Paul TamathaTAMATHA PAUL (Green—Wellington Central): Tēnā koe Madam Speaker. The three things that I want to cover off and focus my attention on in regards to this bill today is (1) the process that has led us to the second reading of the Corrections Amendment Bill and particularly focusing on the removal of Treaty provisions. The second point I want to focus on is why we need Treaty provisions in the first place and the third point is why I think that Corrections should not feel confident or comfortable to remove these crucial provisions from within their Act.So let's talk about the process first. Here's a bit of a time line for you. The bill came to us at the Justice Committee and the purpose of the bill was in my view to make it easier to spy on prisoners and to monitor their communications with the outside world more closely. It outlined a process for the Minister to sign off on the use of non-lethal weapons so that we can physically harm people in prison into acting accordingly but not so much that we kill them. Finally it allows for prisons to mix up accused and convicted people within prisons going completely against international conventions like the Mandela rules which are in place to protect the rights of people in prisons because that is the truth about human rights: you have them by virtue of being a human being regardless of your actions.We had a whole range of people come and talk to us and organisations and tell us about what they felt about these changes. Some of those submitters even praised the work that Corrections had been doing in honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. And that was the one opportunity that the public had to share their opinions and feedback on the bill. And then on 2 May we were advised that the Treaty provisions would be removed from the bill and even worse nobody would get to have a say on such a major decision because the feedback was already collected. And I guarantee you: if those people and those organisations knew what was being proposed by the Government and the removal of those Treaty provisions then they would have made very different submissions.And what's worse is that we had advisers from the ministry come in and give evidence as to why they support the removal of Treaty provisions from Corrections. What concerns me the most is how deeply undemocratic it is that Corrections would recommend this on the basis that Cabinet told them to do it. We have an important democratic role on select committees to scrutinise the decisions of the Government on behalf of all New Zealanders. But how are we supposed to do that when the advice we receive is predicated on decisions made by Cabinet—not on evidence not on the actual performance of the department but on the opinions and views of Cabinet as opposed to what we know to be true which is this: not one person within Corrections can tell me that they are not failing Māori and in doing so are not failing the whole country. Corrections have no leg to stand on when it comes to giving out advice on the Treaty.But why do we need Treaty provisions in the first place? It's no secret that Māori are overrepresented in the justice system and I'm getting sick of hearing it and I'm getting sick of saying it. But I will repeat it for the record because despite the fact that Māori make up just 17 percent of the population we represent 52.8 percent of the total prison population. And for wahine Māori that's even worse—that's even higher at 57 percent of the total female prison population. And just 30 years ago that figure was 20 percent. So in the span of my lifetime the proportion of wahine Māori in prison has increased threefold to the point where Māori women are the most imprisoned indigenous women in the world and that's compared to United States Canada and Australia.It's clear that Corrections and our Government have accepted this shameful reality but have not accepted any actual responsibility for intentionally bringing us to this place. Why won't they just be honest in saying they'd rather lock up young Māori and waste such great human potential because they're too stingy to actually provide people with the stable home a livable income and actual opportunities to imagine a different life for themselves that exists outside of prison walls?And what good is it for politicians and the leadership within Corrections and Justice to go on about how Māori are more heavily policed more likely to be arrested more likely to be convicted more likely to get caught up in cycles of intergenerational imprisonment if they're not willing to do anything about it or more accurately if they want to make the issue worse by acting as if the overrepresentation isn't a consequence of colonisation? Tracey Mckintosh and Tā Kim Workman in 2017 published extensive research about Māori and Pacific people in the justice system. Prisons were introduced in New Zealand not to punish the lawless Pākehā that were running around raping and pillaging villages; they were introduced as a tool to imprison the dispossessed disenfranchised and to torture Māori. Prisons are a tool of colonisation and the fact that they are packed with brown people just tells you that they are a reminder that colonisation still happens today. And without Te Tiriti there really is no reason for Corrections to reflect on their decisions or the consequences of their actions.I want to acknowledge that there is transformational life-changing work happening between people in prisons and kaupapa Māori providers iwi hapū and other organisations who utilise whakapapa reo Māori mātauranga Māori to help people to heal people's views of themselves and of the world around them and reflect on the harm that they've caused. But prisons shouldn't be the first and only opportunity for people to engage with who they are and where they come from and Corrections needs to do more than give us empty commitments to honour Te Tiriti; it needs to be enshrined in their governing legislation so that every person exercising powers under the Corrections Act is bound by this obligation.The last point I want to make is that I genuinely don't understand how Corrections can feel comfortable or confident in honouring their responsibilities under Te Tiriti to the extent where they think they can do away with it altogether. Corrections are not even capable of meeting people's basic human rights let alone further commitments under Te Tiriti. And the Ombudsman summarises it perfectly in his Kia Whaitake report. He said After considering all the evidence I consider the senior leadership of the Department is overly optimistic about the organisation's performance. This has a direct impact on the ability of the Department to undertake a true exposition on the issues that need addressing."I think the most stark and accurate representation of the corrections system is that prisons are a storage unit a people storage unit of containment and management. And here's some of the realities for some people in prison. They're left in isolation for 23 hours a day and in segregation for over a year in some cases. Proper visitation rights for families and prisoners have not resumed since the COVID-19 lockdowns. Minimum entitlement to one hour of exercise in the open air per day is not being met. There is sixteen hours between breakfast and dinner for some people in prison and CCTV filming people going to the toilet and undressing. And that's why 19 percent of people in prison have attempted suicide because the experience of being in prison is so deeply degrading.To finish I'd like to seek leave to table a letter that I received from Stephen Robert Wilson currently sitting in a prison in South Auckland. This document contains medical records showing that Mr Wilson was paralysed down the right side of his body and parts of the left side of his body while being transported to Ngāwhā Prison from Kaitāia court. He wrote to us to describe how he has to lie on his back and shower himself in prison on the ground because the facilities aren't accessible. He has been awaiting parole and rotting in prison because it is impossible to find suitable housing that meets his needs because Mr Wilson is in a wheelchair.DEPUTY SPEAKER: So leave is sought to table this document. Is there any objection? There is none. Thank you. Please carry on.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.TAMATHA PAUL: Thank you. Every aspect of Mr Wilson's mana has been degraded. His dignity is stripped away every time he lies on the cold concrete floor to wash himself. It's clear through stories like Mr Wilson's and through reports that Corrections fails to meet basic human rights particularly those conventions around torture and minimum standards for people in prison. We have to accept that even humans who have created harm are still entitled to basic human rights. Corrections is failing to meet these basic human rights so the fact that they think that they can meet their obligations under Te Tiriti when they're already failing to do the basics is laughable and this bill just reinforces the worst parts of Corrections. Thank you."