Stewart Barbara: Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Stewart Barbara: Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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BARBARA STEWART (NZ First) 
: 
 New Zealand First supports the Corrections (Mothers with Babies) Amendment Bill going to the Law and Order Committee. We must acknowledge Sue Bradford for bringing this issue to Parliament. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed. Although New Zealand First like many other parties has some concerns about children up to the age of 24 months being in prison with their mothers we will be most interested to hear what the submitters to the select committee have to say about this issue. 
We believe that at that age toddlers are usually pretty aware of the environment they are growing up in. However on the positive side we believe that this is an opportunity for mothers in prison to learn some parenting skills in a very controlled environment so that a baby or toddler can have the best possible start. We want to ensure the future development health and well-being of the child. When we look at it realistically we see that it is not the baby’s fault that the mother has committed some offence. 
New Zealand First believes that mothers and babies should have the opportunity to bond as it can play a very significant role in rehabilitation and that is basically what we want prison programmes to do. We know that the results of not bonding are absolutely disastrous for the mother for the child for the family and of course for the State. As we have already been told other countries have a parenting programme that allows babies to be in prisons for up to 2 years and the results have been very positive. So we will be interested to follow this issue further. 
We are very aware that strict criteria would need to be imposed such as it being a non-smoking environment. We believe that the safety of the baby is absolutely essential and it would be essential to have strict rules. There would need to be a ban on drug use and other detrimental behaviour that can occur in prisons. 
The opportunity to attend parenting classes is far greater in prison than what it would otherwise be because quite often these women would not have attended any community classes whatsoever. So this is a great opportunity for those mothers to learn about the health the well-being the hygiene and the nutrition of their babies. We are very aware too as Katherine Rich has said that mothers who have a crime associated with child abuse would definitely not be eligible to have their babies with them in prison. 
 This is basically a cost that the country cannot afford not to meet. We know that the well-being of the child and the right to breastfeed is absolutely paramount. We are very aware too that it is better for many of these babies to be with their mothers in prison in a stable and regulated environment. If they are removed from their mothers to the environment of violence sexual abuse emotional abuse and/or substance abuse and dependency that has led to behaviour that has resulted in their mothers being imprisoned then absolutely everyone has lost. We do not believe that the child should lose at all in this situation. 
New Zealand First supports this bill. We will follow it through the select committee process with interest and we welcome the opportunity to have it discussed. Thank you Sue.