Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Wow! That member—Dr Nick Smith—talks about what's cancerous to a politician's career and says that in Opposition you say one thing and in Government do another. Well I put to that member and that side of the House that after their nine years in Government our prison system reached a crisis point a crisis point where we almost ran out of capacity—almost ran out of capacity. I lay a very simple formula before this House tonight—a very simple formula—and if that side will listen they'll understand why in the famous words of Renée Geyer we are heading in the right direction. It goes like this: a reducing prison population frees up more beds. Add to that that more beds are coming online. Therefore we no longer have the capacity issue that saw that side of the House campaigning on a new billion-dollar mega-prison and what did the public say to that? We don't want that." The public said that there has to be a better way and I am proud that the Minister of Corrections the Hon Kelvin Davis is making sure that our prison system the corrections system in this country is actually fit for purpose and actually does what the general public expects of it. It isn't simply about building more beds higher walls stronger locks—no. In fact mention was made on that side of the House about rehabilitation so allow me to expand on the words of the Minister this evening. There is no question on this side of the House that rehabilitation is an integral part of the corrections system—no question whatsoever—to help prisoners live a crime-free life upon release. Corrections already allocates significant resources toward assessing offenders and providing programmes according to their risks and needs and their ability to be responsive to the programme. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly there are already requirements in the Act for corrections to assist in and provide access to rehabilitation and reintegration through the provision of programmes and other interventions—that's pretty clear to me. It makes sense to me. Secondly an explanation clause has no operative or legislative effect. Essentially this renders it meaningless as it does not affect any behavioural change and has no enforceability—no behavioural change and no enforceability. What are we setting out to do here? What are we setting out to do here? We are setting out to make sure that those who enter into our prison system have the rehabilitation services that they need. Guess what? They already do. Simply putting something in a piece of legislation doesn't make it at all enforceable nor does it force behavioural change. Thirdly prisoners also already have a strong incentive to participate in rehabilitation programmes through parole requirements to receive early release. An expectation clause does not alter that. We offer again thanks to all those who submitted on this bill because it was made rather clear as mentioned by the Minister that while there was a small number of submitters the quality was really strong. It was made very clear from those submitters that what we are doing currently not just in this bill but as a Government looking forward into the future for those of the prison population is the right thing to do. That side asked for a vision and a plan. We have one. We acknowledge that mental health and drug and alcohol addiction are serious issues for the prison population. So what does this side of the House do? We make sure that there is a facility available for that—beds available for those who need that service. That side is asking for a vision. They had nine years to do it and didn't. On this side of the House within one term we have already made available beds for mental health services and drug and alcohol addiction services something that that side only ever spoke about and did nothing about. I'm proud that this particular piece of legislation is but one piece of a larger work programme from this side of the House to make sure that the prison population continues to decrease and more importantly does so safely and that those who enter into the prison system come out on the other side better people."