Collins Judith: Appropriation (2010/11 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Collins Judith: Appropriation (2010/11 Estimates) Bill — Third Reading Imprest Supply Debate 
[Sitting date: 03 August 2010. Volume:665;Page:12909. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak in this debate particularly in relation to the areas of corrections and police where we have had a standout year in terms of public confidence and the delivery of services. That is not to say that everything is always perfect and it certainly will not ever be perfect in portfolios that deal with the worst-behaved people in New Zealand—prisoners and criminals generally. But I can say that there has been a real turn-round. In corrections we have gone from a situation whereby the very best level that public confidence ever reached when Phil Goff was the Minister of Corrections was 40 percent. That is how many people had faith in corrections. That figure is now at an all-time high at 61 percent and that is a pretty fantastic result particularly for the hard-working staff at the Department of Corrections who have to put up with just about every form of abuse from members opposite as they possibly could. These staff have been able to stand up to that and they have delivered well beyond what I think even they believed they could deliver. 
Let us look at what they have delivered. At the moment about 8500 prisoners are in our cells which is up from 5000 prisoners in 1996. The last decade under Labour was characterised by massive increases in the prison population. Under Labour’s watch four new prisons were built and a fifth was started—the rebuild of Mount Eden Prison. Did Labour increase drug and alcohol treatment for prisoners? Well nobody noticed if it did but we are doubling it in the first 3 years of a John Key - led Government. As well as doubling the amount of drug and alcohol treatment for prisoners we are also increasing the availability of literacy and numeracy training. 
I was very interested to hear the speech before from the Hon Sir Roger Douglas when he spoke about education and the need for people to get education and about how it is our poorest people who miss out on so much. It is a sad but true fact that about 90 percent of our prisoners are basically illiterate and about 80 percent of them do not have basic numeracy skills. When we look at that very sad fact and at the fact that they have also undergone years of education we have to wonder what went wrong. Well I do have something to say to them and it is that there is hope we have national standards and I am very glad that Minister Tolley has the wherewithal to bring it about. Nothing we ever hear from Labour members in Opposition would ever give any encouragement in education. I am very pleased at the work Mrs Tolley is doing to try to make sure we do not have people ending up in prison. 
We have also seen a massive increase in the number of people whom we have to deal with in the Community Probation and Psychological Services. Under Phil Goff’s leadership there was one bad news story after another about that service. We now have a very well-trained group of people—our probation officers and psychologists—who work together with their managers to use their discretion training and intelligence to try to bring about change for the better in people’s lives. I have been thrilled with the quality and calibre of the people we have in corrections and I am very proud to be their Minister. 
The number of escapes has also come down. In 1999-2000 which was the first year in office of the last Labour Government there were 40 escapes from our prisons. Now with a greater number of people in prison in the last year the number was 12 most of whom were “walk-aways”—people in work parties who are low-security prisoners. We have seen the first of the public-private partnership work going on with corrections working on that with the Infrastructure Unit at Treasury. It is really good to see the department taking such a lead role in this. We are seeing the first contract management work going on and that is progressing well. We are seeing double-bunking increase. When Labour was in Government 21 percent of our cells were double-bunked. We never heard Labour members talk about that when we were in Opposition but the fact is that that is true. That amount of double-bunking has been increased because although Labour left us with four brand-new prisons it did not leave us nearly enough beds for the forecasts that it knew were coming down the pipeline at us. 
We have also brought in container cells and I am really pleased with those; they are outstanding. Container cells are cheap quick waterproof and extremely humane but they are spartan. Although I have been accused by the Opposition of pulling a stunt on this matter I have to say that they have been a standout success. I understand that prisoners are practically lining up to go into them because they are considered to be some of the best-quality accommodation we have in the prison estate. 
The department has really brought itself together and has looked at ways in which it can deal with the safety of staff and the safety of prisoners. The number of serious assaults on our staff went down to two in the last financial year down from 11 in the financial year before that. Part of that is as a result of the staff safety project and part of it is as a result of the razor blade project and change in policy which now means that people like George Baker are not allowed to retain and store razor blades in their cells so that they can then make them into weapons. That has been a standout success as there has been a 61.5 percent reduction in attacks using razor blades. Of course it is also a way of dealing with people who sometimes have suicidal tendencies to make sure that we try to keep them safe. 
Cellphone blocking which was started under the previous Government has been completed under this Government. The New Zealand Department of Corrections is the first such department in the world to have this in all of its prisons. That is a fantastic achievement. I also have to congratulate the technology sector on the way in which it has worked with corrections and continues to do so as technology consistently improves. I was in Australia recently for a meeting with other corrections Ministers and I was thrilled to see that a New Zealand Government - owned company Kordia has been asked to be the lead adviser for the Australian states on how they can bring in cellphone blocking. As a Kiwi Minister it was absolutely marvellous to be able to sit there and say “Isn’t it great.” I did not even once remind the Australians that it was a New Zealand company but everybody knew they just were not saying. 
In relation to my other major portfolio police it is also marvellous to be the Minister of the finest police in the world. [ 
Interruption 
] I know that Mr Cunliffe might think that that is going a bit too far but it is not. I ask him to name me one other police force in the world that New Zealanders would rather have. The fact is that there is no other. Our New Zealand police are renowned for their lack of corruption and the fact that they are respected by people from one end of the country to the other. I am sure many people would be very proud to be the Minister of Police. I consistently come across people who want to thank me for the work of the New Zealand Police. I do not want to take credit for it because it is not actually my work but I am pleased to be able to say that as a Government we have backed the police. When the police needed Tasers we got them Tasers. I have no idea why it took the Labour Party about 5 years of fluffing around and trying to work out whether the Greens would support it. Who cares whether the Greens support it; the people support it and that is what we should do. It is the right thing to do. It is good to have a Prime Minister who consistently backs the police and does not blame them when something goes wrong because some criminal has done a particular activity that has caused harm. It is great to have such a Prime Minister in the Rt Hon John Key who gets out there and backs the New Zealand Police and who backs me when I have to go out there occasionally and take the odd hit for the police. 
I think it is great to look at some of the innovations that the police are bringing in. Obviously this Government has supported them with a raft of legislation. Police safety orders are one of those measures. They have been in for only the last month or so. The New Zealand Police have taken to them like ducks to water. They have issued a couple of hundred of these orders and have been able to stop family violence before it has got to the stage where people’s lives are being put at risk or where people are being injured. These orders are already working well. The New Zealand Police have been very keen to take up any opportunity that they can in order to deal with the dreadful plague of family violence that we have in so many homes. 
The police have also taken up a whole lot of different work streams. Case management projects rostering to demand the national crime reporting line and community neighbourhood policing are all innovations that the police have been trialling around the country and most particularly in Counties-Manukau. The police have been working with other agencies to try to do better work for victims particularly the victims of child abuse. I know that that work is continuing. 
We are very lucky and very well served by the New Zealand Police. We always know that the 12000 sworn and unsworn police officers—our constabulary and our employee staff—joined the police force for the right reasons. I am very proud to be their Minister. I am very proud to represent them from time to time particularly around the Cabinet table. I know that they are the finest police force in the world.