Andersen GinnyGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Mr Chair for the opportunity of speaking on Part 1 of the Corrections Amendment Bill. It's been an interesting discussion so far and in particular I'd like to focus on the part in Part 1 which is clause 7 which initially—and created by the previous Government—put in place new section 32A which allows the Minister to declare a police jail or part of police jail as part of the established corrections prison. That is the point in particular that the previous member was discussing and it lays out very clearly there what that process is. I am heartened to see the Supplementary Order Paper offered by this Government that prevents that from being the case. I would like to talk briefly around that point as to why in the first place that was required and some of the information that the Justice Committee received at the time—which was quite alarming—around that. So it is really concerning that there was a plan in place by the previous Government to be able to utilise police cells as an interim measure because of a prison system that quite simply could not cope with the influx of people who were being incarcerated in New Zealand. And it is quite astonishing to be challenged to the fact of having no plan to address that particular problem when there has been $1.9 billion invested in mental health and addictions treatment with a substantial proportion of that being allocated to the corrections system to enable more prisons than ever before in New Zealand offer the type of treatment that changes people's lives and gives them the opportunity not to enter prison again. So some of the information that we received on the select committee in relation to that clause 7 in Part 1 was from the Ombudsman. He was very concerned that there were some fundamental human rights that may be impeded by those cells within police stations not having the basic equipment for people to be able to use the bathroom frequently to be able to sleep or lie down—some pretty fundamental human rights that would not be able to be adhered to if that provision was continued; if we were continuing to enable for legislation to provide for spill-over from the prison system to go into police cells.It's really concerning that we have members within this House advocating for situations to be provided for in legislation that impede upon people's human rights. So I'm encouraged to see that the Supplementary Order Paper that is before this House as part of Part 1 and being considered enables that provision to be removed and it is because of that that we are moving towards a corrections system and a prison system that gives people the opportunity to turn around their lives and take advantage of what treatment is now being provided but previously was not. And I think it is interesting that there are no changes recommended by the select committee that were able to be agreed upon because I think that demonstrates very clearly the vast space between this side of the House and the other in terms of where we see the future of New Zealand's prison system going.I think that clause 7 in this bill is an excellent example of the difference between this Government and how we view our justice system and the role of our corrections system in rehabilitating people and giving them opportunities to turn around their lives instead of the temporary slap-up measure of putting people in police cells. I think that the other key parts of this bill that are really important are important because they also give good opportunities for people to have more ability within the prison system to be looked after and that is also what takes place here. It's an interesting fact that 90 percent of prisoners have a lifetime diagnosis of either a mental health or substance abuse disorder and for many people the corrections system provides a huge opportunity to access that treatment when previously they weren't able to. And I would argue quite strongly that the place for doing that treatment and rehabilitation is in the corrections system and quite simply not a short-term measure that the other side proposes and systems like having police jail cells at hand to take the spill-over. There are many other very important parts of this bill that I'm sure that other members would speak on but for the time being I wish to commend it to the committee.