Power Simon: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Power Simon: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15006] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 The year 2006-07 was an unmitigated and absolute disaster for the Department of Corrections. [ 
Interruption 
] I think the Minister of Corrections should hear me out before he laughs. The year 2006-07 was of course the year in which the Liam Ashley tragedy occurred and the year in which the murder of Karl Kuchenbecker by Graeme Burton occurred. If by no other measure those two events alone made the year in review a disastrous year for the Department of Corrections. I will come back to both those incidents shortly. 
We know that in the year under review we found out that the four new prisons being built by this Government would cost $1.2 billion as opposed to the original quote of $400 million which was given to a select committee in 2002. Even with the extra beds factored into that increase we know that the prisons came at a cost of $1 million per bed. We know too that no pricing or quotes were done that no “target output costs”—the phrase used these days—were taken. 
We know that a system called a collaborative working arrangement was used to design and build those prisons and that meant that in the case of the Spring Hill prison it was not until 20 months after the earthworks had begun that the department had even the foggiest idea what it would cost to complete that prison. In the end it cost about $380 million. When we questioned the chief executive officer of the department during the financial review we asked him whether if collaborative working arrangements were an effective method of building prisons they would also be used for the extensive maintenance programme that the department must undertake in over half the prisons. He replied that no that particular system would not be used for those particular works. If nothing else that tells members how effective those arrangements were. 
We know that when the financial review occurred the muster of people in our prisons was about 8200. It would be interesting to know whether the Government’s major initiative in the year in review—the Effective Interventions package—is actually working. Its stated aim was to reduce the prison population—not to keep the public safe. Reducing the prison population was the single aim of that particular package. It is nice to see that finally the Department of Corrections is involved in the forecasting of muster arrangements. Up until now of course it has been done by the Ministry of Justice which got it wrong every single year. 
We know that in respect of the bureaucracy of the Department of Corrections interesting trends have emerged. When I first started in this portfolio some 2½ years ago two or three people were involved in the PR and communications side of the department. There are now 15.3 equivalent full-time staff involved in that particular work. That tells us that this period has been particularly appalling for this department which has struggled to keep its head above water. 
We will now hear hopefully from Mr Goff who is the sixth Minister of Corrections since this Government took power in 2000. If nothing else that tells us what disastrous management this Government has had in place in respect of this portfolio. The last Minister of Corrections in the financial year under review had the portfolio stripped from him following a series of debacles and upsets that culminated in a suspended prison officer touring the world with the Minister as part of a rugby tour. 
The last 12 months for this department have been an absolute disaster. No other department or ministry has had such an appalling 12 months; 12 months that needlessly resulted in the death of young Liam Ashley and needlessly resulted in bungles that saw the probation service the Department of Corrections the Parole Board and the police all involved in an almost comic—if it was not so tragic—series of events that saw Mr Burton at large for several days before any real action was taken by the probation service the department or the police. 
In short the year ahead for this department looks slightly brighter only because it is likely to have a National Minister running it following the general election later this year. One thing is for sure: we cannot afford to take on a seventh or an eighth Labour Minister of Corrections who would continue this shambles.