Mark Ron: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Mark Ron: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:618;Page:13804] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak on these appropriations. I have to say right from the word go that New Zealand First has given me the law and order portfolios to watch over—specifically police and corrections. For those two areas I grade this Government a very bad “E” for effort. The Government truly deserves an “F” for failure; failure to live up to the expectations that the public had failure to live up to the promises that Labour made in 1999 and 2002 and failure even to live up to its own expectations—not that those are very high. In terms of closing the gaps on law and order this Government is a dismal failure. 
Let me just go through some of the areas of law and order. Supposedly the judiciary was going to be empowered so that it could take care of sentencing and parole in line with what 92 percent of New Zealanders had asked for but that has proven not to be the case. In fact we now see that people who are sentenced to jail are up for parole at the one-third mark of their sentences. They are so confident of getting parole these days that they apply for back-end home detention 6 months prior to their parole date and they get it! They are being put back out on to the streets having served less than one-third of their time in jail. That was not the expectation of the percentage of New Zealanders who voted for this Government to come into office. Their expectations have certainly not been lived up to. I am thankful that we have judges out there like Judge Erber who can see precisely what the public views as appropriate sentences and deals them out. 
Sadly there are some other areas where the judiciary is failing to live up to the community’s expectation and this Government is doing nothing whatsoever. Members should look at the number of cases of children who have been bashed to death and the rather strange sentences that have been handed out to those offenders—and I mention Kershaw as one example. 
With regard to fines and enforcement what value is there in the judiciary handing out fines if those fines are not enforced? The Courts and Criminal Matters Bill is still before the select committee so I will not go into that territory. However I will say that when New Zealand First started raising the problem of outstanding fines the bill was something like $480 million. The Government fluffs around the edges it does a little “name shame” here and a little of this and that there it puts people’s photos on buses on the backs of cars or wherever but the fact remains that if this Government were serious about making the most of the good police work that is done that obtains convictions obtains sentences and sees fines being allocated if this Government had any concern about the integrity of the judicial system and the law enforcement wing it would pass legislation to give the courts access to the information that the Inland Revenue Department has. Then anyone who is on a benefit anyone who is being paid any sort of money at all and is paying taxes who has any outstanding fine would be snaffled immediately and held to account for non-payment of that fine. The Government’s failure to do anything there is a failure for the whole of New Zealand. 
What can we say about parole? Parole is a disaster. New Zealand First has long said that parole should be earned. But we have a Government that hands it out willy-nilly to these people only to find—just like with Mr Isherwood and Mr Jarden—that within days of their release on parole they offend again. What has the Government done about it? 
I can tell the House that we now have revelations that Dr David Chaplow who is supposedly an adviser to the Parole Board has actually been taking part in the decision-making process. My colleague Dail Jones who is our justice spokesman has put through a number of written questions to this Minister of Corrections asking: “What steps does he intend [to] take to review Parole Board decisions involving Dr David Chaplow as an adviser and if he does not intend to take any steps to review those decisions why not?”. This is the answer he gets: “The Board is a statutory body”—we know that—“and I understand that it is considering its options”—we know that too—“in conjunction with the appropriate Crown Agencies (Ministry of Justice and Crown Law).” We know that too. But what is the Minister’s answer? There is no answer. 
We will have a look at that to see if in any way it allows us to take a case to the Privileges Committee because it is not in keeping with Helen Clark’s statement that we would see a new era of accountability ushered in. It is buck-passing and duck-shoving and at the end of the day there is a whole list of victims whom this Government just turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to. Under this Government parole is a joke. This Government needs to be held personally accountable for some of these decisions. 
Government Members 
: Ha ha! 
RON MARK 
: People can laugh but in Mr Isherwood’s case alone for which this Government has tenure and responsibility a woman was raped drugged and put into prostitution and he was jailed for it but when he was let out on parole he did the same thing again. Who in this Government will stand up put up his or her hand and say: “Sorry I’m responsible. I resign.”? No one! What does that say about Helen Clark’s new era of accountability? 
Let us look at the corrections system and at sex in prisons. We had a year or two of Matt Robson as Minister saying inmates should have conjugal rights. We now have Paul Swain as Minister and they do have conjugal rights but the problem is that male prisoners are having them with female prison officers! We actually have a report of one case where an inmate had sexual relationships with a male prison officer and with a female prison officer. What is this Government doing about it? Nothing. The Minister and this Government stand up day after day and protect and defend the inexcusable actions of the “goon squad” but I do not see anything in the Government’s Budget anything in its policies or anything in its initiatives that would protect good female prison officers who do sterling work but are now becoming the victims of stigma and innuendo. [ 
Interruption 
] Members opposite prattle on. When the Minister was first asked about this matter he said there were three cases. Then he confessed there were five. Then he admitted there were 12. Now we hear there are 21 cases. The truth is the Government does not know because the Department of Corrections has deliberately kept these complaints as informal investigations so there is no record. The truth is this Government has no idea of the level of offending inside prisons. 
I want to talk about home detention. Well what can one not say about home detention! Under this Government inmates can be put on home detention. It is great for gamblers because they can gamble on the Internet at home. It is great for alcoholics because if they have got themselves into trouble and broken the law or have been violent criminals they can booze up at home with all their gang mates. It is great for drug dealers. They can set up a speed laboratory at home and die of a P overdose. What did this Minister say about that? He said that it was not true and that the member was making it up. Well the member was not making it up. It was true. The case was reported in the newspapers. What is the Government doing about it? It is doing nothing. It is just trying to justify itself. 
Then there is the real sharp end of law enforcement—that is the police. This Minister of Police has had personal letters going back to 29 September 2002 from police officers telling him of the problems inside the communication centres yet he has done nothing. He is batting that problem off to one side in the hope the Land Transport Safety Authority will pick up the funding because he does not have the gumption to put in his own money to look after his own police officers. He uses policemen and policewomen as pawns in a little Treasury game between himself and the Minister of Transport whilst he sends his officers out there to collect revenue by issuing 27 percent more traffic tickets. This Government has increased its revenue take from quota ticketing by $52 million since this Minister has been in the job but that has been at the expense of the reputation of the police force and at the expense of the reputation of policemen and policewomen. But the Minister does not care. Well I have a message for him. New Zealand First will be part of the new Government after the next election. 
Hon George Hawkins 
: Ha ha! 
RON MARK 
: We will be. He can laugh. If he does not want to be in Government that is fine. But we will be addressing these issues in the way that the public expects them to be addressed. That he can bank on.