Alexander Marc: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
Alexander Marc: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:20997] 
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
: 
 One of the things Part 3 does is make some consequential amendments to the Human Rights Act the Legal Services Act and so on but in looking at where we put the emphasis on human rights I think we need to find a balance. If we look at the victimisation rates in New Zealand every year there are about 2300 assaults 4600 grievous assaults 1000 abductions 70000 cases of sexual offences against women not including rape and 95000-plus burglaries. If we look at theft half a billion dollars a year worth of goods walks out of our shops through retail theft; and if members do not know what half a billion dollars looks like it is the equivalent of eight city supermarkets having everything they sell in a year stolen. Alongside all of that the law-abiding are the ones who pay every step of the way. They pay for it through higher prices for the goods they buy to cover the cost of retail theft from shops. 
We pay the police to go after the bad guys. We pay the court system which is inadequate. In fact 35000 cases are waiting to go to court. We pay the corrections system to hold these guys in prison—about $40000 a year if they are in minimum security and up to $76000 if they are in maximum security. In terms of compensation none of the victims of crime including the people who have to pay for all of this—who themselves are victims of crime in that their pockets have been robbed to pay for this—have any access to compensation at all for what has been done to them. But if a person commits a murder a rape or a burglary—something one chooses to do—and goes to prison and then has hurt feelings because of something done by a guard or somebody else the prisoner can make a claim for compensation. The person chose to be in prison by the action of committing a certain crime and then the prison system has to deal with the prisoner one way or another. People like Taunoa have to be put away and segregated to safeguard everyone else but such people can collect compensation. They can be rewarded for their choice to have a life of crime. How the hell is that fair? How is it fair that the law-abiding and the victims are out of the loop in terms of compensation but those who commit crime are up for it? That is an absolute perversity. 
The kind of people we are talking about are Denis Hines who has 80 convictions including one for slashing the throat of a rival gang leader when he tried to fire a gun and of killing another; Gresham Marsh who already had 60 convictions before killing an elderly couple and told the police he just wanted to watch them die; Joseph Thompson who had 129 charges including 46 for rape and had 50 victims the youngest of whom was 10 years old; Jules Mikus who had 60 offences. Then there is Douglas Ronald Corkhill.. He is aged 76. One would think he would slow down! But no. He faced 34 indecent assault charges on 12 October last year involving 11 boys. Eighty-six percent of those people will come out of prison and return to prison within 5 years. Seventy percent of them who go to prison have 10 or more convictions. And here is the kicker: Brian Alan Bolt 48 years of age was convicted on his 636th criminal offence—members heard that right—while on parole and those people can get compensation. 
This Government with the support—up until today—of the irrelevant Greens and their only relevance is to put the agenda of offenders ahead of victims is pushing this law through under urgency. This problem has been around for quite some time. We have had the opportunity to deal with this problem but the Government has decided not to take it up—against probably some of the better judgment of most of its own members. United Future offered a moratorium until a decent solution could be found. But no the Government chose to try to get this out of the public limelight so it will not be tarnished with it during the process of election. The Government will not escape it. The reason why it will not escape it is that we will not let the public forget.