Wong Pansy: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
Wong Pansy: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21006] 
PANSY WONG (National) 
: 
 I was interested to see that the Minister the Hon Rick Barker was quite diligent in getting to his feet. I invite him to take another call to explain why he is wasting Parliament’s time in forcing through this legislation under urgency while at the same time the Crown lawyer Terence Arnold QC is arguing in the court that a court declaration and not compensation is the proper response if a breach is held to have occurred. So I invite the Minister to take a call. How does he expect the court to rule in favour of the Crown when it realises that Parliament is taking urgency to award and confirm rights through this legislation which is probably more appropriately as my colleague Dr Wayne Mapp says the “Prisoners’ Compensation Bill”? 
I found it outrageous just now when the Minister who was on his feet actually made it sound as though the victims should be grateful that in Part 3 the Minister and the Labour Government allow them to take action when a prisoner gets compensation. Speaker after speaker has stood up and made it quite clear that the victims did not actually want to have a share in any compensation. They just want to get on with their lives. But once again this PC Labour-minority Government has been backed up by the Greens—the “party of principle” which is how the Greens label themselves. The Greens say they will support this bad legislation for 2 years; they think it will be harmless to support it for 2 years. I tell the Green Party that I am looking forward to campaigning against them during the election—which will be announced to take place on 30 July—to tell the people that that party of principle went to Parliament to support bad legislation. 
What has saddened the public today is that we are debating legislation that sets out the whole procedure of how prisoners can claim compensation. It is an endorsement. I want the Minister to stand and take a call and tell us how much is provided in the Budget for him to conduct workshops and education seminars in prisons for the prisoners to understand their rights and to provide copies of this legislation to enable them to complain. 
The Minister did not even take note of what its own defence counsel who tried to appeal this prisoners’ compensation said: “The inadequate daylight for prisoners on the slated behaviour management regime was more than many Wellington houses receive.” The Crown was arguing in court that the condition of the prison that was complained about by the prisoners was better than in the houses of some Wellingtonians. 
I think the Labour Government has a lot to answer for. What happened to the Government’s so-called promises to provide State houses? We have the Government’s own lawyers saying that ordinary Wellingtonians are not receiving better treatment than prisoners. This Minister and the Labour-minority Government keep us here from more important business by debating a bill that would confirm prisoners’ rights to compensation. 
Has the Government got its priorities right? It never gets its priorities right as I pointed out in the Budget debate earlier. The nation is crying out for safety and protection and for more police. The police got $41 million in the Budget. The Government provided $33 million for tax collectors and a mere $41 million for the police. It is outrageous.