Barclay Todd: Urgent Debates — Mt Eden Corrections Facility—Serco’s PerformanceText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarclay Todd: Urgent Debates — Mt Eden Corrections Facility—Serco’s Performance[Sitting date: 21 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5127. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD BARCLAY (National—Clutha-Southland):I was just consulting with one of my learned colleagues about the prison system and about his wider perspective on the situation that we have got to hand here. Personally I just want to acknowledge the Minister of Corrections the Hon Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga for his contribution. This is clearly an emotive issue for a lot of people because public safety and the safety of prisoners and staff are paramount and I think that the level of criticism from the Opposition members targeted directly at the Minister in a personal capacity was unacceptable in light of the steps that he has taken quite immediately to come back and try to remedy the situation.None the less I think that since this is a situation of high emotion and since public safety and safety behind the gate are paramount we should still be looking at this in a calculated and measured way. Acting on emotion and on what you see through social media without the wider perspective could have a detrimental effect and actually it is insulting to the 8500 prison staff across the country who are doing a fantastic job and are putting themselves in danger each and every day for the protection not only of those behind the gate but also of those of us who are operating in general society.I think that the Minister has already articulated the response which he has been quick to implement following the reports of the incidents that took place inside Mt Eden Corrections Facility. His response is a two-part review: firstly investigating the issues and circumstances surrounding violence and contraband use in prisons more broadly—I am looking specifically at the example raised at Mt Eden Corrections Facility—and secondly the adequacy of controls designed to address prisoner violence and access to contraband. As the Minister has pointed out this is not an issue confined specifically to Mt Eden Corrections Facility; it is an issue that has come up in all of the prisons across this country from time to time.I think the main reason why that is the case is that we are not dealing with the safest and most well-meaning New Zealanders; we are dealing with the most serious and difficult New Zealanders. If you look at the criminal justice system that we have in New Zealand we go to great lengths to try to prevent people from entering into that level of punishment because we know the broader impacts on a prisoner once they enter the system and on the rest of their criminal career. So we go to great lengths to try to prevent people from finding themselves in that situation but those who are in that situation—the 8500 prisoners in this country—are the most dangerous and difficult New Zealanders.I would like to thank and acknowledge the 8500 prison staff under Ray Smith’s leadership who do a fantastic job every single day. How is this dissimilar to incidents that have happened in other parts of the public sector? From time to time we see that there have been fights taking place between schoolchildren in schools. Does that mean that we should sack the principal and the board of trustees of the school if that takes place? No it does not. It means that we should deal with the situation in a contained manner and move forward to prevent things like this from happening again. That is what the Minister is trying to do with these two reviews.Serco is implementing its own review into these matters as well. For the New Zealand First Party to say that Serco’s motivations are to cut corners and that that is how it receives its profit—in fact it is the complete opposite; Serco is incentivised by safety measures. That is why it takes so seriously its responsibilities as a provider of correctional services to the State. That it is why it is in Serco’s best interests to take the steps that it is taking by means of a review as well to prevent this from happening again in any of its facilities. Serco is actually at a financial loss if things like this happen. It is not Serco’s incentive to cut corners and to stop safety. That is the situation where we are at.I want to talk next about Better Public Services being our underlying operating premise in Government. We strive to deliver better public services safer public services and more efficient and more effective public services and best practice is a key element of that. That is why we are constantly striving for best practice examples from around the world and around this country that we can implement and impose on our public services so that we get the best value for taxpayers’ dollars and the best value for service. It is not a question of whether it is public delivery or private delivery; it is a case of best practice and generating better more efficient public services.A cornerstone of that is accountability and transparency as well. Again I want to acknowledge the Minister for the quick response that he took to taking what could have been an emotional knee-jerk reaction to a social media - driven incident. Instead he has actually taken an independent inquiry through the Office of the Ombudsmen and that is the next point. For the Opposition to say that it wants an independent inquiry I mean you cannot get any more independent than the undertaking that the Minister has given.Again I want to reiterate the great job that the vast majority of our prison officers across this country are doing. I think it is not the most desirable job. I have been to one prison in my electorate under the leadership of Jack Harrison. He takes pride in the fact that he and his 250 staff monitoring the 415 prisoners in that facility love their job. They do a great job of what they do. They take their role incredibly seriously. They know that the activities that they undertake on a day-to-day basis and how they conduct themselves have a direct impact on the rehabilitation of those prisoners. Again prisoners are not the easiest people to deal with obviously. That is why they are in the situation they are in. I think for Opposition members to direct their concerns in the way that they have they need to take a serious look at how they are directing these concerns and start being a bit more productive around how we find a solution instead of attacking personally the people who are doing a fantastic job of what they do.Hon Simon Bridges: That is shameful.TODD BARCLAY: It is indeed very shameful. One of the stories that does not get told very often and it is only until you have the opportunity to visit one of these facilities that you see it for yourself is the great lengths that the prison service is going to largely under the initiatives that have been implemented by this Government to try to bring the people in these facilities back to a more recovered position before they enter the general public again. We have extensive drug and alcohol testing in all of our facilities. There are individual education plans for each prisoner who wishes to take them up. They are available to all prisoners across the country to provide them with a skill or a qualification so that when they re-enter society which most of them will do they can be sensible participants in society in the same way that their neighbours their families and their friends are.Eventually most of these people are going to be back in society. One of the most fundamental impacts or drivers of their ability to re-enter society in a good state so that they are no longer a harm to any New Zealander is the 8500 prison staff in this country who are working with these people on a day-to-day basis. They are teaching them life skills. We have got one prisoner in Milton who has been working on an Out of Gate work programme. He has been in prison for 20 years. When he re-enters society he is going to have to learn how to use an eftpos card a computer and a phone. It is the prison guards who work with these people on a day-to-day basis who teach them these things.In closing I would just like to reiterate my appreciation of the Minister and the statements he has made and the constructive and quick approach that he has taken to remedy what is a serious situation. I would just like to acknowledge again the staff of the prison service across this country. Thank you.