Ardern Shane: Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Ardern Shane: Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki - King Country) 
: 
 It is always a pleasure to follow the Green member Keith Locke who I understand is retiring at the end of this parliamentary term. He will be sorely missed from the House. I have never seen a member who can stand up and speak in favour of legislation and so convincingly spend the whole time arguing against why it is such a good idea. It is a skill. It takes a while to develop the skill to be so convinced that something is a bad thing but support it. 
The reason the Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill has come about is simply that there has been an increasing number of crimes against officers in the course of their duties whether he or she is a police officer or a corrections officer or whatever jurisdiction he or she may be in. There is a long list of assaults against officers and of police officers in Hamilton Dunedin and various other places suffering all sorts of quite substantial bodily harm from attacks. As a result the National Party as part of its manifesto and election campaign to the public said that in Government it would take a close look at things related to law and order and do something about what has become a growing issue as far as the public are concerned. 
The purpose of the bill is to ensure that the fact that an offence is committed against a police officer or prison officer acting in the course of his or her duty is taken into account as an aggravating factor at sentencing. The notion—and hopefully it will be successful—is that the offence will be taken into account before criminals decide to take the law into their hands and start attacking those who are there and who are charged as the previous speaker said with looking after the wider good of the public and the community in the course of their duty. 
I have no doubt that if the judiciary picks up and takes on board what Parliament is suggesting it should longer or stiffer sentences might come about as a result. The whole reason why the bill has come about is that there have been a growing number of offences against officers. There seems to be a bit of a cavalier approach in society generally towards those who are in authority and I guess one could say a lack of respect for the rule of law. Hopefully the bill will send the message. 
I know from my own experience and from years of studying case study in Parliament and outside that one cannot solve violence with violence but society has to set some standards and to put in place some bottom line so that for those who choose to challenge the standards and cross the line there will be a sanction that befits the crime. I suspect that over time because we are a liberal egalitarian society with a very open and free democracy we become more and more concerned about the rights of those who have been the perpetrators of crime as opposed to the victims of it. 
A rebalance is necessary. That is not a political comment. If we look at what has started to develop on both sides of Parliament in terms of policy particularly around law and order we see that when Green Party members get up and support such a bill going to the select committee at least then there is a political reality that the public in general are looking to Parliament to set some higher standards in regard to law and order. National wants to send a clear message that assault against law enforcement officers is unacceptable. Over the past 5 years there has been a significant increase in the number of rates of assault on law enforcement officers. 
I look forward to the bill going through to the Law and Order Committee which I am a member of. I will listen with great interest to submitters who raise concerns such as the Law Society and others who may submit on the bill. As we go through the process I will take into account any of the concerns they may have. The bill is simple as the previous speaker mentioned so there is not a great deal of alteration that could take place but there may be some areas and unintended consequences that we have not thought of at this stage that may come to light during the select committee process. I look forward to that process.