Collins Judith: Corrections Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Collins Judith: Corrections Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:13154] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 I have been looking at this bill yet again and I wonder whether we should call it the “Mistakes Bill”. It is not really about corrections. A whole third of the bill has to be acknowledged even by the Government as a mistake and changed again. Let us have a look at some of the mistakes. First off there are 8280 lines in this bill and its Supplementary Order Paper. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Bring back Mike! 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: I ask Mr Cunliffe how many of those lines deal with victims. Two lines and one word deal with victims. That is all this Government and the Greens think about victims. 
John Carter 
: How many? 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Two lines and one word out of 8280 lines talk about victims. 
John Carter 
: Only two lines about victims? 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Let us be fair it is two lines and one word. That is what the Government thinks about victims. That is not the only mistake in this bill. When the Hon Matt Robson was the Minister of Corrections—and he has been wanting to tell us all about it today—he wanted conjugal visits for prisoners as if there were not enough of them anyway. That was definitely a mistake. Then there was the other Minister the Hon Margaret Wilson. She was probably just a mistake. Then there is the Minister the Hon Paul Swain and his boys—“Swainy and the boys”—who are apparently supposed to deal with some of the “girlies” in Labour. What does he do? He stands up every day in Parliament and has to correct his answers to this House which he says have been given to him by the Department of Corrections. That is for sure. It surely is the “Department for Mistakes” and he is the “Minister for Mistakes”. 
When we asked him about the different costs involved in private prisons and the public sector all he talked about was fruit. All he could talk about was apples and oranges. That is about as far as he can go. He then came up with another little line. He said remand prisons were not as tough as some other prisons. Any of us who really understand what remand is all about realise that the remand prisoners are the ones charged with the worst offences. These are the people with the worst histories. These are the people where the court says: “We’re not even going to presume that you can be staying out in the community until your trial. We don’t trust that to happen. We want you in that prison now.” These are the worst prisoners. 
The private prison is the same one where William Bell went—the Returned Services Association killer. That was the only place secure enough to hold him in remand. He could not go anywhere else. It is where Mr Zaoui has to be held because it is the most secure unit. What does this Minister say? He talks about apples and oranges and every day he has to correct himself in this House. 
This is the same department that has encouraged the “goon squad” mentality to operate. We have an inquiry still going on into the “goon squad”. What has happened to those people? What has happened to those people under the 5 long years of a Labour Government with its puppy-dog friends? They have all been promoted. That is what has happened. At least those who mistreated the Iraqi people have actually been dealt to but no these ones have been promoted. 
Punishment does not enter into this bill. The Government says that prison is not about punishment. Government members should ask the 92 percent of the people out there what they think prison is all about. They know that it is very seldom that it rehabilitates anyone. They certainly know that prison is to keep prisoners locked up and to punish them for their crimes. 
This is another example of a private-public partnership being thrown out by this Government. Do members remember when the Government first came into office? Its members talked about how they wanted private-public partnerships. That is called sucking up to business. This is the example of what they do to it. They get rid of it and they do not believe in business.