Davis KelvinHon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Corrections): Thank you Madam Chair. I'm just standing to correct a terrible error that the Hon Dr Nick Smith made then. He said that when in Opposition I made my political name around the issue of double-bunking. That is totally incorrect. I made my name around the issue of fight clubs—fight clubs. Remember when there was just mass violence going on in the prisons that four Ministers of Corrections in the previous Government failed to get under control? That is where I made my political name not on the issue of double-bunking although double-bunking is something that we need to address and we are addressing it in a couple of ways. We are reducing the prison population safely and we're increasing the capacity in the number of beds coming online which means that as we create more capacity we reduce the need for double-bunking. That is how we're making a difference and as I said earlier in this debate the reason that we're making this little change here is because of the legal ambiguity. The proposals—Hon Dr Nick Smith: Oh it's a legal ambiguity. Hon KELVIN DAVIS: You know I said it earlier so obviously he wasn't listening which is why he keeps bringing it up. I said that in the worst-case scenario a challenge to current practice could result in a decision requiring the department to reduce its cell sharing which would increase the pressure on available accommodation and impose substantial costs on the Crown. Obviously the Opposition doesn't care about the taxpayer's money or about imposing additional considerable costs on the Crown because they are the party that is in favour of American-style mega-prisons where they just build it and they will come. That is the position of the Opposition: build an American-style mega-prison and the prisoners will come—will just fill it fill it fill it. Then if we can't fill it any more we will then double- and triple-bunk because everybody needs to realise that the 2017 justice sector forecasts that were in under the Opposition's time had our prison population at 12000 right now. It is currently at 10000. Imagine the double-bunking that would have gone on then. In fact if they could've double-bunked they would have triple-bunked because they were a Government with no ideas with no plan. Sorry they did have a plan: it was to build more and more American-style mega-prisons. They saw those justice sector forecasts as a target not as a warning. We saw them as a warning and we decided to do something about it and we have been successful.As I said earlier when we became Government at the end of 2017 there were 10550 people in prison. There were actually 30137 offenders in the community. Now you would think because Mark Mitchell said it—he said we'd just open the doors and let people out. Well that's not true because the judiciary and the Parole Board make decisions as to whether people can be released but you would think if you took Mark Mitchell's argument that there would be more people in the community more offenders in the community. The reality is that right now instead of 30137 offenders in the community there are 29031 offenders in the community—a reduction of over 1000.Whatever we're doing it's working—even if they don't believe it. What we're doing is working. We're making New Zealand safer where there are fewer offenders in the community and there are fewer offenders in prison. That means across the country there are fewer offenders. It's something that is a bitter pill for that lot to swallow because they anticipated 12000 people in prison now. They anticipated more double-bunking triple-bunking probably quadruple-bunking and what they can't stomach is the fact that we are reducing the need for that to happen. I just thank them for the praise that I know they are silently thinking. You know they don't want to say it out loud but my God they wish that they could do what this Government has achieved in making New Zealand safer. That's what they're thinking deep down in their hearts.Mark Mitchell—he's a good guy really you know. We played in the parliamentary golden oldies rugby team together. He's not as nasty and as bad as he comes across. He is silently thinking Oh my gosh." They wish that their Government was as successful as this Government is at reducing the prison population and keeping New Zealand safe."