Collins Judith: Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Collins Judith: Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12670] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 The National Party will support the Crimes (Drug Rape) Amendment Bill through to a select committee. We will be happy to see it go to the Law and Order Committee which is currently looking at the Government’s Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) which deals with this very issue. 
There are a few reservations about this change to the law that I as a former lawyer need to deal with. First as I recall the previous Government speaker spoke about the Hooker case in Wellington—an unsuccessful prosecution relating to an alleged drug rape case. I also recall a recent decision in the Sturm case in Auckland which involved a drug rape of men by a man where there was a very successful conviction and subsequently a very long penalty was given. I am a little concerned that we may be passing—or looking at passing—a law that has already been dealt with in the Crimes Act in terms of that particular rape case. I do not see how any person could be considered to be able to consent to sexual connection if he or she has been stupefied by drugs. Certainly it will be something we will be looking at. Clearly we are opposed to any sort of drug rape and crime of that sort but in the select committee we would like to tease out the law and get some very good advice from the Ministry of Justice and associated bodies. I am sure they will be able to assist. 
This bill has been brought about because the member in charge of it has noted correctly the party-drug culture out in the community that has unfortunately grown over the last few years and that has seen an escalation in the use of illegal drugs in this country. Often those drugs are manufactured under the auspices of criminal gangs which sell them to teenagers on the basis that as the drug is non-alcohol they will not get picked up for drink-driving it will not make them fat because it is not alcohol it is a fun thing and it is only a little pill. Of course what we are getting is an attitude particularly amongst teenagers and other younger people that such drugs are “only party drugs”. But party drugs can be extremely dangerous and the member has correctly noted that. 
An acquaintance of mine recently told me of an instance where she a woman in her forties felt she had been the victim of somebody putting such a drug in her drink. It was a drink of orange juice and she was completely unable to detect any drug in it. It was only when she arrived back in New Zealand and discussed the symptoms with her doctor that it became apparent she had suffered the classic symptoms caused by an illegal drug that someone had put in her drink. Fortunately there was no rape as a result of that. But it is quite clear that the problem is very prevalent and we want to send out a message to people that it will not be accepted. 
One of the concerns I have with any sort of law about drugs and drug testing is that at the moment there is a real backlog in the community of cases involving drugs—methamphetamines in particular and other drugs in terms of testing. We see every now and again in the newspapers and in other media that some criminal cases that involve drugs wait up to 18 months to come to trial. Quite often after that amount of time prosecutions are abandoned for the reason that it is simply not fair to expect defendants to wait and wait sometimes for years to go to trial. One of the concerns I have when we make these sorts of laws is to look a little further than just at the law and make sure that the Government has the ability the wherewithal and the will to put in place the assistance of for instance scientists and others to do the testing. It is no good to put a law in place and then leave the police with none of the tools to deal with it. I understand that it is very difficult to test for some of these drugs particularly within the time frames involved. I hope that at some stage that will not be a problem and if people know that the testing can be done and done quickly then we might find that some more may come to our attention. 
One of the concerns lawyers will have with this bill will be in relation to evidential concerns. That of course is something that should concern all people in New Zealand and I am sure that the Law and Order Committee—and I note that my colleague Brian Connell is a member of that select committee—will look very carefully at that. It is very tempting certainly in Parliament to make laws to fit a particular offence or crime when we always have to look at the principles and ask whether they will still be adequate in terms of all other offences. Will we in fact do a greater injustice to someone who could be alleged to have committed a crime just to be able to say that we have dealt with various groups of alleged criminals? It is extremely important in Parliament that we look at the role of the State in this because the State is a huge and powerful body. I am greatly concerned that no matter what we do we do not give away individuals’ rights to defend themselves adequately against allegations and that they should have the sorts of resources they need to do that. 
I have found that a lot of people in the community are very interested in law and order and in tougher sentences being handed down and I am one of them. However some of those very people are often the very people who when they have experienced their own children being collected by the police in an embarrassing situation are the first to say to everyone they meet that the police were dreadful in their particular case. Certainly that is the sort of situation that could very well happen if this bill goes to law and no doubt the Crimes Amendment Act (No 2) covers it. Right-thinking decent ordinary New Zealanders might well find that a family member is accused under the law when they may well think that he or she is innocent. We need to understand that innocent people are occasionally—and fortunately it is occasionally—wrongly found guilty. That is why we make sure that whatever we do in relation to the laws of evidence and to offences like this we do not throw out the principle along with everything else and that is extremely important. 
I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I have 10 minutes? 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: You have 2 more minutes. 
Hon Ruth Dyson 
: It just feels like 10 minutes. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: I really did like that very positive contribution from the Hon Ruth Dyson who of course is always interested in making sure that innocent people are not wrongly accused of crimes and convicted. That is one of the concerns that the Law and Order Committee needs to look at and I am sure that the New Zealand Law Society hopefully will give submissions on this. I know it is very easy to give a knee-jerk reaction. I have heard from people who have been the victims of this sort of crime. It is an absolutely dreadful crime and I want to do something about it. At the end of the day we have to understand that until people are convicted they are entitled to be treated as though they are innocent. We must always do that no matter what. No matter how heinous or abhorrent the crime is I plead that the Law and Order Committee does not go overboard and allow for innocent people to end up being convicted.