Power Simon: Urgent Debates — Ministerial Inquiry—Death of Debbie Marie Ashton 
Power Simon: Urgent Debates — Ministerial Inquiry—Death of Debbie Marie Ashton 
[Volume:648;Page:17260] 
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
: 
 Could I also start by expressing on my own behalf and on behalf of the National Party as Dr Nick Smith already has my good wishes condolences and thoughts to the Ashton family over this particular tragedy. Unlike other members who have addressed this matter I will not be talking to the House about the issues surrounding letters to the Speaker and matters of that sort. As chairman of Parliament’s Privileges Committee I will not be having a discussion about those issues and it certainly would not be appropriate to canvass them at this point. What I can say is that I think I am correct in saying that in this term of Parliament this is the third such debate that I have been involved in in extremely similar circumstances. The tragic death of young Liam Ashley and the proliferation of accidents mishaps and incompetence surrounding that incident and the incidents around Graeme Burton brought the debate to this Chamber in a way where we hoped finally we might be able as a Government as a Parliament to get some of these things right once and for all. 
The tragedy around Debbie Ashton’s death tells us that despite continued reassurances from the Government following young Liam Ashley’s death and despite continued assurances from the Government following the death of young Mr Kuchenbecker the agencies concerned continue to operate in a way that perpetuates a culture that allows these types of tragedies to continue. It is simply not going to be good enough to stand in the House every 8 or 9 months and have a debate or a reflection on yet another incident that has gone wrong in the justice system. 
In question time today coincidentally there was a series of questions from me to the Minister of Justice who was standing in for the Minister of Corrections on a repeat incident by the very individual who was responsible for young Liam Ashley’s death in 2006 having yet another attack on a prison guard in the back of a prison van. During question time I asked the Minister what we have learnt when we were told these things were not going to go wrong again. We have spent $217000 of taxpayers’ money to buy scores of waist restraints and an incident has occurred that can only be described as eerily similar to the one that took Mr Ashley’s life some months prior to this incident. 
Then when we look at the complicated series of mishaps that allowed Graeme Burton to be free and to take the life of Mr Kuchenbecker we see more apologies more hand-wringing more concern being expressed and rightly so. But here we are again having the same conversation and the same debate about issues that have occurred yet again. A series of systemic blunders by departments and ministries in the justice sector have claimed the life of another young New Zealander. It has got to stop. Time and time again we see the police the Department of Corrections the Parole Board and other such agencies rolling out apologies. I do not doubt they are heartfelt I do not doubt they are genuine but the fact that we keep hearing them tells us that these problems are not changing. We can alter the protocols we can change the paperwork we can change the way practices are carried out but if the culture that exists in the justice sector is one of initial refusal to take responsibility where wrongs have occurred these tragic incidents will not be removed from the political landscape. 
In many respects one almost has to feel sorry for the Department of Corrections official Ms Casey. She has become the official apologiser for the Department of Corrections. She is wheeled out every time a blunder occurs to attempt to explain where the department has got it wrong yet again. And likewise how many times have we seen the faces of senior police officers on television in recent times undergoing a similar series of apologies? 
The thing I cannot understand about this particular incident is why when in December 2007 the Minister received the report into this matter it took so long for it to be released. It is said that sunlight is the best disinfectant when these types of issues arise but I ask the Minister the Hon David Parker when he addresses the House following my contribution to answer that basic question that no doubt the Ashton family would like to know the answer to but on which I believe that Parliament too is owed an explanation as to what the delay was between receiving the report in or about December 2007 and its final release to the public and to the family only this month. 
I acknowledge as my colleague Nick Smith did the approach taken by the Hon Annette King. In many respects it is typical of her—to get on with it to grab the bull by the horns and try to get some answers. I also think that taking a trip to Nelson was a great sign of a certain level of humanity and I acknowledge that contribution. The problem is that these issues the culture the way these departments and ministries continue to conduct their business do not change from incident to incident. Now is the time to change the culture of these organisations once and for all. If we are standing here in another 6 months’ time having the same conversations that we had over Liam Ashley’s death the same conversations we had more or less over Mr Kuchenbecker’s death outlining again in detail the failures the mishaps and the blunders of departments that have been contained in yet another investigation and report then we will have failed. 
The Government owes some serious explanation again on this incident but in particular around why the Ashton family and the public had to wait for such a long period of time for the sunlight to come on to the matters at hand. I have listened carefully to what other members have said in this debate about the detail of the series of events that led to young Ms Ashton’s death and I do not intend to traverse those again. I ask only that with the debate today we stop and as a Parliament make sure that we have the nerve to confront these departments and ministries and tell them that more excuses more reports are not good enough and to change the culture of the way these operations run within the justice system or I fear we will be standing here having this debate again in a few months’ time.