Power Simon: Urgent Debates — Corrections Department—Reports on Graeme Burton 
Power Simon: Urgent Debates — Corrections Department—Reports on Graeme Burton 
[Volume:637;Page:7896] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 Dr Cullen came to this House very concerned about Karl Kuchenbecher’s death but just not concerned enough to tell the public of New Zealand who is going to take responsibility—not concerned enough to offer an apology on behalf of those departments and statutory agencies that let this man and his family down. Dr Cullen came to this House and said that Graeme Burton is responsible for this tragedy. The real question on the minds of the New Zealand public though asks why he was in a position to pull that trigger. The answer to that question is that his parole and his probation had been mismanaged and completely inadequately taken care of to the point that he was in a position to pull that trigger. 
Although Dr Cullen is happy to tell the House that Mr Burton is responsible let us not forget how he got there. Let us also not forget that while the Government takes a moralising tone over this issue Helen Clark and Damien O’Connor are those same people who skewered Denis Marshall in this House over the systemic failures surrounding the tragedy at Cave Creek. So those members should not come to this House and take the moral high ground on issues relating to systemic tragedies. 
When those reports came out last week the Prime Minister fronted but Damien O’Connor was nowhere to be seen. Today in the House in a snap debate on this issue—when Parliament has stopped its work to debate this crucial matter of systemic failure in corrections’ parole and probation—Dr Cullen has fronted the debate and the Minister of Corrections has once again sat on his hands and let a senior member of the Government mop up the mess that his department has made yet again. In the meantime the victims’ families are sitting at home asking themselves who is going to take responsibility for this tragedy. 
The thing here is that this department continues to operate in what can be described only as a complete culture of denial. This is a department that my sources inside it tell me worries only about risk management. There is never any forward planning never any strategic thinking about how these systems work; it is all about covering backsides and risk management—short-term issue by issue. Well someone died in the hills of Wainuiomata and the Parole Board chairman has had what can be described only as the decency to come out publicly and say that he has taken some of the responsibility: “I am the chairman of the Parole Board; I am responsible.” What was the reaction of the Department of Corrections in stark contrast to that of the Parole Board? Its reaction was that the chief executive came out and said there was no blood on his hands: “This process has been well managed—no blood on my hands.” That is the difference in culture and humanity of those two agencies. 
A culture of denial exists in the Department of Corrections. But worse than that the head of that department apologised for the statement that there was no blood on his hands only after I wrote to the State Services Commissioner and asked him to investigate it. Worse still the apology was made not to the families of the victims or to the public of New Zealand but to the State Services Commissioner—and those families are still waiting for an apology from Damien O’Connor and Barry Matthews. 
The Prime Minister did not front on this issue because it is multi-ministerial; she fronted because she does not believe that Damien O’Connor can do the job. Sure enough when the Speaker granted a snap debate this afternoon what became apparent? Dr Cullen does not believe that Damien O’Connor is up to the job either. So this is a Prime Minister who fronted the Criminal Justice Law Reform Bill launch got separate opinions from the Law Commission about the issues surrounding parole and then disagreed publicly with the Parole Board and the Department of Corrections with her own separate legal opinion. She went off and got a legal opinion that was separate from the advice offered to her by the Parole Board and the Department of Corrections. This Prime Minister not only has no confidence in the Minister and the chief executive but has no confidence in those departments. 
The Law Commission is now doing the work of the Ministry of Justice so what does the Ministry of Justice do these days? Well when separate opinions are sought by the Prime Minister that makes us wonder. The Law Commission is actually drafting all the Government’s law reform at the moment; it is not the Ministry of Justice. Why is that? The Prime Minister does not have any confidence in that ministry or that Minister either. There are two second-bench second-rate Ministers who will not take responsibility and stand up; instead the Prime Minister and Dr Cullen do it on their behalf. 
What has the Government learnt since the tragedy at the Panmure RSA? 
Because we discovered in question time today that William Bell’s probation officer had also gone on leave just prior to the murders at the Panmure RSA just like Burton’s probation officer was on leave for a week. Let us just think about this. By the time that probation officer went on leave for a week it was known in early October that Burton was not returning calls to the probation officer. It was known in late November that the police had told the probation officer there were concerns over his living arrangements and if the probation officer did not do something Burton would kill someone. On 5 December Burton does not report for parole and the probation officer goes on holiday. The officer did not say to the person at the next desk: “Would you mind looking after this file while I’m away for a week? I think I have a bit of a problem on my hands.” The officer just walked out the door in the same way that the gap occurred with William Duane Bell. And what happened as a result when he got back on 13 December? He thought: “This is a problem. I had better send a letter.” So we can all visualise Graeme Burton walking down to his letterbox opening the letterbox and saying: “That’s right. I’ve missed my probation appointment. I must get on to that.” This is laughable. 
Why did the Department of Corrections not get an independent external inquiry into the shambles like the Parole Board said? This House will not accept the Minister and the head of corrections saying the matter has been well managed. It has not been. Bell Ashley Burton—when will this department learn? When will this Prime Minister finally give up the ghost on a Minister who has lost not only her confidence but the confidence of this House and the confidence of New Zealanders and the victims and their families all over this country.