Upston LouiseRIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF INSANE OFFENDERS BILLFirst ReadingHon LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō): I move That the Rights for Victims of Insane Offenders Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill.Graeme Moyle first contacted my electorate office in Cambridge on 18 October 2010 about unsupervised visits by Matthew Ahlquist. Ahlquist had paranoid schizophrenia and had been discharged early from a mental health facility. Colin Moyle was known as a Good Samaritan. He had been feeding and taking care of the local homeless. He invited Ahlquist to stay in his home. Unfortunately they'd had a row as Ahlquist was using meth. Two days later Ahlquist broke into Colin's home put the kettle on to boil retrieved a spade from the outside shed and waited for his former flatmate to return home. Colin returned home and Ahlquist threw boiling water at him hit him with the spade doused him with petrol and set him alight. Colin died on 11 May 2007. This bill is not about Matthew Ahlquist; this bill is about Colin Moyle his brother Graeme their family and every other family of victims like this. This is a bill about victims' rights.National believes that victims should be at the heart of our justice system. I want to acknowledge the fierce advocacy of Graeme Moyle and show that MPs can and do change laws based on behalf of constituent visits to their office. Under the current law the verdict returned would say not guilty on account of insanity. What is clear is the action of Ahlquist caused the death of Colin Moyle. This case is only one of many in fact a growing number of cases where a person is found not guilty on account of insanity. The challenge in these instances is there is absolutely zero doubt about who caused the death who committed the act. Since 2004 33 people have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. This bill changes the finding to something that demonstrates that there is no doubt about who committed the act. It's similar to a law in Canada which provides victims with the acknowledgment that a person was proven to have caused death even if they lacked the intent to be guilty of murder.A second element of the bill is ensuring that victims are notified if the offender is being released from a secure health facility into the community. This should be in line with what happens when an offender is released from prison into the community. I accept that the process around victim notification isn't perfect which is why National is proposing to have the victim notification register changed from an opt in to an opt out to make it easier for victims of crime and their families to be kept informed about offenders. This change isn't covered by this bill but it is something that we are working on.The third element of this bill is to give victims' families a voice before decisions are made about the release of the offender into the community. In the justice system we have the Parole Board and the ability for families to have their say. In the health system there is currently no equivalent way for victims and their families to have their voices heard. There are other high profile cases and one in Nelson I'm sure my colleague will speak of Wendy has a petition before the Parliament at the moment to do exactly what my bill is doing. Wendy was the victim of a horrific attempted murder where the offender escaped conviction on the grounds of insanity. To add insult to injury when the offender was recently relocated to Nelson she had no input. Under the criminal justice system and the Parole Board she would have had a say. Her petition is seeking a change so that victims of such crimes will have the same protections as rights of other victims of crime and this bill is improving the rights of victims and creating consistency for the victims.It is a complex issue because it amends not one piece of legislation but four. It amends the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003. When a defendant raises a defence of insanity it must be determined that the defendant committed the acts or omissions that constitute the offence and that the defendant was insane at the time the offence was committed. This bill proposes that the verdict recorded would be the acts or omissions are proven but the defendant is not criminally responsible on account of insanity. Originally we worked on a much simpler verdict which was proven but insane but ran into some challenges that could be progressed in a select committee process.The bill also amends the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 so that when the offender or special patient is released a certificate must be sent to victims registered under the Victims' Rights Act 2002. Victims will also have an opportunity to make a submission to the review tribunal about whether the patient should continue to be subject to a detention order. This is about giving the victims a voice.The Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act of 2003 is also amended as some people are detained as a special care recipient rather than a special patient.Finally the fourth piece of legislation that is amended is the Victims' Rights Act 2002. So the Director-General of Health must give victims reasonable notice prior to any unescorted leave of absence or unescorted overnight leave of absence rather than just the first unescorted leave.I want to thank the Hon Andrew Little the Minister of Justice for meeting with me on more than one occasion about this legislation. With his support I hope that his officials if we progress to the select committee can improve this bill. I admit it's not perfect but I do believe there is an issue of unfairness between victims in this instance. Victims should be at the heart of our justice system and our health system. Violent assaults attempted murder or the death of a family member is traumatic. Whether this has occurred by a person sane or insane shouldn't affect the rights of the victims or their families. I commend this bill to the House.