Lole-Taylor Asenati: Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lole-Taylor Asenati: Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 20 March 2013. Volume:688;Page:8825. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First) 
: 
 I actually thought that the member who has just resumed his seat John Hayes would consider this bill the Administration of Community Services and Orders Bill to be an important part of electioneering which is something that the National Party is very good at doing during the time of an election. 
Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. This bill which has been introduced by the Government is for the purpose of fixing loopholes in the current legislation or the current administration of non-custodial sentences. The current system is flawed and this bill attempts to create certainty in our justice system and it is about time. Law and order is a crucial selling point while electioneering I say to John Hayes and therefore it should come as no surprise that this Government is trying to close loopholes that have surfaced over the years regarding administrative limitation. 
Kris Faafoi 
: Did you say that? 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: I do not think he was listening. It is about time that this Government strengthened these policies so that they do not create or foster unintended outcomes. The last thing that New Zealanders need is loopholes in the justice system that favour criminal behaviour. 
New Zealand First strongly believes that to achieve law and order effectively in New Zealand the public should have confidence in our justice system. New Zealand First also maintains a strong stand that for a nation of our size we have far too many people in prison. So let us not go into the details about the cost involved while the Minister of Corrections is ignorantly building new prisons around the country that we do not need. 
We all know that putting someone in prison and throwing away the key does not solve anything. Having said that the other option is non-custodial sentences. This is what this bill intends to fix. Yes we agree that the prison population should be reduced. However in placing offenders in our communities it is of utmost importance that they are closely monitored. Community safety is absolutely vital and a priority for our nation. All New Zealanders have a right to feel safe and free to go about their daily lives within our communities. People in this country should not have to feel threatened or intimidated by offenders. 
As policy makers we need to realise that the machinery is not confined to only front-line staff. We ourselves need to be more empathetic towards the administrative nature in which policies will function. We cannot just come up with an idea and theorise all the pros and cons if we are not going to consider how practical these policies will turn out to be. 
One particular issue that I highlighted in the first reading of this bill was the issue of information sharing between the Department of Corrections and the probation service. It is all well and good to ask for mandatory pre-sentencing reports to be done but will the probation service be provided with the resources to do so? I say to the Minister do not be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. For years it has been requested that the probation service be given access to the prison service’s integrated offender management system or IOMS. New Zealand First has some concerns— 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: They’re getting it. It’s happening. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: But they have not done it yet Minister. 
New Zealand First has some concerns around the delivery expectations of a number of these amendments particularly those that rely heavily on the Community Probation and Psychological Services for their oversight and administration. Let me say before I make reference to that that I believe that the current chief executive Ray Smith is to be commended for the step that he has taken to move corrections forward. From my experience his one-team approach will be a tough assignment. 
One of the toughest nuts to crack will be probation. This is an organisation that has dragged its feet in terms of changing culture improving efficiency and dealing to a culture of cliques and cronyism. As a prime example I believe the probation service is still waffling about having access to or sharing the integrated offender management system with its one-team partners. I note that the probation service has a high number of psychologists within its ranks as does corrections generally. Many of them are new immigrants from the United Kingdom South Africa and Europe. Of course they bring with them fancy bits of paper proclaiming all sorts of qualifications. What they do not bring is real cultural understanding and by that I mean Maori and Pacific cultures. Those cultures make up the vast majority of the prison population. A short Te Reo course study papers from a journal or an overnight stay at a marae plus a few kia oras here and there just do not cut it. 
Common sense tells us that the probation service needs real people with drive and real-life experience who have worked at the coalface to make a real difference. The endless meetings where our highly qualified experts bang on about pie in the sky and old-world theory and throw around a few clichés do not cut it for me. Believe me I have observed the endless mindless chatter and backslapping going on at non-events in my previous role. It is a culture that is brought about by so-called experts who like to baffle their people with an endless supply of bovine effluent that serves only to muddy the already murky waters within the Community Probation and Psychological Services. Yes I have seen the glossy pictures awards and all the smiling faces yet the real question lingers: can we place yet more responsibility on these people to administer this legislation? Do we trust them not to once again pay lip-service to the amendments that are before us today? 
Today I make a challenge to the Minister. Does she have absolute confidence that the “One Team Corrections” and in particular the probation service are up to the task? It seems common sense that if a pre-sentence report is required before an offender is sentenced to home detention and community detention access to file notes incident reports and misconduct reports will be useful. In doing so we can avoid the countless errors made over the years with offenders. It is crucial that this Government takes steps to strengthen the way in which home detention is supervised and the monitoring requirements in relation to community-based sentences. 
Probation officers are given more powers but will they have the resources? Will they have the resources? With this bill probation officers will be given the authorisation to direct up to 20 percent of community work sentences of at least 80 hours to be spent in training on basic work and living skills. The initiative has been introduced to reduce barriers to the training of offenders. As a strong supporter of rehabilitation methods I say that it will be vital that probation officers use this authorisation with discretion. Yes we want to see these offenders develop living skills to ultimately prepare them for reintegration back into the communities. However we are sceptical of the approach allowing probation officers powers that only the judiciary once held. We want to know what cost will be incurred with more offenders directed for training. 
Just last year our Minister of Corrections Anne Tolley signed off on a $300 million public-private partnership deal with Fletcher’s to design and build in South Auckland the new Wiri Prison. This is astounding because in the same year we also have had numerous reports and mockumentaries stating our harsh reality regarding child poverty. What does this signal to the rest of the world and more important what does this signal to New Zealanders? 
New Zealand First supports the intention of this bill to remove barriers to managing offenders in the community safely and effectively. A genuine Government is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus. On that sobering note I can say that New Zealand First supports this bill. Thank you. 
Bill read a second time.