Ryall Tony: General Debate 
Ryall Tony: General Debate 
[Volume:637;Page:7983] 
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 It is always hilarious to hear Mr Goff talking about flip-flops. This was the man who on a Saturday afternoon defended his legislation that would have decriminalised some sexual activity between 12-year-olds. Within 24 hours he was backing away from that and saying he was never meaning to do that and would never do it again. The bits of the legislation that would have removed the incest stuff—he did not really mean to do that either. So let us just remember that Mr Goff as the Minister who wanted to decriminalise some sexual activity between 12-year-olds was very happy to do a flip-flop— 
Hon Phil Goff 
: That’s not true and the member knows it. 
Hon TONY RYALL 
: I am happy to table the papers that show that the Minister was proposing to do that. He does not like hearing about it. 
When that man was Minister of Justice William Duane Bell killed three people at the Panmure RSA. After quite some period when Mr Goff and other Ministers tried to keep the information under control a report from the probation service came out that said the service missed several opportunities to recall William Duane Bell from parole. The first of those opportunities was when the probation officer gave William Duane Bell his instructions and the conditions of his parole. Bell screwed up those instructions and threw them in the rubbish bin but the parole officer allowed him to carry on. The second of those occasions was when William Duane Bell failed to turn up for his appointments with his parole officer. The parole officer failed in that situation. In another circumstance the parole officer failed to make the required visits to William Duane Bell’s home address. 
This is where the parallels with the tragic case of Mr Kuchenbecker become so clear. In the William Duane Bell case New Zealand parole officers failed to do the basic work that we expect of the probation service and that was to make the home visits to check that he was there. In the case of Graeme Burton the parole officers also failed to make those checks. When the police said to the Parole Board that he was not at his residence and they could not locate him the probation service said: “If there’s food in the fridge don’t worry.” so no efforts were made by the probation service. 
This is at the heart of the issue of ministerial accountability. We have a department that time and time again has failed to carry out the very basics of public safety. Under Minister Gosche the Department of Corrections was constantly explaining why its officers had not followed basic parole provisions. Under Minister Swain the department was constantly explaining why the probation service had not been following parole conditions appropriately. And now under Minister O’Connor we are getting another never-ending series of reasons why the probation service is not following its own procedures. 
The probation service plays an important role in public safety. When these people are let out on parole most New Zealanders know that a huge proportion of them will reoffend. Part of trying to prevent that reoffending is to have good monitoring and support from the probation service. But time and time again that service has been found wanting. Report after report on Ministers’ desks has said that this department has failed in its very basic responsibilities of public safety. So what have Ministers done? It appears Ministers have done nothing. Since the tragic situation of William Duane Bell nothing has changed in the Department of Corrections. 
The fact that nothing has changed is even indicated by the Government’s response to the reports of the various parole handlings. I have here a  
New Zealand Herald  
article of 18 December which was written after the Government received a report on William Duane Bell’s parole conditions. Do members want to know what the headline of that article states? It states: “Government satisfied with parole”. The parallels are frightening. Even with William Duane Bell the Government was saying it was satisfied with parole. In the subsequent 4 years this Government has done nothing to improve the public safety of New Zealanders through the New Zealand probation service.