Brownlee Gerry: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
Brownlee Gerry: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:20994] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 Before we start to discuss this important part in depth I wonder whether the Minister would look at clause 62(1) which states: “Section 4(1) of the Legal Services Act 2000 is amended by omitting from the definition of  
transition date 
 the expression ‘2001.’ and substituting the expression ‘2001’.” It seems to me rather ridiculous that the expression “2001.” should be taken out only for the same expression to be then substituted. The Minister may take a moment or two to look at that and then come back to us with an answer. I can tell him exactly where to find it. It is on page 54 in subclause (1) of clause 62 “Interpretation”. 
This part reinforces absolutely the relationship that the victim of a serious crime will have to maintain with the perpetrator of that crime for the rest of his or her life. Let us be clear about that. Given that a violent crime is committed in this country every 9 minutes—that number has increased by about 15 percent under the rule of the Labour Government—and that Parliament today in this bill is not worried about the victims but about the perpetrators of those crimes— 
Brian Connell 
: The Government is. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: My colleague is right; the Government is worried about the perpetrators of crime. The National Party does not have much time for them at all. Here we have a bill about the best interests of the perpetrators of violent acts and now we are able to see in clause 73 that the relationship between the victims and perpetrators of crime is to be formalised and that that link will be there for the rest of their natural days. That has to be a clear indication to the public of this country of how out of touch with them the current Government is in the way it thinks about things. 
As a consequence of this part a change will be made to the Victims’ Rights Act 2002. Victims will now have to supply their information to the secretary—and the Minister may like to tell us who the secretary is—who will put details of their names addresses and other contacts on a file alongside the names of the police commissioner the perpetrator of the crime and a number of other State officials. That information will sit on the file just in case a violent criminal finds his or her human rights offended against whilst in prison. So the victims of crime who are out there fending for themselves without even getting a fair shake out of the Accident Compensation Corporation most of the time and with no other Government agency out there to hold their hands or show deep concern for them have to have their names on the files next to those of offenders just in case offenders’ human rights are violated while they are in prison. 
 If that happens and the prisoner goes to court and gets an award the money is paid into an account and the victim is notified. Then the victim can make a claim on that money. 
Brian Connell 
: Yeah right! 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: Exactly! What sort of Tui’s advertisement would that make? So the victim is to be notified that the prisoner—who has ruined the victim’s life in many cases—has been awarded a sum by the State for hurt feelings or another transgression of that person’s human rights and that if the victim wants to have a slice of that sum he or she can make an application. The Labour Government very generously in this bill states there will be no filing fees involved in that application. But we know there will be costs because the victim will have to make a case to get a slice of the money.