Lees-Galloway Iain: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lees-Galloway Iain: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 22 June 2010. Volume:664;Page:12091. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North) 
: 
 I intend to take just a very short call on the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill. All night we have been asking why the Government has been so quiet on this bill and why the ACT Party has been absolutely silent on it. Of course now we have figured out what that was all about. They were not prepared to put themselves in the position where they had to accept that actually this bill which extends legislation that the previous Labour Government brought in turned out to be extending legislation that the National Opposition had voted against at the time. 
It was interesting that the one member of the National Government who got up and spoke on this bill during the Committee stage was Chester Borrows. His contribution was quite good; it was quite a reasonable and measured contribution to the debate. Interestingly from what I have been able to find in the last few minutes—although I am not sure about it—Mr Borrows did not make a contribution to the debate when the legislation was first debated. But Tony Ryall spoke for him. Tony Ryall spoke on behalf of Mr Borrows and he stated: “… Chester Borrows will tell the people in Wanganui that under this legislation offenders will still get the money.” and that is why people like Mr Borrows and Mr Ryall were going to vote against it. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: What’s he saying now? 
IAIN LEES-GALLOWAY 
: Well this is the thing. Just a few years later Mr Borrows got up and did not tell the people of Whanganui that this is a terrible bill at all; he got up and told us why it is such a fantastic bill and why it represents such progress from the Government on law and order issues. Tony Ryall said that he would stop these payments. Of course he did say as my colleague Darren Hughes pointed out that he would stop them under a Don Brash Government so he has managed to keep that promise. But he also said that the Labour Government was prepared to mislead the public about the effects of this legislation. Well I ask what is more misleading to the public than standing up and abusing legislation and telling the country that it will do nothing for victims’ rights that it will simply be in favour of offenders and that it is misleading legislation. And what do we get from a National Government just a few years later? National members have finally figured out what good legislation it is and why they should vote in favour of it. 
The ACT Party was doing exactly the same thing. It was pointing out all the areas in which it thought this bill was so deficient but very quietly—silently in fact—it has supported the Government. It has bowed down done as it was told and done what the National Government has told it to do and it has allowed this bill to go through. It is amending legislation that ACT members such as Stephen Franks got up and spoke so vehemently against when it was first mooted. 
As we have said throughout the night this bill is a nothing bill. It is quite innocuous and it really does nothing harmful so Labour is happy to support it. But we have been asking all night why the Government is so quiet. Why is the Government so quiet? It is because it was not prepared to tell the New Zealand public just how much it misled them and how much of a U-turn this is. That is why this Government will never be the Government that puts victims’ rights at the centre of its policy. It has no ideas on victims’ rights. All it can do is regurgitate the ideas of the previous Labour Government that National thought were so bad when it was in Opposition. We are happy to see this bill go through but this Government has been found out tonight.