Collins Judith: Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
Collins Judith: Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) — In Committee 
[Volume:652;Page:1359] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 It was 9 years before Labour could bring itself to put this bill before the House. But having said that it is a National Government that has to push it through. In response to one of the comments about cellphones made by the member who has just resumed his seat let me tell members about cellphones in prison. 
Many people will have read about the cellphone coverage in Paremoremo maximum security prison and about the fact that an entire drug-dealing outfit was able to operate from there. Members might well ask how that happened. I have an answer for them. Not only did a Labour Government allow Telecom to put a cellphone tower inside Paremoremo maximum security prison but it also allowed Vodafone to do the same. That happened under a Labour Government. No wonder it took Labour when it was in Government so many years to bring this legislation to the House. How embarrassing can that be? 
The first cellphone tower was installed in the year 2000 under a Labour Government. The second one was installed in 2004—yet again under a Labour Government. Did that Government ever fess up to the public about that? Did it ever confess to the House? Never! There was not a word; nothing. That is why we are having to deal with the issue now. 
One of the first things I have had to deal with as Minister of Corrections is cellphone coverage in prisons and particularly in Paremoremo maximum security prison. How stupid does someone have to be to allow cellphone towers inside Paremoremo maximum security prison? One would say that it would have to have happened under a Labour Government. 
So when Labour members talk about why under a Labour Government people did not escape from prison we can see why. Why would they need to? They can run all their own crime from inside run their own cellphones have underfloor heating and have plasma screen TVs. In fact the prisons that were built are so luxurious that before prisoners were let into Spring Hill prison the Department of Corrections charged law-abiding people to stay there overnight. As I recall it was something like $230 per night and that indicates exactly how luxurious it was. Why would anybody in their right mind want to escape? 
Apart from cellphone coverage one of the other things the Government has had to deal with is the practice of taking property inside prisons in order to cause crime. Just the other day I went to the CB Block in Paremoremo maximum security prison— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Did they give you a powhiri? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: No I do not do powhiri when I am on Government property as the member should know. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: Ooh! 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I say to Mrs Chadwick that they showed me that prisoners have access to broken mirrors which they can then use to attack the guards—they showed me that. A Labour Government allowed that to happen. I can tell Mrs Chadwick that this Government is dealing with it. 
The prison guards showed me what else they have to put up with. They put up with prisoners who have access to lighters and paper who cause fires and who attack guards with all sorts of implements. The Labour Government could not deal with that. Instead the only response from Labour just before the last election was to bring in a corrections amendment bill. 
Prison staff have to deal with very very difficult situations. They deal with the worst offenders in the country. That is why they are there. One of the things that prison officers have said is that they have felt under siege not only within the prison but actually from the political correctness they have had to put up with after 9 years of a Labour Government. It is amazing to hear prison staff union staff saying that they have a Minister who listens to them who cares about their safety and who is prepared to do something about it. 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: But doesn’t do powhiri. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I am amazed that the member wants to keep talking about powhiri. Actually that member should spend less time at powhiri and more time getting in behind and seeing what happens. That sums up the entire 9 years of the Labour Government. 
Labour was always looking at functions and protocols but never looking at what was needed. It never got in behind to find what conditions the staff were working in and what they had to put up with. In fact I also found out the other day when I was at the prison that kiosks have been built for prisoners for their rights. The prison staff showed me what happens to these kiosks when the prisoners get to them attack them and break them apart. They get glass—or Perspex—out of them. They get iron bars out of them. They get all those weapons which the previous Government required the Department of Corrections to have in those jails—required it to have. 
Apparently prisoners cannot go along to the library and get a book or a manual to show them what their rights are. Instead prison staff have been put at risk by 9 years of a Labour Government that did not do anything to address these issues. Instead all the response it gave was to build more prisons at $660000 a bed—$660000 a bed and actually in most parts of the country that buys two houses—so it could put in underfloor heating and give prisoners everything they could possibly want. Then of course under a Labour Government people were queuing up to get into those prisons—and they certainly did. In answer to that member who sat down before—thankfully—I say that the previous Government has no record to be proud of. 
Hon David Carter 
: Name him and shame him! 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I say to Mr Clayton Cosgrove that there is no record to be proud of. What there is is a record of 9 years of shame in the law and order portfolio. All Labour could do was build more prisons. All it could do was waste money and it did not look after the staff it did not look after the prison officers and it did not— 
Hon David Parker 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson.  
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I think I know what it is going to be. 
Hon David Parker 
: That foaming exposition of general Department of Corrections policy was in no way related to the Committee stage of this bill. The Minister could of course take a call at a later stage— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I am on my feet. Please sit down. I understand the member’s point. I just make the comment that members have got into the habit of slipping a few things into these points of order by inference insinuation and things like that. The member was partly responsible for that. I want us to tidy up on that. That is my first point. The second point is that I was going to give a general caution when the Minister finished because I feel that both the speakers we have had at this point have not immersed themselves in the detail of Part 1. This is not a general debate and I ask members to address Part 1 and the material that is in it. 
Hon David Parker 
: Mr Chairman were you upholding my point of order? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Yes I was. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Does the member have another point of order? I have already ruled on that. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Well Mr Chairman— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I have ruled on it so you may finish your call. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Very generous Mr Chairman. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: Thank you. Is the member going to finish her call? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I am all right.