Connell Brian: Corrections Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Connell Brian: Corrections Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:13152] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 Thank you for a call on the great bedding debate. Talk about micromanagement! My colleague Mr Mapp has already mentioned clause 71(2). I remind members what detail we are getting down to. That subclause states: “A prisoner’s bedding must be laundered as often as is necessary to maintain cleanliness.” This week our wishy-washy Chardonnay-sipping insipid mealy-mouthed PC Government has been absolutely pathetic on crime. Next thing we know the Minister in the chair Paul Swain will be legislating for prisoners’ mummies to come in and make sure they have clean underwear. That is the sort of detail that the Minister is putting into legislation. 
The Minister in the chair is so hopeless that he had to table a Supplementary Order Paper of 50 pages— 
John Carter 
: How long was the bill? 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: It was 158 pages. A third of the bill has been corrected. It is certainly the “Corrections Bill” is it not? It is the “Corrections of the Corrections of the Corrections Bill”. That Supplementary Order Paper was sneaked in at the last moment so that we could not have a quality debate on it. Do members know why? It is because that Minister is absolutely ashamed of this legislation. He has been rolled by Matt Robson and his union mates. He does not believe one iota of it and it gets worse. That Minister who maintains that his Government is concerned about victims has completely ignored victims in this legislation other than in a passing reference. In a bill that is 158 pages long there is one slight passing reference. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: And 50 pages of amendments. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: And 50 pages of amendments. When we raised it what was his answer to the Opposition benches? He said they had the Victims’ Rights Act. Anyone who believes that is anything but a Clayton believes in garden fairies as well. This Government is soft on crime. Five out of eight of the principles mentioned in clause 6 provide for offenders and there is one passing reference only to victims. This is a pathetic excuse for legislation and the Minister is hanging his head in shame because he knows it does not stack up to close scrutiny. It is a bill that is being perpetrated on Parliament by unions and crooks. Actually that is a tautology is it not? 
The greatest travesty of all is that the bill closes down the private management of prisons. The Auckland Central Remand Prison is the best performing prison in this country by a long shot. What is it getting as a consequence of its outstanding performance? It is getting the great terminator. It is not getting Arnie—it is getting Paul Swain terminator. 
Ron Mark 
: “Swainy and the boys”. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: It is getting “Swainy and the boys”. He will be the Governor of California next. That is what he is aiming for. He is going to terminate the best-performing prison in this country. The decision to terminate the prison is on no other basis than ideology. Had the Minister cared to look at any sort of criteria at all he would have found that that prison is far more efficiently run and far cheaper than anything else in this country but he would not listen. With the cost of capital and overheads accounted for the cost of care per day for an inmate in a private prison is only $130 compared to $270 a day for an inmate in a Crown prison. 
The Minister in the chair should take a call to acknowledge whether those figures are right because they are. He will say that that is not true. We know that because management in the Department of Corrections would tell him so. Who would believe them?