support the notion of reforming the justice system. We support it not because I am saying so but because what the statistics say is true in terms of justice as it applies to Maori on the street. Lawyers in the House will know that when a Maori and a Pakeha are stopped on the street for essentially the same issue to nobody’s great surprise the Maori is more likely to be arrested. When a Maori and a Pakeha end up going to court on the same kind of issue to nobody’s great surprise the Maori is more likely to be convicted. When the issue of sentencing comes up for a Maori and a Pakeha who are up on essentially the same charge to nobody’s great surprise it is more often the Maori who gets sent to jail. In terms of the length of the sentence when a Maori and a Pakeha are being sentenced on essentially the same charge to nobody’s great surprise the Maori gets sentenced to a longer term in jail. 
The Maori Party supports absolutely the need for a reform of the justice system at every level. Although this bill is a big fat report we do not see anything in it that will affect the statistics I just mentioned. In the Minister of Justice’s opening address he used the well-known phrase: “Justice delayed is justice denied.” I note that many of the clauses in the bill speed up the process. I also add that therefore from knowledge of the system justice hastened is not necessarily justice confirmed. There is an aim to speed up trials and to have trials without the presence of the accused. I spoke in the debate on the Courts (Remote Participation) Bill and I remember that the strength of opposition from Labour in particular and from the Greens and the Maori Party convinced the Minister of the need not to be so hasty in going to trial without the accused being in the courtroom. I see that issue raises it head again in this Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill. The Maori Party is hugely concerned about that issue as well. 
I know from understanding how the system works in a jury trial that it is far easier to convict people we do not need to look in the eye. It is far easier to convict people just on what we hear from others and it is far easier to convict people when they are not present to give their side of the story. If trials of people who are not in the courtroom are allowed—and I note a comment from Mr Chauvel that the judge will not even have the right to determine whether that goes ahead; it will be the way it happens simply because the legislation says so—then neither the judge nor defendants will even get a say as to whether defendants will participate in their own defence. Like Mr Chauvel I also worry that when we talk about changing the nature of a judicial system that for all of its flaws—and Maori more than most know of its flaws—has been in existence for such a long time there should be far more accountability for those changes than just the fact that the Government and one of its coalition partners can pass legislation that will have such sweeping changes. It will impact on so many people in terms of the law as it will continue in the future. 
I also note that in speeding up the process to get people into court and speeding up the process to get people convicted I have yet to hear whether the Minister of Corrections is about to launch another prison-building programme. I note that when the previous Labour Government began its prison-building programme—due to have been completed next year—the jails were already full because of a rotten judicial system. By 2009 they had already filled them for 2012 before the prison-building programme had been completed. If the process by which people are being sent to prison will be sped up even more then we need to spend more and more of this Government’s money and more and more of taxpayers’ money building more and more jails for people who we absolutely know will be sent to jail. Unfortunately most of them will be Maori. 
We support the bill going to the select committee so that we can hear what concerns there will be but I am very clear in stipulating that our support is only to the select committee to ensure that more people can have their say on this legislation. We reserve the right to change our vote based on what we hear during those select committee hearings. No reira tena koutou. Huri rauna kia ora tatou katoa.