Mark Ron: Criminal Justice Amendment Bill (No 7) — In Committee 
Mark Ron: Criminal Justice Amendment Bill (No 7) — In Committee 
[Volume:612;Page:9535] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I have to rise and put it on to the record so that the Minister is aware that New Zealand First will not support Supplementary Order Paper 161 and I will explain why. Quite simply we have had some discussion and whilst we may accept the Minister’s explanations at the Table today I think this is a point of procedure and process. It pains me somewhat because as I pointed out in my earlier speech this bill has been 4 years in its gestation—4 years of Labour governance. This bill has sat for 4 years beneath the pile on the Order Paper. For 4 years we have watched other bills and other legislation of lesser significance go through. Here we are with a Supplementary Order Paper containing— 
Jill Pettis 
: It was reported back in 2001. 
RON MARK 
: What was that? 
Hon Phil Goff 
: It was reported back in 2001. 
RON MARK 
: It was reported back in 2001 and today we have a Supplementary Order Paper—some 44 pages long—dated 21 October 2003 that has not been through the select committee process. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: That is because it is now a stand-alone Act rather than an amendment. 
RON MARK 
: I have heard that explanation. That may well be the explanation but the point is that we have a select committee process that gives people—particularly those who seek to support the Government—the opportunity to examine the bill. We live in an era of mixed-member proportional representation. The public out there are seeking to see parties cooperating more in the interests of the nation not this first-past-the-post nonsense where we simply stand up and say: “We won you lost eat that. We’ve got the numbers today so we don’t care about the process. We’re just going to shove it through.” 
Quite frankly the public are sick of that sort of attitude and it is now reflecting in the polls. It is reflecting when I travel around the communities. When I go to Auckland a place where I have never lived in my entire life people walk up to me in the street shake my hand and say: “Ron Mark good to see you.” They say things to me like: “Whatever happened to the old Labour Party? Has anybody seen Judith Tizard? Does anybody know Dover Samuels?”. 
I have to say to the Minister that he is a good Minister. There is a lot this Minister does that I actually respect. He does a pretty good job in foreign affairs. However he has brought a Supplementary Order Paper of some 44-odd pages to the floor without having given people the opportunity to go through it and understand precisely its implications. Members should look at the bail provisions. If anything will get the hackles up of New Zealand First members it is the suggestion that a person who is deemed to be insane should be given bail. That needs full explanation. We need to understand that and we will not get that understanding in a Committee stage where Labour Government members refuse to take calls and make any explanation. I say to the Minister in the chair that he is an exception in this respect. At least this Minister Mr Phil Goff has stood and taken a few calls in the Committee stage. He is an exception and we appreciate that. 
We watched Margaret Wilson sit in that chair for hour after hour day after day. She might as well have been doing her knitting because she did not take one call. She displayed the sort of arrogance that Mr Goff will have to fight hard to pull back on the hustings. But on this I think he has let us down. We look to him in so many ways for good performance. He is one of the shining stars. He actually looks like Tony Blair in many ways and he is right up there. When I was in the Labour Party we had earmarked this man as a future leader of the Labour Party and it still could happen. Helen Clark’s star is fading and Mr Goff is right there beautifully poised untouched and untainted. But little things like this do not do his reputation any good. 
Pansy Wong 
: This is the first one. 
RON MARK 
: This is the first black mark on his copybook. 
John Carter 
: The barbecue! 
RON MARK 
: The barbecue season is coming up and we are in a prime position to launch this coup and get things rolling. However to move Supplementary Order Papers like this one at such a late hour without giving us the opportunity to put it in front of our health spokesperson or the select committee even if it was for only an hour is totally unacceptable.