Alexander Marc: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Alexander Marc: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 10 June 2003. Volume:609;Page:6060. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
10.  
MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Corrections 
: Can he give an assurance that parole conditions for convicted paedophiles are sufficient to protect the community and help them to seek treatment? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 It is not possible to give an absolute assurance that offenders will not reoffend. However I can give an assurance that under the Parole Act the New Zealand Parole Board is required to give paramount consideration to protecting public safety. In addition the Parole Board can set conditions for any release including appropriate treatment. 
Marc Alexander 
: Does the Minister agree that the real issue is that the Parole Board is not ensuring that offenders meet the conditions imposed such as a recent Auckland case when a paedophile was released to his family home where a young teenager lived and his victim often visited to be supported by his mentally unstable mother and two family members who also had child sex convictions when this is in direct contravention of one of his parole conditions—not to mention any notion of common sense? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The member is asking about the Parole Board’s actions. It is of course an independent agency and it sets the conditions according to the circumstances of the case. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Is the Government considering any changes to the law in relation to the monitoring of child sex offenders? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes. The Minister of Justice has announced that the Government will be introducing an extended supervision regime to apply to those child sex offenders who might not be sentenced to preventive detention. The new proposal would see those offenders subject to up to 10 years of supervision after their release from prison. 
Ron Mark 
: Does it not concern this Minister that we now have in this country a situation where people who display sexual deviancies as a result of their mental or intellectual disabilities are put in the community as normal people are then found to be offenders are prosecuted and convicted then end up in his jails as his responsibility? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Yes that is of concern and that is one of the issues I intend to address. 
Marc Alexander 
: How can the Minister give an assurance that paedophiles will undergo treatment when programmes like Safe have refused to treat a number of offenders because they have been released into situations that put them at risk of reoffending such as for example the man who was paroled to live in a house opposite the park where he molested his victim? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The Parole Board set those conditions and then they are looked into and overseen by the probation service. 
Marc Alexander 
: Can the Minister guarantee that supervision of offenders will not be progressively eased as occurred in the case of Barry Allan Ryder when from July last year he was left alone for short periods allowing him to reoffend in December and ruin a few more young lives? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: That person was on parole as the member knows. There was a severe degree of supervision—24 hours. It was relaxed as the member rightly says and of course these are the issues that we are trying to address now looking particularly at extended supervision regimes. 
Marc Alexander 
: Will the Government consider the compulsory naming of convicted paedophiles on their release rather than having to ask their permission so that the finger of suspicion is not pointed at innocent citizens who move into the district at the same time? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I had not considered that but if the member wants to put it down as a separate question I am prepared to answer it. 
Marc Alexander 
: What faith does the Minister have in the effectiveness of treatment programmes and supervision for paedophiles when last year Kevin Arthur Thompson was convicted of indecently assaulting a 6-year-old child despite supervision and completion of the Kia Marama treatment programme? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: As I indicated at the start there can be no absolute assurances that offenders will not reoffend. However I am advised that the Kia Marama programme has a very high success rate with young sex offenders in particular.