Turei Metiria: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Turei Metiria: Bail Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:490] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party will oppose the Bail Amendment Bill although we will be supporting National’s— 
Hon Simon Power 
: Good on you for saying which way you’ll be voting. 
METIRIA TUREI 
: I thank the member. We will be supporting the Sentencing (Offences against Children) Amendment Bill which is due to be debated in the House some time today or maybe tomorrow. 
The amendments to the bail laws in 2007 I understand were simply designed to align that legislation with the common law. We supported that legislation at the time and we see no reason at this stage to change our view. In fact the changes to the bail laws were of such minor consequence that the issue was not really debated when the legislation came back to the House after its select committee process. It is unfortunate that there has not been a chance for this bill to go to a select committee so that we could discover whether there is a need to change and revert back to pre-2002 circumstances. We have no evidence before us that that is an important thing to do and without that evidence it is very difficult to argue that it is necessary. I understand from Labour members that in their view the impact of the amendments to the 2007 legislation was not necessarily significant. Again it is very difficult to judge this without there being a select committee process that properly looks into the matter. 
In our view bail should never be granted when there is a risk to the safety of the public. David Garrett has raised a very extreme case of where bail was granted and we absolutely agree that granting bail is absolutely inappropriate in cases such as that. In the past the judiciary has made mistakes that have resulted in terrible tragedies as outlined. No doubt further mistakes will be made in the future because no matter how good or strong the rules that we establish in this House are mistakes will always be made. But it is a falsehood to suggest to the community that those mistakes are the norm or that those extreme cases are the norm. It is our concern for the majority of cases that raises our objection to this legislation. 
We need to have rational evidence-based criminal law changes not fearmongering for political gain—and much of the dialogue around extreme cases is just that. The fact is that the vast majority of bail is given in the correct circumstances particularly to younger offenders first-time offenders and those charged with minor offences. In those circumstances it is absolutely correct to keep those people as far away from jail as possible in order to protect the community. We know that reoffending rates are much higher among young and first-time offenders who are in prison. If young people and first-time offenders are put into prison they are more likely to reoffend when they come out. That is a fact that is not often talked about in public during the rhetoric about law and order that goes on. If our aim is to keep our communities safe—or at least safer—from crime then we must make sure that those categories of offender are kept out of prison. It is also a fact that the longer a person spends in prison the more likely they are to reoffend when they get out. So these are essential considerations to bear in mind when we are looking at bail law. If being in prison is a contributory cause of reoffending then keeping non-violent offenders out of prison is the best way to keep our communities safer. 
There are other issues too such as the unjustified imprisonment of especially our younger people. I found the comments of Beven Hanlon the president of the Corrections Association of New Zealand to be compelling. In commenting on the bail amendments he said his main issue was where we would put all the prisoners. Although the Bail Amendment Act of 2007 freed up beds in our prisons he said that the estimate of 100 or more beds in prisons was far too high in terms of what this law provided and that New Zealand would go back to having prisoners kept in police vans and police cells. We know that there have been many cases of violence and indeed killings in police vans and police cells. 
That point of course leads directly to the earlier comments made by both the current Minister of Justice and the current Minister of Corrections about double-bunking in our prisons. Those who are obsessed with retribution will applaud the idea of this practice but double-bunking—which is in fact overcrowding in our prisons—and the practice of keeping prisoners in police cells and vans are causes of violent assaults against staff and other inmates and also a cause of suicide. Also such practices increase the culture of violence and abuse inside prisons and this will spill out into our communities. In effect these are predictable and predicted outcomes of the National Government’s policy. Such policies will increase violence in our communities and make our communities less safe not safer. This increase in violence has been premeditated by this House and by those who vote for this bill. They must share some responsibility for that inevitable outcome. These policies put Department of Corrections staff in particular at direct risk. Staff in any environment have the right to be as safe as possible. Corrections policies that elevate the risk for staff are grossly irresponsible and the Minister of Corrections should bear some responsibility for any incidents that might occur. 
New Zealand also has a very high rate of youth suicide. It is higher for those between 15 and 24 years of age than for any other age group. The Maori youth suicide rate is nearly double that of Pakeha. The suicide rate among young offenders in adult prisons is extremely high. I understand that there are after all only four youth offender units in New Zealand. Increasing the remand rate for young offenders where the only place they have to go is into adult prisons will increase the suicide rate for those young people and those offenders may have been charged with fairly minor non-violent offences. For some remand will be a death sentence. 
For Maori the impact is even greater. All the research proves that Maori are more likely to be stopped by the police searched by the police arrested by the police convicted in the courts and denied diversion—more so than any other population in New Zealand. The Maori imprisonment rate is extremely high because of the racist filters in the legal system that target and punish Maori simply because they are Maori. Any amendments to the bail legislation will exacerbate that racism. 
I agree with Simon Power that corrections policy is failed social policy. During this spell of urgency we have already passed two bills relating to social policy that will fail Maori and our communities in general. The tax legislation will take money out of the pockets of our poorest families. It is the extraction of wealth from the poor in order to pad the wallets of the rich. The rich become even more fearful and aggressive in their attempts to keep their wealth and continue to punish the poor simply because they are poor. The poor struggle to manage increasing State intervention in their lives in order to make some headway all the while moving one step forward and two steps back. The increase in income disparity will lead to social unease as it always does. This action is pre-meditated. This House is choosing to create a less fair and less safe society. 
The employment relations amendments will increase the numbers of disenfranchised and vulnerable young workers. Those workers will find the constant employment to benefit roller coaster to be one that forces them into greater debt unstable housing and illness. The 13-week stand-down period—which will still apply because the Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson has been too naive to figure out how to fix it—will mean that families will face long periods without work or income support. Their children will move from school to school as their parents try to find secure employment. This will lead to reduced educational achievement and despair with the education system. 
The increase in truancy fines that is coming up in the new education bill—which is yet to be tabled I understand—will simply suck even more money out of the pockets of families who are desperately trying to find some stability for their children but are having to make the unpalatable financial choice between whether to buy food to pay the rent to pay the power bill or to get warm clothes and shoes for their kids and still have their kids able to attend school regularly and successfully. Of course the move to standardised testing that is coming up shortly with league tables for primary schools will as has been proved in the US increase the gap between the educational outcomes of the wealthy and the poor—and between Pakeha and Maori—advance the privatisation of the education system and further lock out New Zealand children from their rightful entitlement to high-quality public education.