Connell Brian: Corrections Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Procedure 
Connell Brian: Corrections Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:617;Page:13009] 
BRIAN CONNELL (National—Rakaia) 
: 
 What a weak Minister we have in the chair tonight! Paul Swain started off with fire and brimstone. He laid down the challenge that he wanted sharp debate he wanted members to come at him but he has not done a thing since—he has wilted like a violet. What he has done is sneak a Supplementary Order Paper—47 pages thick—in through the back door without giving anyone a chance to read it. He is a hopeless Minister who does not believe one iota of what is being perpetrated here today. When I railed about the cursory reference to victims in a bill that is 158 pages long he said they had the Victims’ Rights Act. What a cop-out! What a Clayton’s bill this is! If he continues to have his head in the sand like this then he deserves the polling result that his Government has. 
The Law and Order Committee’s Government members who worked on this legislation have not taken one call. Do members know why? Because they do not believe in this legislation any more than the Opposition members do—not one iota. 
In terms of fair treatment of prisoners clause 84 relates to the provoking of prisoners. What a nonsense that is! The Minister has steadfastly sat in that chair and maintained the management that released the “goon squad” on South Island prisoners. He has done nothing about it. He is having a Clayton’s review but there is nothing to that Clayton’s review as the decision is already predetermined. He is the Minister who for example has allowed a “goon squad” member who prevailed on one of the squad’s members to put his penis on a bar to be the sexual harassment officer. The same Minister has allowed the manager who allowed that to happen to be the ethics manager of the Department of Corrections. And the Minister wants us to have confidence in him and this bill! 
I will have a crack at clause 71 “Bedding” also. Other members have done it. In particular I want to look at clause 71(1): “Every prisoner must be provided with a separate bed”. Of course the small print should say “unless you are a female prisoner officer”! That is the bit that was not added and I have not heard this Minister get up and take a call on that. 
What really gets my goat about what is being proposed here is the decision to end private management of prisons. It is based neither on performance nor on efficiency criteria. It is purely driven by Matt Robson and his union mates and this Minister is too weak to stand up and say: “That is wrong. We will not do anything about this.” Had the Government looked at any criterion at all it would have discovered that the Auckland Central Remand Prison delivers a higher standard— 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: The Green member who purports to be the champion of rehabilitation of prisoners is the very same member who representing his party is in conjunction with this Government bringing down private management of the Auckland Central Remand Prison. That is a travesty and that member should know better. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: It’s a remand prison. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I apologise; the member is right for the first time today so I congratulate him! But the fact remains that he knows that he is letting those people down. 
Taito Phillip Field was on the Law and Order Committee for a while. He knows—and his head went down when I started to mention this—that what is transpiring under this bill is wrong. Private management of prisons is the best model this country has seen. The problem is that private management has shown up the inefficiencies of the Department of Corrections and it does not like it. What has happened is that Matt Robson and his union buddies have got to the Minister and said: “If you don’t do this then we will withdraw our political support for you.” As a consequence the Minister and his weak-kneed Government are rolling over.