Tirikatene RinoRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I'm very pleased to speak in support of this bill at its first reading. I do want to acknowledge Mr Bennett his support for this bill. Aside from the bluster deflection the scaremongering and the totally irrelevant material that he raised in his contribution I do acknowledge the support that he has expressed for this important piece of legislation.If I may I'd like to actually just get back to the content and focus of this bill which has been introduced by Minister Little. Can I acknowledge the work Ministers Nash and Little and the executive are doing in this area in support of this bill. Because this bill is a whole suite of amendments; it is a whole suite of amendments to the Corrections Act and to regulations promulgated under that Act all designed to improve the ability of the Department of Corrections to safely and humanely manage prisoners to improve prisoner discipline and safety and to ensure the fair treatment of prisoners. I think that's very important that we focus on exactly what this bill is doing.There are as I've mentioned a host of improvements that are being made right across the board which will have wide implications; positive impacts not only for the corrections system but also for our prison population. I guess it cuts deep because as a representative of a Māori electorate too many of our prison population are young brown males and clearly we want to see that reduced but also we want to ensure that the legislation that underpins our prison system and our corrections department is fit for purpose it is keeping up with modern prison environments and that it's working effectively. And that's what this bill actually achieves in a number of areas.I'd like to now go over quite a wide range of the amendments that are being made. Many have been touched on by the Minister in his speech. I guess one of the main amendments is the creation under this bill of a new set of provisions which deal with the unfortunate issue of the risk of self-harm that many inmates suffer from. We know there are very many complex issues that are involved with prison inmates and clearly the existing regime of putting those complex issues and very high-risk inmates into a segregation regime was completely inadequate. This bill creates a whole separate range of provisions dedicated to that issue of dealing with inmates that are at high risk of self-harm. So I commend the bill on that aspect.Just looking at a selection of some of the other amendments that are covered in this bill—the ability to review the decisions for or against mostly against mother and baby placement decisions. The chief executive of corrections has a lot of decision-making powers and it's important that there is an ability for those that feel aggrieved by a certain decision of the chief executive that there is that ability for a mother—or her whānau I guess would have the ability to review those decisions as opposed to just being at the mercy of a chief executive and that decision being final. So I do commend that aspect of the bill.Just looking at some of the other provisions—there's a whole range. One that caught my attention was the use of chains and irons in prisons. I guess for those that may be looking at movies from back in the day—chains a ball and chain and those sorts of instruments were used. Clearly that is out of step with not only modern-day practice but also the United Nations minimum rules on treatment. I commend that this legislation is being brought into step so that is completely outlawed.But I must contrast that because on the one hand we have the prohibition on the use of chains and irons in prison but then we also have the use of mechanical restraints which I believe must be handcuffs. Obviously it's a different type of restraint but it's different from the chain and iron variety. Again if we look to the mechanical restraints there is an amendment to ensure that the use of those handcuffs is for no more than a 24-hour—oh it can extend actually through a 24-hour period where an inmate is being treated in a hospital.Again there's a whole range of important measures that are being introduced by this bill. As I've touched on it covers a whole range of different aspects. Just looking at a couple more—the bill makes it a disciplinary offence around tattooing; tattooing a prisoner or self-tattooing. I know that I guess the use of tattoos has become quite common in vogue these days but I guess it's for safety and security reasons that the disciplinary offence of tattooing in prisons has been incorporated. I'm very pleased that the advice that we have received from the Ministry of Justice in terms of the consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act has looked into those important issues. Whilst the right to self-expression is a very important right there can be justified limits placed upon those rights and certainly this bill imposes a limit. But I commend the Attorney-General for providing confirmation to the House that notwithstanding that the provisions are consistent with the provisions of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Indeed those checks have extended to the section covering the use of unreasonable search and seizure. Just in my remaining time I want to touch on that issue because the use of imaging and technology to detect contraband not only for prisoners but for staff and visitors is being committed under this bill. It's important that those checks are put in place. But we have just recently concluded the Customs and Excise Bill. As part of the consideration of that bill there was a great deal of attention paid to the issue of personal searches around the collection of information or the storage of data. I would expect that there may be some concerned citizens that may want to find out a bit more about the use of this imaging technology: around what how far how detailed those images may be where that information will be stored will it be used how safe is that information? I think it's good that those powers should be strictly prescribed just so people can be sure about their civil liberties. So there's a host of provisions in here and I commend this bill to the House.