Huo RaymondRAYMOND HUO (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. It was a totally lost-in-translation type of contribution from the Hon David Bennett; most of the points in his speech were irrelevant. Instead of barking at every passing car I think the National Opposition should have really acknowledged and congratulated the Minister on his achievements and leadership in this very important area of law. The Corrections Amendment Bill was one of the 23 or so bills that the extraordinarily busy Justice Committee had considered. At the bill's third reading I think it's fitting for me as former chair of the Justice Committee to acknowledge and thank our officials advisers and submitters for their contributions. I'd like to congratulate again the Minister of Corrections the Hon Kelvin Davis on his achievements and leadership in this very important portfolio area. Corrections legislation is not only about New Zealand prisoners or about our Department of Corrections; it's more about rehabilitation public safety and social wellbeing. The key words of this bill are rehabilitation" "improvements" and "social wellbeing".The bill makes a number of changes to improve the Corrections Act 2004 in order to ensure the ability of the Department of Corrections to safely and humanely manage prisoners to improve prisoner discipline and to ensure the fair treatment of prisoners.For too long the reoffending rate of New Zealand prisoners has been too high. It has been historical and it has been a particular problem among Māori prisoners. I'm very proud of the achievements made by this Government—congratulations again to the Minister. We are focused on doing things differently to reduce reoffending and give the people within the prison—SPEAKER: Specific things from the bill please.RAYMOND HUO: —every opportunity to turn their life around. Therefore rehabilitation is our focus. Hon David Bennett: It's not in the bill though.RAYMOND HUO: We chose not to build a mega-prison as the speaker has duly reminded us—SPEAKER: Order! I'm trying to sort it out. I don't need David Bennett's help.RAYMOND HUO: Thank you very much.SPEAKER: The member will return to the bill.RAYMOND HUO: We choose not to build a mega-prison at Waikeria. [Interruption] Well that's one of the most important provisions in this bill—Hon David Bennett: What provision is it in then? What number? What clause?RAYMOND HUO: Well look at the provision yourself because we chose not to build the mega-prison as planned by the previous Government—as planned by the previous Government. Instead we're building a smaller 500-bed facility along with the 100-bed—SPEAKER: We've now got a second warning to the member to speak to the provisions of the bill. There is no obligation to speak for the full 10 minutes. I know it's a relatively narrow bill but the member will have to speak to it.RAYMOND HUO: Thank you very much. Coming back to the bill specifically the bill made some specific changes. I can spell them out: (a) making it a disciplinary offence regarding the prisoner tattooing; (b) amending the definition of a drug to align with the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 so people in prison can be tested for a wider range of drugs including synthetic cannabis and be charged with a disciplinary offence in the event of a positive test; and (c) allowing for use of imaging technology like a body scanner as the Minister just outlined to more effectively detect contraband including drugs and weapons and reduce reliance on rub-down or strip searches; and finally removing the mandatory requirements to strip search those who have returned to prison from an escorted outing. But back to the rationale behind the bill as the Minister just outlined we chose to do things differently because after the Justice Committee had heard from many submitters and from officials especially when considering stats and facts we decided not to build a mega-prison. Instead we have to build a mental health facility as part of the rehabilitation process because—Tim van de Molen: Which clause is that?RAYMOND HUO: It's because we're talking about the corrections bill because the reoffending rate has been too high; it has been historical.As we can witness the Opposition has been very loud especially talking about one particular provision which we have removed from the bill. And that provision was with regard to the police jails. That provision in the original bill was removed because we have successfully reduced the prison rate and reduced it by 8 percent after it had peaked—Hon David Bennett: How much?RAYMOND HUO: 8 percent after it had peaked at—Hon David Bennett: 80.RAYMOND HUO: 8 percent after it peaked at 1820 as at March 2018. So therefore the Justice Committee has considered the stats and facts and that's the reason why we removed that particular provision from the original bill.The Hon David Bennett also touched upon one particular clause regarding the prison mail laws. Again I'd like to acknowledge the Minister for his leadership because following the terror attack in Christchurch and the subsequent Christchurch Call the Minister introduced Supplementary Order Paper 392 to make a number of changes including significantly strengthening the prison mail laws. Those changes together with other provisions are designed to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for purpose. But again I remind the Opposition they should really congratulate the Minister and the Government on our achievements on our track record and instead of barking at every passing car they should really choose to side with the people of New Zealand and let's do it together to reduce the reoffending rates especially among Māori prisoners. Thank you Mr Speaker."