Mark Ron: General Debates 
Mark Ron: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:13323] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 When New Zealand First fought an election campaign we said we would deal with three things if we were in Government. We are in the Opposition but we have carried on with that pledge to deal with those three things. The first was the treaty gravy train the second was immigration—and the Government has finally admitted that we are not xenophobes or racists but that we are right and it is moving to correct those gaps—and the third was law and order. However I have to say that it is very hard to deal with law and order in this country when we have a Government that continues to shoot itself in the foot and a Leader of the Opposition who is never here to debate the issues. Where is the great debater to help me on a day like this when I need him here? But I probably do not need his help because I am quite capable of dealing with this Government and that Minister. 
Members should look at the issue of law and order and what an absolute shambles it is. The Department of Corrections is now reputed as being a department of corruptions. Why do people say that? Well they look firstly at the Minister of Corrections—a Minister who began with so much promise but has delivered absolutely nothing; a Minister who was probably set up by his Prime Minister because he represents “Swainy and the boys” and we know we do not like that. I have provided that Minister with truckloads of evidence on what is going on in his department and he has done nothing. Let us look at his track record and at home detention for example. 
More than a year ago New Zealand First pointed out that home detention was in chaos but people would not listen. What do we see today on our front pages? We see Mr Les Williamson—a man who was stabbed in the head back arms and hands—sitting with his family totally aghast that the man who attempted to kill him is on home detention. That man received 4 years’ jail and he is out on home detention in about 4 months. How does that happen? That happens because we have a Government that is weak on law and order a Minister of Corrections who is weak on law and order and a bunch of people sitting on the Parole Board who—well I do not know what they do other than let dangerous criminals back into the community. Members should look at the issue of deferred sentencing where this Government has allowed people who have been convicted and sent to jail to go home on holiday and then run away. Then we do not know where they are and then we say: “Oh my gosh they committed another crime.” and we still cannot catch them. Those problems have still not been dealt with. 
Parole is another example and I shall mention a couple of names. First I mention Mr Jarden who was convicted of molesting and assaulting little girls. He was sent out on parole and within weeks he did the very same thing again. This is the Government that said it was going to clamp down. It was going to get hard on law and order. It passed what it thinks is the wonderful Sentencing Act and the wonderful Parole Act—and what do we see? Mr Jarden is out on the street. What of Mr Isherwood? He was convicted of abducting drugging and raping a girl and putting her into prostitution. He was let out on parole and in 12 days under the control of this Minister of Corrections Mr Isherwood drugged and raped another young girl. Is that what this Government means about being tough on law and order? It is certainly not what New Zealand First stands for and by hokey we mean to hold this Government accountable one way or the other. 
Let us look at the Auckland Central Remand Prison. This Government’s solution to its problems in the Department of Corrections is to close down the one shining light—the one prison that does not have inmates bonking prison officers or prison officers getting pregnant to inmates. This Government wants to shut down that prison and hand it over to the management that has turned a blind eye to that sordid problem for years. The Minister said there were three then he said there were five and then he admitted there were some 17 and now we know that there are 21 such relationships. I have received information from a prison officer that in that prison alone there are 19 such inappropriate prison inmate/officer relationships male and female. I have resisted saying this but people have asked me: “What are they running in there? Comfort women for the prisoners?”. Well that is a horrible thing to say when there are some damn fine prison officers out there doing a good job but let us not forget that it was this Government that proposed the idea of providing conjugal rights to inmates. Maybe that is how it has been done.