Sabin Mike: Parole Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSabin Mike: Parole Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 06 November 2014. Volume:701;Page:743. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MIKE SABIN (National—Northland):I will just acknowledge the contribution of the Hon Phil Goff who is obviously someone very experienced in this place. But I will also just acknowledge some of the comments that he made which do give a very good insight I think into some of the complexities we are dealing with particularly with the nature of reoffending.The reality is that most people—the very vast majority—who go to prison will come out again. Really the challenge for parliamentarians authorities and the wider community is I guess to ensure that when they do come out of prison they do not go back in. So much of where we have failed not only in New Zealand but around the world I think is in the fact that prison in itself is not the answer; it is what goes on inside there and what goes on in terms of rehabilitating the individual. Obviously there is a degree of punishment involved in it but it is actually the opportunity to have essentially a captive audience—literally—in order to try and remediate and address the issues that have seen those people enter into the prison environment.There are a multitude of reasons why people will find themselves in prison. Fundamental to the ability to prevent reoffending is the role that parole has in that by setting the appropriate incentives if you like and by also ensuring that the message can be sent about what expectations there are on an individual to actually engage in rehabilitative behaviour and programmes that are going to ensure that there is a high probability that they will continue a lawful life thereafter and not end up back in the facility.I was not on the Law and Order Committee when this bill was going through the submission process being new to the committee but I have been impressed by the work that has been done to look at this very very important nexus. In terms of where this bill actually goes there needs to be a degree of flexibility that reflects not only that it is important that victims are not continually revictimised by arbitrary time lines and parole hearings where it is very unlikely that an offender will actually be released—and that is obviously a very very important consideration—but that it is just as important that it sends a message to the individual.I am reminded of the film The Shawshank Redemption and I am sure most members in this House will know of that movie which is one of the greatest movies about hope that has ever been put together. On the one occasion when the subject of that movie said “Well don’t waste your time with me. You put your rubber stamp there and away you go.” he was granted parole. There is some sort of truth in that—and Mr Goff mentioned something about it—because to some extent the Parole Board has to get a sense of where the individual is before it can make a confirmed judgment that it thinks the risk-reward ratio is in the right balance. So there is an element of that. But by having a degree of flexibility so that when you can see that someone is actually engaged in a rehabilitative process and is genuine and motivated to get themselves out of that environment the Parole Board can actually bring forward their next parole hearing as a result of that. Or conversely the board can extend that period if it can see that it clearly has not reached that point with an individual so it does not waste its time and its money and more important it does not cause feelings and emotions of revictimising in the victim by putting them through that process.There is to some extent I guess a carrot-and-stick component to that. I think that is going to be very very important because the crux of what this whole parole system is about is ensuring that it is fit for purpose to ensure that there is the very best opportunity for re-engaging that individual either in rehabilitation programmes that will ultimately resolve their propensity to offend or by ensuring that their engagement in the community is going to support them to not reoffend. In introducing an element of flexibility—and I pick up on the point that Mr Goff made—this will not extend the amount of time that people are spending in prison. It could very well actually reduce the amount of time by getting those settings right.I think this is a very important piece of work. I think it is reflective of a justice system that understands that there is not one shoe that fits all feet here—[Interruption] Ha ha. These shoes are made for walking walking right out of prison hopefully in most cases. That is what this bill is really doing. It is making the parole system far more fit for purpose far more efficient and far more user-friendly for the victims of crime. Thank you.