Jones Dail: Prisoners' and Victims' Claims Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Jones Dail: Prisoners' and Victims' Claims Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:20926] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 Tonight we are seeing an alliance between Labour and the Greens. The country is being exposed to the type of Government we would have if Labour and the Greens were in office. We are seeing legislation that is soft on law and order. We are seeing legislation that is being passed under urgency so that Labour and the Greens can urgently pay out to the most vicious criminals in society their ill-gotten gains while they have been in prison. Labour and the Greens urgently want to give them some money. What a deplorable situation! But that is what we could expect to see in a Labour and Green Government. 
Mr Ryall asked what the deal is between Labour and the Greens. Is it not significant that the deal has been struck with Nandor Tanczos? Even the Greens have demoted him. What would Mr Tanczos want in return for giving his support to the Government? [ 
Interruption 
] That is right I say to Mr Samuels—“put it in your pipe and smoke it.” 
 It is a deal whereby marijuana would be made legal if sometime Labour and the Greens ever got into Government together. It is so obvious. I know that Mr Ryall asked a rhetorical question of the Minister because the answer is just so obvious. We can see that a deal has been struck by Labour and the Greens whereby marijuana will be made legal and if it has not been made legal by 2007—which is why 2007 is the date in the bill—all bets will be off. That is the way in which the Greens want to do business of course. Either the business is done by a certain date or they will pull out their support. That is the way a Labour and Green Government would work and it is obvious that that is what Labour recognises and expects. That is how Labour intends to operate in a coalition-type system. 
The Greens are willing to operate on that basis because it is the only way. Labour is the only party in Parliament that the Greens can see would concede to their requirement to legalise marijuana—despite all the difficulties and health problems down the track that that would cause. So that is clearly why we are here tonight in urgency. United Future was tentatively looking in that direction but tossed Labour aside so Labour is prepared to pick up the Greens to do a deal with them on this issue under urgency. 
It is an eleventh hour measure; it is a desperate measure by this Labour Government. One really cannot understand why any Government would want to hand money over to the most hardened criminals in our society but that is what this bill does. It encourages criminals when they go to jail to misbehave because if they misbehave they have a chance of getting some money. That is what this bill is about. If a criminal misbehaves that criminal will get some money. That is what this bill says. Those people naturally will misbehave but now they will make the life of prison guards even harder—harder than ever before. 
New Zealand First has a number of amendments to this legislation and we want to make sure that any money lawfully obtained by prisoners who are entitled to exercise their claims in court is kept in the victims’ claims trust account and it is there for the benefit only of the victims of crimes in New Zealand. We were told in the select committee that about $51 million worth of reparation is due to victims. Anything that can be obtained under this bill would be worthwhile for those victims but the amount would never reach $51 million. We want to see that the balance of any money that comes through out of this legislation after the immediate victims have been compensated the legal aid funds have been compensated and suchlike goes only to a victims’ claims account that only victims of various crimes can possibly make claims on that money and that at no stage can those hardened criminals be encouraged to make the life of prison officers hell. That is what this bill will do. Those criminals will taunt tease and make life absolutely impossible for prison officers because we know human nature being what it is that the prison officers will break. They will just not be able to help it. They have to be tough to be in prison so their immediate response will be to respond to that disgraceful behaviour—the behaviour that Labour and the Green Party are supporting by way of the culture that will now develop in our prisons. 
It is so obvious. It is hard to believe that any party in Government could responsibly support this legislation and could even promote this legislation but that is what Labour and the Greens are doing. I can believe that the Greens are doing it; they will do just about anything in their hope to have marijuana made legal.