Andersen Ginny; Mitchell MarkHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Mr Chair. I'd like to pick up on those questions that were on I think page 7 under clause 6 of the bill. In particular I really appreciate that the Minister's been really forthright with his answers so far in relation to the removal of the Treaty references in this legislation. I just wanted to pick up on one thing he stated which was that Corrections should be colour blind and that if they weren't then it would somehow impede or make their job not right so they should be colour blind.But I would just like to refer the Minister to the regulatory impact statement which specifically references the work that's been undertaken by Corrections in relation to Hōkai Rangi. They specifically state that Corrections is contributing to improved rehabilitation and reintegration outcomes by delivering its programmes and services in a way that recognises the power and the strength of whakapapa to enhance a sense of belonging and identity with the community." I would see that as integral to the Hōkai Rangi strategy that has been and continues to be implemented by Corrections. It is not colour blind. In fact acknowledging Māori their identity their whakapapa and their cultural connections is the very essence of how rehabilitation may well occur. So I'm really puzzled by the Minister's comments that the Department of Corrections should be colour-blind.I would further really like to understand and we haven't had this answer yet why the Treaty provisions have been removed. When we on the Labour side asked officials why these provisions were removed similar to the Minister the explanation we were provided was we've already got all these great Māori programmes happening; we can do some programmes we can do cultural things we can have te reo Māori—we can do all these things—so we don't need a Treaty reference in this bill in order to be able to do all these great things for the 53 percent of Māori inmates that we have. But the question is: so why take it out? What's wrong with having the Treaty in there? If these things are so fundamental to our partnership between the Crown and te iwi Māori what is the problem with that? You can just point to your coalition agreement but it's your coalition agreement as well. So you need to be able to explain to New Zealanders that there is more to this than just a political promise. There needs to be logic behind removing it. I agree that you've made a deal with some coalition partners to be able to form a Government and pass legislation like this but I think incumbent upon that power comes responsibility to explain to voting New Zealanders why taking Treaty references out of this bill makes one lick of difference. Because I can't see how it does. You can't leave it both ways. Either you take it out and it makes a difference to the bill or you leave it in and it stays the same.I still yet have not heard from the Minister responsible for this legislation why the Treaty references have been taken out of this bill and also why they make the bill better by removing the Treaty references in this bill. We know that over 50 percent of those incarcerated in our prisons are Māori and I do not accept that being colour blind makes any difference or makes it any better.He says that the corrections system is working incredibly well. Well I would say that rehabilitation needs to hugely improve recidivism needs to hugely improve and I would think that the Treaty as a framework in a partnership between the Crown and te iwi Māori was a good starting point to start to address some of those huge discrepancies that we've continued to see over decades and decades in New Zealand. We still not have not received an answer as to why the Treaty references taken out and secondly what difference this actually makes to the bill. All of the things that were already happening in there are so why don't we just leave the Treaty reference in there?Hon MARK MITCHELL (Minister of Corrections): Well I've actually answered that question four or five times out of respect for the members that keep asking it. In relation to my comment around being colour blind if the member had been listening she would have heard that both the Police and Corrections were accused of being racist. I was very clear that I reject that accusation and that both services in my view are colour blind. Now that does not mean that our Corrections officers aren't deeply passionate about delivering programmes and caring for and looking after people—not just one ethnicity multiple ethnicities inside our corrections system. And I'm extremely proud of the work that they do. But are they racist? No I completely reject that.In relation to the question around the removal of the Treaty provisions again I'd say to the member that yes it was a Cabinet decision based on a coalition agreement."