Key John: Urgent Debates — Corrections Department—Reports on Graeme Burton 
Key John: Urgent Debates — Corrections Department—Reports on Graeme Burton 
[Volume:637;Page:7887] 
JOHN KEY (Leader of the Opposition) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance 
. In 1999 Helen Clark said on the campaign trail that Labour had set new standards in terms of both performance and behaviour. She said: “We will govern for the people and we will be accountable to them.” That is what Helen Clark said. She stated that the Labour Government would be accountable to the people and that she would set new standards. Well no one—not the family of Karl Kuchenbecker not the family of Liam Ashley and not the family of the victims of William Duane Bell—thought that those standards would be lower. No one thought that those standards of accountability would be lower but they are. 
In the early part of 2007 Karl Kuchenbecker went out on his quad bike. He was guilty of nothing. He was an innocent family man who had children. He was guilty of one thing only—that is of having relied on the Department of Corrections the Parole Board parole officers and the Minister of Corrections Damien O’Connor to do their jobs properly. That is what he was guilty of relying on and he paid with his life. 
What have we heard about this whole affair? We have heard from the head of the Department of Corrections Mr Barry Matthews who stated that the parole of Graeme Burton was “well managed”. Let us get the facts right. This is a guy who had been in prison because in 1992 he went out and killed Paul Neville Anderson in an unprovoked attack in a Wellington nightclub. Before he was released Department of Corrections officers knew that he had been committing violent offences within the prison. But that information did not get to the Parole Board because it was unsubstantiated. We knew that. When Graeme Burton was released the board knew for a variety of reasons including a psychiatric report that he was high-risk. This was not somebody who had been picked up for shoplifting and had done a month or two so the board decided he was going to be let out; this was a guy who had killed a man in New Zealand in an unprovoked attack and had had the book thrown at him. There were concerns but he was let out under a policy of zero tolerance. 
What do we think Karl Kuchenbecker’s family thinks zero tolerance means? I think it means that when a prisoner breaches parole the Parole Board does something about it. Karl Kuchenbecker’s family would have thought that when Graeme Burton breached his parole the Parole Board would do something about it. It kind of did do something about it. A month afterwards—after the parole officer had been on holiday—it finally issued a notice to recall Graeme Burton. According to the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections of New Zealand Graeme Burton’s parole was well managed. 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
JOHN KEY 
: Exactly! If Graeme Burton’s parole was well managed what does a badly managed parole look like? 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: There’s only one dead body. 
JOHN KEY 
: That is right. That is not the only death that has occurred recently. 
We found out today—and it is pretty interesting—that this is not the first time a parole officer has gone on holiday without someone overlooking the person whom that parole officer is responsible for even though that person is in breach of his or her parole. This is not the first time it has happened. Exactly the same type of situation happened with William Duane Bell. So this is not the first time. 
We are meant to be relying on Barry Matthews who said that everything was well managed. According to the Prime Minister he is a guy she can really rely on and who is an exceptional public servant. She said she thinks that Barry is our man if we have a problem and want it fixed. This is the guy who knew that William Duane Bell had been released and whose parole officer had gone on holiday. This is the guy whom New Zealanders are meant to take confidence from. Yet he is the man who says that the thing was well managed. The Prime Minister says he will fix it; according to Barry Matthews there is nothing to fix because it was well managed. So we are all meant to sit around and feel confident that it has been well managed. 
There is of course a reason why the Prime Minister does not want accountability and it is a pretty simple one. When Helen Clark says her Government is responsible and accountable which is what she said in 1999 that she would do when there are problems she knows it reflects on her Minister Damien O’Connor—and we will come to him in just a moment—and her Government. So the Prime Minister of New Zealand has decided that no one is accountable because she wants to put her political agenda before the people of New Zealand. It is Labour first; everybody else comes behind. Labour members care about Labour; they do not care about us or innocent people and they do not care about Karl Kuchenbecker’s or Liam Ashley’s family. 
Hon Member 
: They blame them. 
JOHN KEY 
: They blame Liam Ashley’s family. When we stood here on the last day of Parliament and my deputy leader gave an outstanding speech about Liam Ashley Jill Pettis said it was Liam Ashley’s family’s fault that it went wrong. Labour has set down who is accountable; it is the victims’ families who are accountable under Labour. 
