Pettis Jill: Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill — Third Reading 
Pettis Jill: Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:617;Page:12782] 
JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
: 
 I am disappointed in the attitude of parties that are not going to support the bill because it iswell-thought-out and has received a number of very well-considered submissions. I am surprised at the Opposition’s uncompromising and hard-hearted attitude which also lacks compassion. It reminds me of the saying: “There but for the grace of God go I.” At some stage in our lives we all thought we were 10 feet high and bulletproof and some of us got away with things that others got caught out on. 
Brian Connell 
: Give us an example. 
JILL PETTIS 
: Yes I will but— 
Brian Connell 
: Come on. 
JILL PETTIS 
: All right I will. I have never ever disclosed this in my life but Iwill. I once pinched a lipstick when I was about 14 from the DIC. Then as I was crossing the bridge on my way home I thought: “How am I going to hide this from my mother?”. Wearing lipstick is fairly obvious! So I threw it in the river. I have never ever said this before but I am prepared to say it today. I was lucky—nobody caught me out. 
Craig McNair 
: Did you get diversion? 
JILL PETTIS 
: Yes I did get diverted—or my mother would have done that when I got home; she would have very quickly diverted me from going down that path. But I was fairly typical I think of young girls of my age at the time. So I can say: “There but for the grace of God go I.” 
What disappoints me about the attitude of the parties opposite that are not supporting this bill is that if they had been alive in Victorian England they probably would have felt great joy in sending people to the new colony of Australia as convicts if they had stolen a loaf of bread to feed their children. Sometimes when people think they are 10 feet high and bulletproof they do things that are quite out of character and never go on to do anything wrong ever again. 
I am sad that this bill is not being supported more universally. I believe that even conservative New Zealanders whom I suspect some members opposite who are not supporting this bill think they are currying favour with support the principle of giving a bloke or a woman a fair go if they have led a clean life for the last 7 years. Unlike some members opposite I visit clubs and organisations where a lot of conservative people have a beer at the leaners on a Friday night and the vast majority of those who fit the conservative mould think that although someone might have done something stupid 10 years ago we should give that person a break. I think it is surprising that some members opposite do not trust the more than 500000 people in New Zealand who are currently affected by this bill. Those people are having to live a lie because society’s attitude in the current climate forces them to lie—like the cases read out in the House where people have led blameless lives for 40 years and more in some instances but are forced to lie because they are ashamed of having done something trivial silly stupid and unplanned when they were mostly much younger. I am sorry some members opposite cannot find it in their hearts to exercise forgiveness. 
I think a sense of power and control lurks behind that attitude. It is quite hard to give that away when one has held it for many years. Some people who have power and control over somebody by saying the person has to declare that he or she did something wrong many years ago want to hang on to the power and control they can exert over someone. I am saying to members opposite that they are wrong in that respect. 
This bill is very very conservative because special exclusions that are actually sensible have been put in place. This is not just saying that if one has lived a blameless life for 7 years then everything else will be wiped—because there are special specified offences where there will not be any entitlement to the clean slate system at all. 
I conclude as I began by saying that I am sorry some people opposite cannot find it in their hearts to forgive and forget and to exercise a bit of compassion. I ask those who are not supporting this bill what they achieve in adopting that attitude. I ask what they are getting out of this personally. I suspect that the answer is “nothing”. I suspect that it is a matter of hanging on to those last vestiges of power and control and I am sorry they feel that way.