Smith NickHon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson): National is a party that is tough on crime. It's tough on the causes of crime. It is focused on the safety of New Zealanders and on doing everything practical to rehabilitate those that are serving time. We are opposing this bill because it fails those tests and because it breaks the word that parties in Government gave to New Zealanders at the last election. The most ironic part of this bill is that the Labour and Green parties campaigned for years against double-bunking and are now passing a bill that will make it much easier to double-bunk. The Minister responsible Kelvin Davis is directly contradicting hundreds of public statements that he made in Opposition. The most extraordinary part—and I challenge Marama Davidson in this House—is the Green Party specifically said in its policy that it would ban double-banking. It is now voting on a bill that deliberately makes it easy to double-bunk. National is old-fashioned. We believe that if you say one thing to voters in an election campaign you should not then be voting on a bill that specifically in replacement clause 66 makes it easier for the Government to double-bunk. I challenge the Green Party to give some explanation to their supporters and to the people of New Zealand as to why you have ratted on your word. We believe in trust. By voting for this bill the Green Party is doing exactly the opposite of what it said. The second part that concerns us about this bill is the issue of rehabilitation. The original bill required an individual rehabilitation plan for every inmate. And here are the weasel words: members opposite say that we don't need to put it in law. We'll just trust the officials." This is Yes Minister stuff. They say they support National's intent of every one of our prisoners having an individual rehabilitation plan; they just don't want to put it in the law. What sort of weak policy is that? It really does show that members on this side of the House are serious about rehabilitation where members opposite just want to have this blind faith that Government departments will deliver on their rehabilitation pleas. Then the third part of this bill that concerns members on this side of the House are the specific clauses as they relate to the writing of letters by prisoners. I have never been as embarrassed as other New Zealanders were when we had the most serious criminal ever to be held by our Corrections department—having allegedly committed the worst offence ever in terms of facing charges of murdering 51 people and facing charges for the serious assaults on another 50—and this Government allows them to write letters internationally to further the cause of terrorism and hate. And what do we hear from the Government? "Oh what about the rights of prisoners?" Well sorry forget it. I'm on the side of protecting New Zealanders—not just New Zealanders but stopping those crimes of hate internationally. It was an appalling failure by the Minister of Corrections and this Government to let that charged offender write those sorts of letters. My problem and National's problem is that the provisions in this bill strengthening the protections of prisoners being able to write letters are not strong enough. I in the last month had letters from constituents who had received inappropriate communications from people behind bars. Here's the problem. Mr Davis the Minister and his Green Party mates are more interested in the rights of prisoners than they are in protecting New Zealanders from the sort of hate and the sort of victimisation that can occur from people that are behind bars.So I make no apologies for National opposing this bill. We believe in parties being true to what they say. We are yet to hear an explanation from either the Green Party or the Labour Party as to why they are going back on their word on double-bunking. We are yet to hear an explanation as to why they will not support a legal requirement for rehabilitation of every prisoner and we're yet to hear an adequate provision that will ensure that never again are New Zealanders embarrassed by a failing Corrections department that lets from behind bars people continue to perpetrate their hate. It's a bad bill. We oppose it. It's an embarrassment to the Government. It's another broken promise and National will be holding this Government to account for the poor management of Corrections and this weak bill."