Turei Metiria: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Turei Metiria: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:529] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 I am just following on from my previous discussions. I was talking about the fact that in New Zealand the debate about law and order is stuck on retribution and punishment as opposed to dealing with the real consequences in terms of safety for the community and the real need which is to reduce reoffending and the recidivism rate. What we know of course is that what we are doing now—which we continue to do in this House—does not reduce the recidivism rate; it increases it and there is no debate in this Chamber or amongst the broader community to look at the alternatives the changes that we need to make to reduce reoffending and to keep our communities safer. 
In Australia and in New South Wales in particular they suffer from exactly the same problem—a massive increase in the number of prisoners due to toughened bail laws. Thousands of people are being held on remand as they await trial and that is blowing out the costs of the prisons. Over there they talk about holding a prisoner at a cost of about $200 a day. There is nothing in the prison process particularly for those who are held in remand to help them to deal with their reoffending whether it is in terms of rehabilitation or drug and alcohol treatments particularly in terms of treatment support. 
As is the case here very little is spent on rehabilitation or support for those who are on remand or even those who get bail. This is where there is a huge hole and others with more experience in the portfolio may want to make a contribution about that—that there is no real support for those who are bailed. A young person with a first offence may get into some trouble and run with people who are more dangerous older and more involved in crime then get caught for some kind of offence and get bailed to that same community of people—the same family the same home and exactly the same circumstances that brought him or her into that criminal activity in the first place. There is no provision for them to get any kind of support to deal with the issues that brought them there. 
For many prisoners drug and alcohol treatment is absolutely essential. Vast quantities of our prison muster have drug and alcohol addiction problems. Very few especially those who have sentences of 6 months get access to any kind of rehabilitation programme whatsoever. Then they are let back out into the community. And what do we expect as we do the same thing over and over and do nothing to provide any assistance? We expect that they will magically decide to change everything about their experience and their lives and find a whole new way of living. 
There is not only that. As some of my Labour colleagues have mentioned they may then go into an environment where they may well get a job which is often a life-saver particularly for these young guys to help keep them out of trouble. But what happens after 90 days? They will be fired and they will find themselves on a benefit and on a 13 week stand-down because as we have discovered the Minister of Labour has not been able to fix that problem because she does not understand benefit law. [ 
Interruption 
] National did not support the amendment to get rid of that stand-down. Young guys in particular end up on a merry-go-round of jail for further offending trying to get work finding themselves unemployed going on a benefit again getting back into crime and going to jail—round and round it goes. Where is the intervention? Where are the resources that would stop that roundabout? There are none. 
We have to bear in mind that for all the really nice words that Minister Power has said in the past about trying to put more money into drug rehabilitation programmes both in prison and out of prison the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister have told their Ministers that there is no new money. There in no money for any of these kinds of programmes so how will the Minister fulfil that promise? I have a great deal of faith in Simon Power. I have spent some time with him in the last 6 years in this House and I know that he is a genuine person. I believe that he believes those things but he has no money to put into rehabilitation programmes restorative programmes and programmes like the Sycamore Tree programme.