Power Simon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Power Simon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:641;Page:11655] 
6.  
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
 to the  
Minister of Corrections 
: Does he have confidence in his department; if so why? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Associate Minister of Corrections) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Corrections 
: Yes but there is always room for improvement. 
Simon Power 
: How can the Minister continue to claim that the new prisons are not gold-plated when the report released by Treasury yesterday states that facilities at Spring Hill and Otago exceed those of comparable Australian prisons sacrificing “significant savings in capital cost as well as operational savings” including en suites for medium to low security inmates because these would be “more attractive than communal showers” costing an extra $11.5 million? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: The member may not be aware that the Treasury report was commissioned by this Government in December 2005 and therefore the Government welcomes the recommendations and the key findings of the report. If the member wishes to compare New Zealand prisons with prisons in Australia then I advise him that the next time Hone Harawira goes to the outback of Australia he should accompany him to have a good look at how the indigenous people of Australia are treated. 
Simon Power 
: How does the Minister reconcile his statement to the House in February last year that the costs of the prisons had escalated because “the costs of steel and concrete have increased considerably” with the finding in this report that most of the significant materials required “had been prepurchased to guard against potential shifts in materials’ prices”? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Once again the member is wrong. 
Hon Members 
: Aw! 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Once again the member is wrong. I can advise that member that the increased costs in the regional prisons development project in terms of construction costs was simply the difference between the time when the decisions to make the construction were made and the time it actually took to start the construction and it would be expected in any project of this size that there would be a significant difference in the cost of construction materials. If the member has difficulty in understanding that then I recommend that he talks to his colleague from Tauranga Bob Clarkson. 
Simon Power 
: Can he confirm that the report identifies a number of savings that still could have been made in the final stages of construction such as $600000 for slightly less opulent landscaping and could not even more money have been saved had this report been delivered on time by the end of June last year rather than over a year later? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: For the benefit of that member I say the landscaping undertaken at the facilities is to a basic requirement under the Resource Management Act. The member should know that there are community issues and environmental issues and there are issues surrounding the protection of local communities in terms of security. 
Simon Power 
: How does he reconcile his statement to the House in February last year that: “Private prisons have proven not to be less costly.” with the recommendation from this report which I trust he has read that one option for reducing the costs of building prisons would be to reintroduce the private sector in the development and management of prisons because “it’s proved very cost-effective in Australia”; and could private providers do a worse job than his department? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: The member will be aware that under the Labour-led Government prisons will remain a fundamental role of the State. In answer to the latter part of the question the member needs to know that overseas experience shows that private prisons have lower staff / prisoner ratios and inferior pay and conditions for staff compared with those in public prisons. The member needs to understand that—or is he saying that conditions for prison staff are irrelevant in terms of National Party policy? 
Ron Mark 
: Despite the evidence about the running of the Auckland Central Remand Prison by private enterprise and the contents of this report being so clear why is this Government still philosophically fundamentally and ideologically so opposed to a balanced mix of privately run prisons and State-run prisons? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: That member might like to go to Ngawha prison one day and have a look at the programmes being run; they are provided by non-governmental organisations. 
Simon Power 
: What did his department mean when it told the authors of the Treasury report that the department took an “organic approach” to value management for regional prisons? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I tell the member again the review report was commissioned by this Government in an effort to look at better ways of prison construction and prisoner management going forward into the next 100 years—unlike that member’s Government in the 1990s which allowed prisons to become run down. 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. My question simply asked what his department meant by “organic approach”. I am sure he did not address that matter. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No the Minister did not address it. Would the Minister address the question please. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: The member raises an important issue but I think if he went around and looked at our prisons and saw the facilities that have been built as part of the regional development programme instead of referring to them as places where prisoners live in the lap of luxury he would see that the security of communities surrounding prisons is a high priority and that there are programmes run within prisons designed— 
Simon Power 
: What does “organic” mean? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: The member talked about landscaping and he will find that it is very organic.