Katene Rahui: Policing (Storage of Youth Identifying Particulars) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Katene Rahui: Policing (Storage of Youth Identifying Particulars) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 16 August 2011. Volume:675;Page:20870. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 There is an enormous body of literature associated with existing police bias and overscrutiny of Maori which I hope was explored in full before the Policing (Storage of Youth Identifying Particulars) Amendment Bill was drafted. It is disturbing to be in this Chamber and to hear the frivolous banter going across the House about members being children at heart or being scruffy and dirty. It is disturbing because we are talking about an extremely serious issue. I am not talking about police powers; I am talking about the well-being and the future of our youth.  
I will firstly respond to the comments of the Minister of Police that she was disappointed that we had drawn light to the fact that the public was not made aware of this issue until a few hours ago. I challenge both Minister Collins and Mrs King to read the  
Hansard 
. I did not say at any point in my call on the first reading of this bill that this was a conspiracy; I asked: “Is this conspiracy theory?”. Clearly the question has got people excited but let us not shirk from the responsibilities of debating in a manner that is open and allows different points of view.  
Yes the Maori Party did receive a copy of this bill as is expected in the confidence and supply agreement but a key statement in that same agreement is that “In the event that National Party-led Government papers are provided to the Maori Party in the course of consultation or briefings they shall be treated as confidential and shall not be released or the information used for any public purpose”. So although we were given the draft 10 days ago it was not until 9:30 a.m. this morning that the bill was introduced and we were therefore able to talk about it publicly. We take issues of confidentiality and good faith seriously so we did not leak the paper we did not speak publicly about this issue and we did not contact our networks. We did not seek feedback until the information was made public and I hope that that would be acknowledged by the Minister. 
I also have in mind what the Hon Annette King has said about there being five big reports that justify this move to store the unique personal identifying material of our rangatahi. Just as a starting point let me share with members at least the same number of big reports that create a certain level of truth to the allegation that crime will be found where it is most looked for.  
We could start by reading the vital resource produced by the Hon Justice Eddie Durie in 2007 “The Study of Maori Offending”. There is the evidence published in 2003 in Professor David Fergusson’s 21-year longitudinal study on ethnicity and criminal convictions which breaks down the data into both police contact statistics and criminal convictions. Moana Jackson’s study from 1988 should be a core text of any lawyer training:  
The Maori and the Criminal Justice System. A New Perspective: He Whaipanga Hou.  
There is the research by Pania Te Whaiti and Michael Roguski  
Maori Perceptions of the Police  
and 
 Police Perceptions of Maori 
. There is also former Commissioner of Police Peter Doone’s  
Report on Combating and Preventing Maori Crime 
 which was published by the now defunct crime prevention unit in the Ministry of Justice. These are just a few reports that must be considered within the debate if we are truly to exercise due diligence in looking at this issue.  
Essentially the key point is that although Maori make up only 15 percent of the general population they currently comprise 40 to 45 percent of all police apprehensions. The question that this House is yet to tackle is why Maori are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. But there is an even more pressing issue that we must attend to. Let me quote from the opening address of His Honour Judge Andrew Becroft Principal Youth Court Judge at the Ngakia Kia Puawai Conference 2005 in my home town of Nelson. In his address “Maori Youth Offending” Judge Becroft said: “Maori youth offenders make up around 50% of all youth offenders but in some Youth Courts the figure is as high as 80% or 90%—despite Maori encompassing only about a quarter of the New Zealand population under 17 years of age. This situation is deeply concerning to everyone involved in youth justice.” That is absolutely so.  
So why is this Parliament apart from the Maori Party and the Green Party prepared to put so much focus on increasing police powers rather than giving some serious consideration to the focus of an ethnic bias in the New Zealand arrest and conviction process. All of the research that I cited earlier indicates that Maori with a given history of offending are more likely to be convicted than non-Maori with the same offending history and social background. In another report called  
Whanake Rangatahi 
 Te Puni Kokiri revealed that Maori youth are three times more likely to be apprehended prosecuted and convicted than non-Maori youth.  
The other very significant issue that I think has been woefully overlooked so far in this debate is that this bill targets our young people. As such surely it is essential that young people contribute to this debate. What do we have to lose? Why would we not want to hear the views of our young people about this issue? Two months ago Rethinking Crime and Punishment called a meeting of young people—16 to early 30s—to discuss the establishment of a young people’s forum. They were concerned that the voice of young people is absent from the conversation about crime and justice. Despite the fact that young people are the most involved in the criminal justice system both as victims and as offenders young people are missing from the debate.  
At that inaugural meeting of the young people’s forum they raised some key issues which I hope could be heard in this House. They wanted to be involved in creating influencing shaping designing and contributing to policy and strategy. They wanted to see a strong young people’s voice speaking out on crime and justice issues and gaining the attention of policy makers researchers and those involved in the political process. They sought our support in assessing and responding to the needs of young people in decision making and planning processes but wanted to have ownership. They were not interested in paternalism or tokenism.  
In this debate a lot has already been said about the concept that mistakes are made. Well let me share a comment made by Emily Whittaker on Pita Sharples’ Facebook page at 11 a.m. today: “It is not fair that our rangatahi records be kept by the police for future use. Many of our Rangatahi make mistakes like we all do and in a lot of cases they regret their misdoings. Rangatahi are entitled to another chance. Why should they be the target for negative actions created by government. Why not focus on the positive and encourage our Rangatahi to stay out of the justice system altogether. I strongly oppose this bill.”  
Here is another comment from Awhina Rameka-Waapu: “Ae it would be relevant to all youth engari this is discriminatory policy. Maori are over-represented at every stage of the criminal justice process and can be seen as a result of bias that operates within the criminal justice system. … As such this policy will only exacerbate this bias and discrimination. Additionally all youth will make stupid mistakes in their lives we must provide the opportunity for second chances. This policy will take that away from them.”  
Mrs King stated earlier that there is a cost to justice. The Maori Party will never resile from our belief that the cost to justice that keeps on keeping on is the opportunity cost lost to our young people. We must not be afraid to hear what our young people have to say about this policy. The Maori Party is doing what it can to bring that debate to the House today. Our Facebook pages our Twitter accounts and our telephones are working hard to hear what our rangatahi have to say. We will place those views on the record.