O'Rourke Denis: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
O'Rourke Denis: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3515. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DENIS O’ROURKE (NZ First) 
: 
 I will be able to make only a brief call about this because I believe as the last speaker has set out that this is a very simple bill and most has already been said probably more than once. The Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill simply extends the current regime for a further year while new legislation is developed. On that basis the bill will be acceptable to New Zealand First and we will support it. 
The final legislation when developed must in the first place preserve the rights properly held by prisoners including the right to compensation for accidents and any compensation that may be awarded for serious abuse while in prison rare though that may be. But on the other hand we must also ensure that there is no abuse by prisoners of that process and the entitlement to compensation. This does mean therefore New Zealand First believes that some special rules need to be developed to avoid inappropriate claims by prisoners while they are in prison—after all that is an extraordinary circumstance and some different rules should be developed for that purpose—because there is potential for abuse of ACC processes by prisoners and for spurious or unmeritorious claims for compensation for abuse while in prison. 
There needs to be an appropriate balance between prisoners’ rights and the potential for abuse by them. That is what the new regime needs to do and a good and proper investigation needs to be carried out for that purpose during the coming year. The extension of the sunset clause for that period is necessary and appropriate and as I have already said New Zealand First will support it. 
But there is another significant issue that needs to be investigated during that time and that concerns the provision enabling the transfer of compensation awarded to prisoners to victims generally or alternatively to victims specifically. If the awarding of compensation to a prisoner is to be transferred generally to victims in a fund for that purpose then that may not be acceptable. However if the transfer of the compensation is for the particular victim of a particular prisoner then that would be acceptable. 
Compensation of victims where awarded is of the highest importance and I see that there is a clamour amongst the members in the House to ensure that they are on the bandwagon ensuring the rights of victims. New Zealand First is certainly amongst them because as I have already said it is a matter of the highest importance to put victims in the centre of the position with regard to this particular matter. 
 The devil of course is in the detail as I have already indicated. Therefore there needs to be discussion about that. In the end there needs to be in particular a genuine and objective review during the next 12 months. We are likely to find that we cannot let this legislation expire and that we do need to sort out what the proper balance is between prisoners and their rights and the rights of victims on the other hand. In particular we need to settle that question about whether the transfer of compensation should be generally for the victims of crime or should be restricted only to a particular victim of a particular prisoner. That is a debate that I particularly look forward to having and that is a discussion that will be vital if we are going to reach any sort of consensus on these issues. 
So in the end let us have that review. Let us make sure that it is genuine and objective and that before debating the substantive issues we do receive the results of that investigation and past legislation based on real results and a real genuine and objective review. In the meantime New Zealand First certainly supports this bill to extend the sunset clause of this legislation for another year while that review takes place.