Lotu-Iiga Sam: Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill — Third ReadingsText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLotu-Iiga Sam: Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill — Third Readings[Sitting date: 04 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:1164. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Corrections):I move That the Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill and the Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill be now read a third time. These bills will enhance public safety in New Zealand. The Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill will do this by managing a small number of serious sexual or violent offenders who are at extremely high risk of reoffending. The Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill will manage high-risk offenders in the community with conditions proportionate to their risk.I would like to acknowledge the work of my colleague the Hon Amy Adams in progressing the Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill and I also want to acknowledge the work of the Justice and Electoral Committee and the Law and Order Committee in considering the bills. I also want to acknowledge the work that the officials have done both corrections and justice officials in bringing about these bills in the House.I will first discuss the Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill. This bill deals with serious sexual and violent offenders who pose a very high risk of imminent reoffending if they are released from prison and are too dangerous to be managed in the community. In these cases the High Court may make a public protection order for civil detention of that offender. The High Court can impose a public protection order only if the offender meets a clear threshold and then a stringent test.In order to be eligible for the imposition of a public protection order a person must be aged over 18 years and come under one of the threshold categories. The categories include being recently released from prison being on the most intensive form of an extended supervision order or being recently arrived in New Zealand after an overseas sentence for a serious sexual or violent offence. If the offending falls under one of the categories the offender then needs to meet a stringent test. First the court needs to be satisfied that they impose an imminent risk of serious reoffending. Second they must display a severe disturbance in behavioural functioning. Officials estimate that five to 12 offenders over 10 years will be placed on a public protection order.The purpose of this bill is to keep the community safe from near-certain harm by a small number of offenders. The purpose is not to punish offenders and this is made clear in clauses 4 and 5 of the bill. Additionally clause 5 states: “persons who are detained in a residence under a public protection order should have as much autonomy and quality of life as possible while ensuring the orderly functioning and safety within the residence.” There are a number of other safeguards to protect the rights of individuals subject to a public protection order. For example residents will be re-evaluated regularly by both a review panel and a court. If a resident no longer meets the test for a public protection order they will be released and placed on a protection supervision order in the community with the appropriate measures to ensure public safety.The Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill complements existing measures such as preventive detention and extended supervision orders and these current sentencing or supervision options deal adequately with the majority of high-risk offenders. However public protection orders are able to address gaps and deal more appropriately with certain very high-risk offenders. These gaps include very high-risk offenders who did not receive a life sentence or preventive detention or whose risk was appreciated only once they were imprisoned. Additionally the bill covers offenders who have returned to New Zealand after serving a sentence for a serious sexual or violent offence overseas.Sexual or violent offenders should not be released from detention if they pose a very high risk of imminent and serious reoffending and this bill sets up a balanced regime that is a proportionate response to the serious and imminent risk posed by a very small number of offenders.I now turn to the Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill the bill that I am actually responsible for. This will ensure that the public are protected from high-risk offenders who finish a finite prison sentence but do not meet the criteria for detention under a public protection order. This bill enhances the current extended supervision order regime in two ways. First the amendments enable extended supervision orders to be renewed as long as they are needed. Second the scope of extended supervision orders which currently can be used only for child sex offenders is expanded to include adult sex offenders and very high-risk violent offenders.I want to commend the Law and Order Committee which received four written submissions on this bill and heard from one submitter. Most of the submitters supported the objective of protecting the public from serious sexual and violent offending from a small number of dangerous offenders. Some of the submitters as I stated in my Committee stage speech commented on the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act implications of the bill. The Law and Order Committee carefully considered the issue and considered that there were appropriate safeguards. These include the extended supervision orders being subject to mandatory reviews by the courts and also the Parole Board being required to review the most stringent conditions every 2 years. This will mean that extended supervision orders are in place only for as long as the offenders’ risk of serious harm to the public warrants it.The Government made some additional enhancements to the extended supervision orders via a Supplementary Order Paper which I tabled in the House earlier this week. Any contact between offenders on extended supervision orders and children will now be strictly controlled. This bill will also encourage consistent decisions about the most appropriate order for high-risk offenders when applications are made to the court. Finally interim extended supervision orders can be granted when special circumstances delay a full extended supervision order application.Together these two bills fill the gaps we have identified in managing high-risk offenders once there are no other custodial options. I commend the Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Bill and the Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill to the House.