Genter Julie Anne: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Genter Julie Anne: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 02 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:1903. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JULIE ANNE GENTER (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tena koutou e te Whare. As my colleague David Clendon said earlier the Green Party will not be supporting this bill the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill because it extends a sunset clause that was one of the reasons we finally agreed to support the primary legislation in 2005. When the original 2005 legislation the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Act was introduced the Green Party strongly opposed it on the grounds that it violated prisoners’ human rights and removed a mechanism for stopping abuse in prisons and we think it is important that there is not abuse in prisons. We changed our vote to support it at the third reading to prevent even more harmful amendments that were suggested by United Future and we were hopeful about the promised establishment of an independent prisons inspectorate and an inquiry into victims’ rights.  
The Greens think it is really important to protect victims’ rights but this is not the way to do so. We have opposed subsequent amendments and we will continue to oppose the trajectory of this legislation because the more worrying fact is that this bill is only a bridging effort until the even more troubling Prisoners and Victims’ Claims (Redirecting Prisoner Compensation) Amendment Bill is implemented. The Government’s own Attorney-General has highlighted that this bill will be a denial of an effective remedy and is therefore in contradiction to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Given the Government’s record on passing legislation that is inconsistent with human rights that is not so surprising but it is disappointing and inconsistent with the principles of justice.  
The 2005 Act the primary legislation limits the ability of prisoners to claim compensation for human rights breaches and provides a process for victims to claim payment from prisoners’ compensation awards. I have some sympathy for what the Hon Phil Goff said earlier; it seems logical. But even in 2005 Victim Support was opposed to the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill and I would like to read from its submission. It said: “That a prisoner should receive compensation for a breach of rights when the victim of that individual’s original offending has had no such acknowledgment or received no redress for the harm they have suffered is repugnant to Victim Support”. However it did not accept that the bill at the time—now the Act—was a remedy for the situation. It said: “The solution to the situation lies not in lessening the rights of victims of abuse of power to seek redress for harm done”—in this case it is the prisoners—“but in strengthening the rights and abilities of victims of crime to access restitution or compensation for the harm done to them. Putting it simply two wrongs don’t make a right.”  
Prisoners are subject to the day-to-day exercise of the coercive power of the State. They are therefore incredibly vulnerable to the misuse of that power and ought to be able to claim compensation when their human rights are breached. By further limiting access to damages for breaches of human rights it encourages those abuses of power and it disincentivises prisoners from reporting those abuses simply hiding the problem away rather than addressing it in a humane and principled fashion. The Government’s plans to deny them a right to an effective remedy in the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Redirecting Prisoner Compensation) Amendment Bill should be anathema to a country dedicated to the rule of law where individuals should expect protection from the abuse of State power. The bridging bill may therefore be the lesser of two evils but that does not make it more intrinsically worthwhile.  
The Government should be rethinking its approach and finding principled and practical ways to help victims of crime that do not rely on treading on the human rights of prisoners and victimising them in the process. That is not the way to get people to come into the fold and become constructive citizens. It is not the way to do it by abusing their human rights. We need to have a serious discussion about how we address these issues in line with respect for human rights our international commitments and lasting solutions to our issues with crime and justice.  
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.