Lole-Taylor Asenati: Corrections Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lole-Taylor Asenati: Corrections Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 26 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8195. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak on this Corrections Amendment Bill. In times past we confronted great challenges not with slogans and silly appellations for parliamentary bills but by deploying our best and brightest in search of facts that would lead to meaningful and realistic solutions. New Zealand First is dedicated to ensuring that our nation’s prisons probation service and other places of detention are operated in a manner that will comply with legislation and laws of our country and furthermore that international human rights principles are upheld through the introduction of robust and vigorous policies which will give New Zealand better opportunity to address one of the highest incarceration rates in the developed world. 
We all share in the notion of promoting a fair and effective criminal justice system in which incarceration is used as a last resort. Its purpose must be to prepare prisoners for release and for productive law-abiding lives at the earliest possible time. Community involvement and better education are important to form the foundation of rehabilitation and reintegration. This is not necessarily restricted just to reading and writing but also includes practical life experiences. These experiences help obtain a better understanding of our society including the importance of those traditional family and community values. More important our goal is to reduce reoffending instead of like the current Government building more prisons—as if it is in the business of growing criminal offending. 
This country must focus on creating more employment to redirect offenders’ focus from community crimes in order to become law-abiding citizens of our nation. The growing gap between those who have and those who have not the persistence of poverty and its relation to crime are real and present a danger to social cohesiveness in New Zealand. We as parliamentarians must ensure that conditions of confinement are constitutional and consistent with health and safety regulations and human dignity. For too long now New Zealand’s corrections policy makers have been too busy or preoccupied in developing plans in order for many of them to stay employed knowing very well that those plans have failed for so many years. These plans are based on what is happening in the United Kingdom Canada and Western Europe. For far too long New Zealand’s corrections decision-making advocates have been too busy trying to look busy without doing anything at all just so that they have something to report on regardless of whether they are successful or not. It is no wonder that this Government is becoming increasingly famous for lip-service and window dressing. It is time we had some accountability and that includes this current National Government. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Say something nice! 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: I am saying everything that is nice Maurice Williamson. The current incarcerated population among young generations especially Maori and Pacific people can no longer—[ 
Interruption 
]—and should no longer be tolerated David Bennett. It is simply not acceptable. 
However this Corrections Amendment Bill can be viewed as a way forward with some progress. The goals set out in this bill will result in a criminal justice system that respects individual rights and increases compliance with public safety within the corrections environment. Having legislation that defines liability on property claims will not only save money and time but also stipulate better guidelines for corrections staff and outline the responsibility that is required from prisoners. We all acknowledge that prison reform must address problems currently plaguing the incarcerations system including private prisons run by and for profit organisations or corporations who drive the demand for more people to be locked up while at the same— 
Mark Mitchell 
: You don’t believe that. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: —ducking public scrutiny and accountability Mark Mitchell. And what of the smoking ban? Jacqui Dean has a lot to learn about the prison environment— 
Jacqui Dean 
: Here we go. 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR 
: —and how it operates Jacqui Dean. Listen to this: tobacco is an insidious drug. It is. Some say that it is harder to kick than heroin—and I am sure the member Mark Mitchell will know that from his previous employment. 
Initially a massive drive was put in place to rid prisons of tobacco. Prisoners were put on notice and targets and time lines were met. Following that there has been little very little in the way of education and ongoing treatment to enable prisoners to stop smoking and stay smoke-free. Yes I understand that a few nicotine patches have been handed out. However—however—many of these have been brewed up and mixed with tea leaves for the desperate to smoke. What has happened is an extension to the black market in prisons so that along with drugs tobacco has become a real money-spinner for prisoners and gangs. There is a constant flow of prisoners through the corrections system many of whom stay a few months then they go back to an environment where smoking is the norm then return again. These people will not kick the habit with punitive measures while prison staff are expected to be custodians as well as case officers welfare officers counsellors providers of recreational activities and more. 
Better rehabilitation plans will help. Denying prisoner access to suitable rehabilitative initiatives plus restricting appropriate programmes with suitable cultural perspectives inhibits successful rehabilitation of prisoners and can exacerbate or create mental illness. Prisons should focus on safety in rehabilitation and effective use of suitable providers—providers who deliver real outcomes for prisoners instead of providers engaged by staff for the sake of ticking the box regardless of whether the programme works or not. I was rather astonished to be advised that bureaucratic procedures and more red tape have once again hindered progress in the rehabilitation of Pacific prisoners at the Vaka Fa’aola Pacific Focus Unit at Spring Hill Corrections Facility. Although corrections officers have requested more community involvement in Pacific programmes and they have been successful in the past 4 to 5 years it is a shame when some ill-advised manager who claims to be an expert and appears to think he or she knows better drives the local communities to whom these prisoners are more likely to return to to give up on supporting our prisons. Prisoners have been treated poorly and sometimes unfairly and yet these are the very people whom the Department of Corrections and this country need to assist with the rehabilitation of men and women in prison in addition to our combined efforts to reduce offending and reoffending. 
So let me remind members of this House especially the members of the National Government that Lyndon B Johnson’s words were these: “You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.” So we do support the bill but we do oppose the smoking ban along with other loopholes that it has created. Thank you.