McKelvie Ian: Sentencing (Protection of Children from Criminal Offending) Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMcKelvie Ian: Sentencing (Protection of Children from Criminal Offending) Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 03 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:1116. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]IAN McKELVIE (National—Rangitīkei):I am pleased to take a call on the Sentencing (Protection of Children from Criminal Offending) Amendment Bill. I have listened to 80 minutes of fact on this bill and I think the only thing I can do is add a little fiction. I did learn a couple of things tonight. I learnt from Pita Paraone that this bill has been floating around this building for some 8 years so it is little surprise given the fact that it has been around for some 8 years that some of the things contained in it have been superseded by other pieces of legislation. It was picked up in the last Parliament by Asenati Lole-Taylor who was famous for some things in this Parliament but probably not this bill. But none the less she had an entertaining 3 years in this place but of course is no longer with us.Hon Simon Bridges: Then New Zealand First did the nasty on her.IAN McKELVIE: I have been put right off my stride. She did have this bill. I guess it is a little bit like backing a racehorse. She became lucky. She got a bill drawn out of the ballot. Of course some of us and some of you have had bills in the ballot for a number of years and never have been lucky enough to have one drawn out. Asenati had one drawn out of the ballot within a few minutes of arriving in this Parliament and this was the bill that was drawn out. The National Party for that reason is not inspecting it. Of course we have got a slight—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I am sorry to interrupt the member in his entertaining contribution but the noise across the House and the discussions are getting a little bit out of hand. If we could keep it down please.IAN McKELVIE: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. That is much more peaceful. I was about to say that I listened to not only 80 minutes of speaking on this bill but also speeches on the previous bill and I seriously thought I was in a morgue. It was very disappointing to think that you could speak for hours and hours and hours on a bill and pretty much never change the tone of the speaker. I think that is the sad thing about this place that probably we need a little—Sue Moroney: How long did they speak about the name of that bill?IAN McKELVIE: Oh there is the proponent of that bill over there. She actually did quite a good job I have to say sitting in the chair. I did notice her making some quite good contributions to the bill and she was slightly more gregarious than some of her helpers.I want to go back to the bill for a moment. The reason it is not being supported—and it has been very well documented in here tonight—is that a lot of the legislation passed by this Government in the last 5 or 6 years has really superseded the intent of this bill. Judges already have the opportunity to consider the presence of children when sentencing. I think that that probably was the key for the Law and Order Committee which perused this bill. That select committee of course had a number of people sitting on it who are in the House tonight. I think Kris Faafoi might have been on that select committee in the early stages of it.Kris Faafoi: A very august select committee.IAN McKELVIE: And a very very good member of that select committee too Kris Faafoi. Of course David Clendon from the Greens has been on the Law and Order Committee in the time I have been on it and he makes a great contribution. But the select committee at that time was chaired by Jacqui Dean. She did give Asenati Lole-Taylor a number of opportunities to appear before that committee and explain the reasons for the bill and explain how she wanted to progress it. Asenati did not turn up. Of course that does not help your cause when you have got a member’s bill before a select committee.Jacinda Ardern: That’s a bit unfair.IAN McKELVIE: A bit harsh—yes I realise that. I did not say she was not here but perhaps there is a reason she is not here.I want to go on to what I think is the solution to this. It is a solution that the National Government has soundly supported in its time in Government and in the House. I think the real cure for the child abuse issues we have for the crimes issues we have is a better education process. I am sure this Government is advancing that at pace. I think initially the opportunity for our very youngest children to go through the education system even in remote towns like some in my community such as Raetihi—in fact the primary school had a team of its pupils in the gallery today and it is nice to see such a large turnout of children in the gallery tonight.Kris Faafoi: Just for you.IAN McKELVIE: Exactly Mr Faafoi. I think the education process will certainly make a difference. It will make a real dent in people’s perception of crime.I want to talk about another thing that is going on in my electorate right now as we speak. The Notorious chapter of the Mongrel Mob in Auckland is running a drug programme in conjunction with the Salvation Army at a place called Kākahi. For those of you who have not heard of Kākahi it was at one stage the home of Peter McIntyre.Kris Faafoi: Where is it?IAN McKELVIE: It is in the King Country. My grandmother taught at Kākahi School in 1927 as a matter of interest. But it was also the home of Peter McIntyre.Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi: When was that?IAN McKELVIE: It was in 1927. They are running what is turning out to be a very successful drug rehabilitation programme. Although I guess that is not education in its purest form it certainly will make a difference to the way that those Mongrel Mob members participate in crime. Once they are drug-free I am sure that will make a significant difference to their attitude and outlook on life. Drugs of course were the background to this bill being introduced to the House. They are also a significant cause of crime in this country. That is something that is going on in my electorate of Rangitīkei right now that I think is really interesting. It is a little intimidating for the community but none the less I think it works very well. It is a very small community as well. It works very well.The other thing that I think is really apparent has been this Government’s achievements in law and order. As I said earlier I have been fortunate enough to be on the Law and Order Committee in the time I have been in this House and in that time we have had very good Ministers of Corrections very good Ministers of Police and very good Ministers of Justice. That has followed through into programmes that are rehabilitating prisoners at a greater rate than we ever have before in this country with great success actually. As Jonathan Young said in his very good speech earlier on we are having great—Kris Faafoi: It wasn’t very good. It was OK.IAN McKELVIE: It was an outstanding speech. We are having great success with drug programmes and literacy and numeracy programmes in our prisons. We certainly are getting a whole lot more of those prisoners back into our communities in a form that makes them enjoy their lives and does not end up with them going straight back to prison. I think it is a very successful programme. Also we are keeping a lot more people in their communities as they serve their sentences. That makes a difference to their attitude to life. It gets them off drugs. It keeps them working in the community and keeps them busy.A lot of the success this Government has had in the 6 years it has been in office has certainly occurred in the law and order programmes that we have instigated—as Jonathan Young says in a very short time and likely to be extended. I think on the whole we are doing pretty well with our education and our law and order programmes.The other thing I want to talk about in respect of the education and law and order programmes is that a lot of people—and I guess it almost started in my day—were expected to go through the schooling programmes with an academic bent on life I guess. I think that challenges people significantly because a lot of us only ever want to work with our hands. When you go to school and you are made to—Jacinda Ardern: It’s a maximum speaking time not a goal.IAN McKELVIE: I have never had to waste as much time as this before in my life but I am very good at it. I am getting very good at it and I am starting to quite enjoy it. The great thing about working with your hands is that you can do anything. I think the real secret to our education programmes—I have to say that when I started this I said to my neighbour: “What am I going to say for 10 minutes?”. He said: “Just pick up all the facts and spread them further.” What I am actually doing is spreading those facts further. But I just want to get back to the education thing. If you think about using your hands it is a great opportunity for the young people of today who do not have that academic bent to get on and do something they like doing.So I think that aside from the fact that this bill did not fit the bill from a Government perspective—and I am pleased to see even the Greens supporting us on this and it is one of the few things I think they have supported us on—I do feel a little for Asenati Lole-Taylor who was lucky enough to have a bill drawn out of the ballot and get it into the House. So although the bill will never see the light of day I think it has none the less been given plenty of airing. With those few words I will hope that the bill comes to an end with this reading and I will sit down. Thank you.