Let us get to Damien O’Connor. If people do not know he is the Minister of Corrections. A lot of New Zealanders would not know that. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Taito’s mate. 
JOHN KEY 
: Well he is Taito’s mate as well but he is the man who is responsible for the Department of Corrections. One might not know that because Mr O’Connor has had nothing to say about Graeme Burton’s parole and about what has happened. He has had nothing to say about Karl Kuchenbecker’s death. He sits there quietly. He is not allowed off his little leash when the three reports are released. He is not allowed to answer those because according to the Beehive sources—who will have conveniently leaked this information to John Armstrong in the weekend when he wrote his column—Mr O’Connor does not have the personality and grunt to front up. John Armstrong said the view in the Beehive is that Damien O’Connor and Minister of Justice Mark Burton who is also on the dead-wood countdown lack the force of personality that previously saw Phil Goff— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Straight out of the 9th floor. 
JOHN KEY 
: Straight out of the 9th floor. He does not want to front up. 
When National members stood up and said that the Department of Corrections should have a higher profile round the Cabinet table and that it should be wound back into the Ministry of Justice so we can actually get some things happening there and remove the culture of denial that operates under his watch and in that department that was the first time we heard from Mr O’Connor. He did not have anything to say about Graeme Burton’s killings. He did not dispatch the duty Minister to do the interview for TV3. The night the duty Minister was on TV3 had nothing to say about Karl Kuchenbecker’s death. Mr O’Connor did not come back from his holiday to do a bit of explaining to save his job. He was sunning himself while New Zealanders were being killed and he was not allowed to front up because he does not have a strong-enough personality. That is obviously what a Minister of Corrections needs—not a well-run organisation not a tightly run ship that closes down problems and not a handle on what he or she is doing; a Minister of Corrections has to have a strong personality because that is the only thing left. 
Hon Member 
: He hasn’t got one. 
JOHN KEY 
: And he does not have one so he is not allowed out. According to Helen Clark she still has confidence in him. I hope she does have confidence in him— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: But there’s room for improvement. 
JOHN KEY 
: My goodness there is room for improvement. 
I hope Helen Clark has confidence in Damien O’Connor because I tell the House that New Zealanders do not. New Zealanders do not have confidence in Damien O’Connor. 
 Sitting out there are members of the public saying that Graeme Burton was released on zero tolerance. They are relying on Damien O’Connor and on Barry Matthews—a man who said that everything was well managed. Well no wonder they are worried. 
What has the Prime Minister done? She has done what she always does when there is a problem. She gets out in front and makes a few noises to look prime ministerial and to look like she cares. But she does not care enough to do something about it. She just cares enough to be seen to be deflecting things and to try to take the heat out of the situation; she does not care enough to fix things and she does not care enough to make her Minister responsible. She cares about the National Party attacking Labour’s record in this area which is abysmal. That is what the Prime Minister cares about. 
It is the same old story. The Prime Minister fronts up she talks tough she gives a few people a little bit of a flick along the way and nothing changes. There is no accountability; the standards are lower not higher and they are very malleable depending on what the polls look like—that is the truth of it. 
I say to the people of New Zealand that they deserve much better. New Zealanders deserve to know that when people are released on parole there is a good reason why they are released and they deserve to know that if people violate their parole something will happen and they will be recalled. New Zealanders are pretty darned confused now. They do not know what zero tolerance means under a Labour Government they do not know who is accountable and they do not know who is responsible—according to the Prime Minister it is nothing to do with her. 
I do not think that is good enough. I do not think the people of New Zealand thought that that was what Helen Clark meant when she said there would be accountability in her Government. I make this prediction: Damien O’Connor’s days in Cabinet are pretty limited. Damien O’Connor will eventually be offered up as the sacrificial little lamb chop because Helen Clark can read the polls and she knows that her Government with that man at the helm has no credibility whatsoever. That is why when my colleague Simon Power asked his questions today not one of the little muppets on the front bench had something to say. Not one of the front bench tried to protect him. Phil Goff tried to protect the Prime Minister by defending the indefensible but not one person wanted to be around Damien O’Connor because he is gone. I will say this for nothing—the way the Labour Government manages things in New Zealand including the Department of Corrections it is gone too and not a moment too soon.