Prebble Richard: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Prebble Richard: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Volume:614;Page:10770] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of the ACT party to speak in the adjournment debate at the end of the 2003 Parliament. We have just listened to the Green MP Sue Kedgley tell us that the Greens want the standard of Parliament to improve. What the Greens really want to be able to do is to have the Standing Orders altered so that they can call people racist. I fail to see why the Green Party thinks naming individuals and calling them racist will improve behaviour here. Then she complained that it was terrible that the Standing Orders Committee was an all-male committee. Well if that is a problem why did the Greens send a male? They could have fixed that. Why complain to us just because she could not get on to the committee? Indeed the other great complaint she made was that people are not taking GE seriously enough. I guess that is the reason the Greens’ bubble seems to have burst. 
But let me turn to the matter at hand—that the House should adjourn on 16 December. [ 
Interruption 
] Sorry? What is the member’s problem? 
David Benson-Pope 
: What about the $35000 worth of Mainfreight fees? 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: I earned every dollar of it too. Members opposite feel absolute envy of anyone who is in business anyone who is successful. That member has managed to crawl himself on to a trip to Australia that is designed for people who are starting their political careers. Who is the Labour Party sending? It is sending its senior whip—that fine young member whose career is about to start—and Steve Chadwick another new budding member. Of course that is the trouble with the Labour Party—it has no new people. 
But let us turn to the motion that the House should adjourn on 16 December. Mr Speaker you have been here a bit longer than I have but I cannot remember the House ever adjourning this early. Either we congratulate the Government on solving all the problems that needed to be solved or we go along with the amendment. Or perhaps there are other reasons why the House wants to adjourn early. [ 
Interruption 
] Parliament is quite expensive and the member opposite is paid whether or not he is here. Should he be working? I draw to the attention of the House that the biggest political issue this year has been who owns the beaches and the foreshore. Has this House dealt with that matter? 
Opposition Members 
: No. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: And when is the Government intending to deal with the matter? 
Opposition Members 
: Tomorrow. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Tomorrow when the House is not meeting. Is that parliamentary? Would a Government that is prepared to be transparent and accountable and a Government that believes in Parliament do that? No it would not. I believe that this House should sit so I want to move an amendment to the motion to delete the words “Tuesday 10 February” and replace them with the words “Thursday 18 December”. We should give the Government whip 1 day off. The Government can have its public meeting then it can come back on Thursday and debate the foreshore issue. 
David Benson-Pope 
: It’s already been moved. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: It does not matter; I am allowed to move that motion too. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That amendment has already been moved by Mr Brash. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Well I am going to support it. I have found Mr Brash to be a leader of some wisdom and I have great pleasure in supporting him. I ask the member opposite whether he is so confident in his Government’s foreshore policy that he is prepared to vote for this amendment and to come here and tell the House and the country why we should support it. [ 
Interruption 
] To be fair to Darren Hughes he is one of the few people who held a public meeting for ordinary members of the public. Admittedly only 16 turned up but he held a meeting unlike other members opposite. They were prepared to go to hui at taxpayers’ expense to talk to Maori but were they prepared to hold hui for the rest of the New Zealand public? Were they prepared to hold publicly held meetings? 
Jill Pettis 
: Yes. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: No they did not. They held them in their electorate offices for a few pensioners. Well if they are prepared to hold a meeting they will vote for the amendment will they not? 
I also tell the House that we have not solved every other problem. I remember that this time last year an individual was sent to jail he turned up he was signed into the jail and an hour later he was put out under the Government’s Christmas bonus release. The Government told us that would never happen again. [ 
Interruption 
] The fishwife is shouting out that she remembers that. She is upset too about a criminal getting a 1-hour sentence—[ 
Interruption 
] Look how upset she is! It was probably one of her relatives! She remembers it well. Well what is happening this year? This year the Government has decided to release 242 prisoners and it does not know how many have committed violent offences. It does not know how many rapists are on that list. According to the Minister of Corrections it has no idea—he just signed the Christmas bonus release. Well let us come back on Thursday to examine that issue because we all know that one of the first things that half the prisoners given early release last year did was to go shopping in our place. 
Simon Power 
: What did they get? 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: They got a lot of videos and TVs and a few other bits and pieces which of course they needed. Half of them are back in jail. Some of them are getting released again. I say to members opposite that if they think they have solved every problem what about the dreadful crime this year— 
Jill Pettis 
: The member is making it up. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: Does anyone else remember the name Coral Burrows? That member does not remember Coral Burrows’ name. Does she remember the name Steven Williams? Am I making up the fact that Steven Williams had 88 previous convictions? She is very silent now. He now has 89 convictions and we have a Labour member who is prepared to support Steven Williams. She is prepared to vote for an early adjournment because she does not care that a person can have 88 convictions and commit a dreadful murder of that sort. If we had any sort of justice system he would have been in jail but of course that Labour member from Whanganui is prepared to support his not having been jailed. She is prepared to support an early adjournment of Parliament because she thinks it is just that a man like Steven Williams can have a record of 88 previous convictions many of them for violence and still be out free and able to commit a murder. 
Jill Pettis 
: Yes. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: The member says “Yes”. I tell the House that we ought to be re-meeting because we need to look at our justice system. We need to have a system that holds people accountable and tells people like Steven Williams that they will go to jail and stay there and rot and not be able to kill young girls such as Coral Burrows. For that reason I tell Jill Pettis who appears to be the only member of Parliament—in fact the only person in New Zealand—prepared to support Steven Williams that she should rethink because when she votes for this adjournment she is voting for the Steven Williams’ of this world. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: That is disgusting. 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE 
: I think it is disgusting too and that is what I think about the justice system. So I hope that I will hear from the members of the Labour Party and that they will start to vote for a justice system. 
But let me just complete this speech. I wish you Mr Speaker a happy Christmas. I wish my own team and all other members of Parliament a happy Christmas. I say to our ACT staff that they have worked hard and they deserve a good Christmas. The people who work in and around this building—the messengers; the staff in the Parliament Library who I think are a tremendous asset; and all the other staff—work hard for us and I wish them and yourself all the best for the Christmas period. But I hope I will see you next Thursday.