Barclay Todd: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Legislation Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarclay Todd: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Legislation Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 02 June 2015. Volume:706;Page:4230. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD BARCLAY (National—Clutha-Southland):It is a privilege to speak on the first reading of the Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Legislation Bill. I would just like to acknowledge the other speakers across the House who have spoken so far tonight and thank them and acknowledge their support of the bill through its first reading so far. It is an important piece of legislation as many people have already acknowledged as it is putting victims at the forefront of the criminal justice system and trying to make sure that these people get a fair go.I thought it was timely to acknowledge the Department of Corrections chief executive Ray Smith who was acknowledged in the Trans Tasman’s sixth annual departmental review for his personal performance and also for the performance of his department. Both he and his department have been ranked second. I think that acknowledgment is pretty timely really when we are listening to what some of the Opposition members have already acknowledged about making sure that we are integrating our services and making sure we have got the manpower to implement the technology that this bill puts in place. It is a credit to Ray Smith and his team for the resilience and hard work that they have put into improving the corrections system over the last couple of years under his leadership. I am very much looking forward to him presenting to the Law and Order Committee over the estimates so we can acknowledge him in person and thank him for the efforts of his team.As we have heard tonight from the Minister of Corrections this bill is aimed at removing the barriers to monitoring offenders and it is around trying to improve the safety of those who are victims of crime and who are the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society. Electronic monitoring can improve public safety by making authorities more aware of the offenders and how they have failed to comply with conditions of their release out in the general community. Without electronic monitoring the conditions can be difficult to enforce as we know.I come from a provincial electorate where we have a number of people who are out on probation. Simply trying to track somebody down from your branch and trying to discuss an electorate issue can be difficult let alone trying to track down someone who does not want to be found. So GPS and electronic monitoring will play an important role in the future strengthening of our justice system. We have already heard that the areas that will be most targeted by this new technology will be offenders in family violence sexual offending and seriously high offenders. When I was doing a bit of research for this we looked at the number of sentences in order by area and I am just going to talk about two particular areas that traverse parts of my electorate. For Otago we have currently got 1012 individuals out on sentences in the community who are doing part of their rehabilitation back in the community and 338 who are out on sentencing orders in the community.In Southland and in part of Jacqui Dean’s electorate Central Otago we have got 691 who are currently serving part of their sentences in the community and 229 who are operating under orders in their community. I think that is quite important. They are quite large numbers for quite small areas and I think most members of the general public would not quite appreciate how many of these people are out in their society.If you look at the percentage of those who are serving these community-based sentences a fair majority of them—well over 50 percent—are between the ages of 20 and 35 which indicates that if these offenders are not already on their second or third offence the chances statistically that they will reoffend by the time they have finished their sentence are quite high. So I think we have got to do everything in our ability to try to prevent them from reoffending. That is part of what this bill enables: it helps to prevent those who may have been put into prison for gambling alcohol or drug-related offences from falling back into the same traps that saw them put in prison in the first place. By being able to monitor and control their whereabouts when they are in the community we play an important role in their rehabilitation not only in support of the victims who are the most heavily affected by these individuals but also for themselves.If we look at the percentage of people currently serving community-based sentences in order of most serious offence 23.5 percent of them are serving sentences for violence-related offences 3.1 percent for sexual offences and about 10 percent for drug and antisocial offences. These are quite significant numbers when you look at the general make-up. These are pretty dangerous individuals who are in and around our communities right now as we speak. If you look at the general prison population of around 8500 prisoners as well most of these people—certainly not all of them—will be back in communities eventually whether it is in 6 to 12 months’ time or whether it is in 20 years’ time. They will be somebody’s neighbour living across the road from somebody or living across the road from a family and they will be integrated back into society eventually. So we have got an obligation as a Government to do everything that we can to ensure that their smooth integration back into society is as seamless as possible to prevent them from reoffending and getting back in the criminal justice system.As we have heard from a number of other members up until now these people have been in the communities and we have been able to track them through some form of radio tracking but it is quite difficult to actually tell exactly what they are doing where they are and whether they are in places that they should or should not be. Response times from police can sometimes put victims in danger as well. We have heard from the Minister that it is a synchronised response and the reason why it has taken a little bit longer to roll this legislation out across the most serious of offenders is that we wanted to make sure that from a correctional perspective and also a police perspective there is the capability and capacity to actually administer the roll-out of these services.The second point that I want to touch on is the fact that offenders serving short prison sentences are reconvicted at a higher rate than any other prisoner. I think that goes back to the point where the majority of these people who are serving community-based sentences are of the age of between 20 and about 35. Most of these people—all of those who are willing and able—are of working age and of working ability. So whether they are in the community or whether they are traversing back through the correctional facility if they do not have a qualification or a set of skills that they can apply to the workforce already then it is in everybody’s best interests that they do so.I want to talk a little bit about the Otago Corrections Facility which is just out of Milton in my electorate. I want to acknowledge the manager there Jack Harrison who manages just over 200 staff and ensures the security and the locking up of about 415 prisoners. Jack was kind enough to give me a tour around his facility a couple of months ago and took me through the various units that they have got there right from high security to medium security to drug and alcohol rehabilitation to low security and then into their community integration wing.The important part about this is that almost all of these prisoners whether they start off in drug and alcohol rehabilitation or in high security work their way through that system back to integration. Almost all of these people who have committed serious offences although they are an incredible danger to the community now will eventually be released back into society. The point that he made which has stuck with me—and this has actually been the most valuable electorate visit for me as a new MP—is that while they are in prison all of these people no matter what they have done or what their background is are still human beings and they have got rights albeit not as many rights as those who are on the other side of the bars.But when they do go back to society it is in our best interests to make sure that they are equipped with the skills and capabilities to function in everyday life. An example of the work that the Otago Corrections Facility is doing towards this is that it has got 16 current prisoners working in a carpentry training workshop which will enable them to get hands-on training in the theory and practice of construction. Part of that course is that they have to partially build a house. By the time they have completed that course and while they are working in prison they will have gained a National Certificate in Building Construction and Allied Trades Skills at level 2 and then a National Certificate in Carpentry at level 3 if they progress to the next level. This is a practical skill and most of these people have not even completed National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 1 or level 2 at high school let alone thought that they would gain a trade. While they are in a facility like this it is in our best interests to help them try to gain their skills so that they can be participating members of society.Just on that note that is why I would like to speak in support of this bill and I would like to acknowledge again the Opposition parties that have already committed to supporting it through its first reading. This is an important part of corrections. Thank you.