Brown Peter: Prisoners' and Victims' Claims Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Brown Peter: Prisoners' and Victims' Claims Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:626;Page:20941] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 I want to comment on the United Future members’ speeches—particularly Marc Alexander’s speech but even his colleague Paul Adams made a very sensible speech. I know that Marc Alexander has been pushing this issue behind the scenes. I know his frustration and probably his anger but I have to say that if United Future had taken a more forthright position some weeks ago when this bill first emerged we might well have got the Opposition parties a bit more united and we might have been able to overturn it. We might not have been dependent on the silly Greens. Some good points have been made. Unfortunately I think United Future should have backed Marc Alexander a week or so ago. 
In this debate there seem to be some conflicting opinions around the Committee about whether we should be subject to international law. My understanding is that we are not committed to international law. Despite what the Minister said we are the master of our own destiny. As one unknown New Zealander said only a few days ago with regard to our commitment to international law: “Baloney!”. 
My second point concerns what the Minister said. This Government is well known for being soft on criminals particularly on those who have affected victims. The Minister sits there with a look of horror on his face but I want to show him a headline in the  
Dominion Post 
 of only a few days ago: “Mob man guilty of attack on police”. The article is about a guy named Gillies who has now attacked another two policemen. Some time ago Gillies attacked a policeman—a sergeant I think—called Hendrikse and virtually paralysed him with a screwdriver. The policeman has never recovered. Gillies was put in prison. The Government of its own accord—with no judicial review no judicial hearing and no hearing whatsoever—awarded five criminals $325000. That was in the Government’s last term. In this term it wants to legalise that. In the Government’s last term it did that and in this term it wants to legalise its action. The Government gave that guy Gillies $40000 and he is now back in prison after attacking policemen in a vicious manner. That is the sort of person to whom this bill gives compensation. 
Many people have spoken about whether prisoners have rights. Of course they have rights—minimum rights like the right to food. No one is trying to take that from them are they? Nobody is taking away prisoners’ right to shelter—to accommodation. We have already removed through legislation their right to receive accident compensation payments once they are in prison. We have already removed prisoners’ right to vote. What we are talking about with regard to this bill is whether prisoners should have the right to sue and whether if they take an action and win they should be entitled to compensation. New Zealand First has taken a compromise position a midway position. We understand that prisoners could have the right to sue if the Department of Corrections mucks them around. But we will not agree to their getting a cent of that money—not a single cent. As this bill is drafted—and the Greens will support this—prisoners will get some of the money and perhaps a large measure of it. They will not get all of it but they will get a significant amount in certain circumstances. Tony Ryall intimated the circumstances in which prisoners could get a considerable amount. Where there is no victim to pay out—the offender may have shot and killed the victim—the prisoner could get a residue. Where the crime has no obvious victim—I am trying to think of an example; I did have one in mind before—the prisoner can get a payout. New Zealand First objects strongly to that. 
Many law-abiding New Zealanders have spoken to me. I am surprised that those people do not talk to the Labour Party because many of them have said to me: “Peter for God’s sake stop this bill. We don’t want prisoners getting compensation.” Those prisoners are the scumbags of this country. They do evil deeds—my colleague Edwin Perry illustrated quite clearly what some of them have been up to—and they are now being given the chance to get legal aid to sue the Department of Corrections for compensation. We mollycoddle prisoners in this country to some degree. This very day I have seen a protocol signed between the Department of Corrections and the Office of the Ombudsmen yet the Greens are saying that that is not enough. That protocol almost gives prisoners two lumps of sugar in every cup of tea they want. That is not enough for the Greens; they want to have an independent prisons inspectorate. 
There should be no way at all for someone who commits a crime and who is sent to prison for it to come out wealthy. That could well happen here. Under this bill it could happen if someone who has been sent to prison for a horrendous crime gets in some sort of fracas as Paul Adams illustrated a little while ago—and there are easier ways than by fighting with another prisoner; all one has to do is antagonise a prison guard get him or her to retaliate and the prisoner will come out wealthy. That is not on.