Carter John: Criminal Justice Amendment Bill (No 7) — In Committee 
Carter John: Criminal Justice Amendment Bill (No 7) — In Committee 
[Volume:612;Page:9536] 
JOHN CARTER (National—Northland) 
: 
 I am worried about some of the comments Ron Mark made. It really concerned me to start with because to praise this Minister in such a wholesome way is a real worry. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: You do it privately to me all the time. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Excuse me! The Minister said that he would not mention that. 
Pansy Wong 
: That’s three blots. 
JOHN CARTER 
: Yes that is right. That is three blots on the Minister’s copybook now. If the Minister relies on me for support he is in real trouble. It must be too early in the morning; I cannot believe that my colleague would be quite so fulsome. 
However having said that I want to pick up the point he made. From a procedural issue it concerns me that here we are in urgency on a bill that was reported back in 2001. It has been around for a long long time. In fact it has been sitting here for a couple of years. Suddenly we get a Supplementary Order Paper of 44 pages which most members have not had an opportunity to digest at all. Although it is true that the Minister may have taken a couple of calls I want to draw his attention to a couple of sections and ask him whether he would take a call perhaps to elaborate on what they mean. The Supplementary Order Paper on page 34 under the heading “Juries Act 1981” states: “Repeal the definition of mentally disordered in section 2 and substitute the following definition:”. The definition states: “mental disorder in relation to any person means an abnormal state of mind (whether of a continuous or an intermittent nature) that is—(a) characterised by delusions …”. 
That really concerns me. Where did the Minister get that from? Was he looking at the Prime Minister when he wrote that? Was he looking at his colleagues when he put in the words—“characterised by delusions”? Bless my soul. The wording goes on—and I wonder whether the Minister was thinking of the Minister of Maori Affairs—to state “or disorders of mood”. Bless my soul. Our Minister of Maori Affairs often interests this House when he is answering questions. I wonder whether the Minister may have had the Minister of Maori Affairs in mind. The wording states further “or perception or volition or”—good grief all these words get difficult to pronounce! 
The point I am making to the Minister is that members needed time to digest what this means. The definition states further “(b) not induced by substance abuse; …”. Well goodness gracious I wonder whether the Greens think about that for example. One would have to wonder whether they have an interest in that sort of thing and whether they— 
Ron Mark 
: Who is the member thinking of? 
JOHN CARTER 
: There are one or two people who immediately spring to mind and one wonders why one would leave them out. That is the point. This is why the Supplementary Order Paper needs to be thoroughly examined. The point that Ron Mark was making and the point that my colleagues have been making is that it is just not good enough it is not a fair procedure to load this House in urgency at 9 o’clock on a Thursday morning—[ 
Interruption 
] Well that may be true and that is the point. How can one digest a 44-page document when one has been in this place for as long as we have now and try to understand what it means? It will affect the lives of many New Zealanders. We can jest and laugh and from time to time have a smile but it is a serious point. I tell the Minister that it does cause me concern that suddenly we need this volume of change to a bill. Why could this bill not have been brought to the House’s attention a lot earlier and perhaps referred back to the select committee for a couple of weeks for examination? Would that not have been more sensible? 
One of the disappointing things is that our members did not know about the Supplementary Order Paper until it arrived in the House. At least we could have been briefed on it and that would have been very useful.