Prebble Richard: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Prebble Richard: Courts and Criminal Matters Bill — Second Reading Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:21724] 
Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) 
: 
 I can understand why the Government wants to put this measure through under urgency because when one studies what the Government is doing one sees that it is basically saying to Parliament that we need to change the law because the present system is not working. If I am reading this part correctly—the ACT party was not on the Law and Order Committee—it appears to me that the problem is this. Crime is running out of control and there are repeat offenders. A person who has committed an offence and been ordered to pay reparation may commit another offence in order to pay that reparation and that person then cannot afford to make the two reparation payments. So we now have a system to decide the order in which the payments should be made. I think that that is the purpose of Part 7. 
Of course the Government is not asking a much more basic question: how is it that we have a criminal system whereby people despite having been caught having gone through the court system and having had a penalty imposed on them then go out and commit another crime? I think Mr English put his finger on one of the reasons which is the length of time it takes between being convicted and going through the court system. He mentioned his case and that causes me to say that I know of one as well. I had the misfortune to be burgled in October last year. The offender was caught. I received a note from someone in the police called the victim support person—I have often felt like a victim but it was nice to get a letter from that nice person—who told me that the offender had finally been sent to jail 10 days ago. In fact I received a note asking me to ring the police. I thought: “Oh my God!”; I had completely forgotten about the burglary. The burglar was a relatively young man who had committed a string of offences which is why he had been sent to jail. But the point is as Mr English said to us the offence was committed so long ago that he could not really empathise with it—and Mr English is a mature man. To an 18-year-old 6 months ago seems like forever and that would be a very quick processing time after an offence is committed. 
I have been to New York and looked at how the police there have changed their system. I saw people who had been arrested that morning be processed by the court that day. They were going to be on the streets that afternoon having to pick up litter while wearing a sign that stated: “Manhattan community court”. That would make some progress. If we had a system whereby people were being charged and processed within a day—as the Americans can do—and were then being required to do reparation that day for an offence that had been committed against someone on the previous day that system would work. 
I say to the Government that we all know this bill will not work. We know that the earlier provision will cost more money to put in place than we will collect back in fines and I do not believe that anyone in the Committee including the wettest Government member actually thinks that setting out a priority order in which people have to pay back reparations will somehow result in a better criminal system. It will not. Even the Government knows that which is why it is putting it through on Friday afternoon and hoping that nobody is listening to this debate. What we actually need is some fundamental reform of our legal system. We know that $650 million worth of fines is outstanding and also $900 million worth of liable parent contributions and $22 million worth of reparation. The figure for reparation seems to me to be a very low figure and I suspect that it is wrong. I suspect that the real figure is much higher than that. But the Government is uninterested in reparation because those payments actually go to citizens and not into the greedy Government’s coffers. I suspect the real figure for reparation is far higher than that. 
I say to the Committee that we will not vote against this measure because it will not make things worse. But it certainly will not make them any better either and no victim will feel better to learn that he or she cannot be paid back.