McNair Craig: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
McNair Craig: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:20958] 
CRAIG McNAIR (NZ First) 
: 
 In speaking in this debate on the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill I put on record the fact that New Zealand First believes that this is a sad day for New Zealand. It is a sad day not only for New Zealand but for the victims of crime. It is a sad day for the families of victims and it is also a sad day for prison officers up and down this country for reasons I will highlight in just a couple of minutes. As I said it is a tragedy for this country when we see a bill like this being passed through Parliament. 
One would think that when the Government was constructing a bill such as this one on issues concerning the claims of prisoners the very centre or core focus of the bill would be designed to look after the needs and emotional well-being of victims. But when we look at the clauses in Part 2—clause 16; clause 18 subclauses (2) (3) (4) and (5); and clause 48—we start to realise very quickly that victims are not at the heart of this bill and that this bill is soft on crime. The bill should not be called the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill. It should be called the “Soft on Crime Leftie Liberal Labour-backed-up-by-the-Greens Bill”. That is what the title should be. It is probably a long title and would not work in that respect but that is exactly the meaning of this bill. 
This bill will continue to allow payouts to the most vile and vicious criminals—unlike what Nandor Tanczos from the Greens was saying last night. When I said that this is a sad day for New Zealand in respect of prison officers up and down this country I meant that they will be victims of prisoners taunting them and being able to say: “Ha ha! We’ve got one up on you here. The Government is on our side. We’re going to give you a hard time and see what we can get out of this so-called justice system.” That is what they will do. This Government and the Green Party know it but they will not do anything about it. They have not done anything about it for the last 2 years since Justice Young made his decision. They have done nothing. They have sat on their hands because they have not wanted to do anything. They have wanted to keep the status quo and they continue to do so with this bill today. 
Members voting against this bill asked the Minister last night before he got up and spoke why he had to put the bill through and why he had to put it through in this way. The Minister said in his heartfelt speech that—wait for it—this bill would not abide by international conventions if it took on amendments such as the ones put up by my New Zealand First colleague Dail Jones and so on that would provide for money obtained to go to victims. He did not say—but he might as well have—that countries like Sudan Namibia and Zimbabwe would be offended and that groups like the Taliban would say: “Oh no no. You can’t do that.” That is how ridiculous that answer—that excuse—is. It is just unbelievable what this Government will stoop to to find a way to be able to slip through its leftie soft liberal legislation. It is sad and that is why it is a sad day for this country.