Goudie Sandra: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12728] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I am pleased to speak on Vote Corrections. It was an absolute godsend that National was voted into Government and brought in a new and excellent Minister of Corrections the Hon Judith Collins. I cite one of the press releases she put out on coming into office as the new Minister stating that the pressure on prisons was “a shameful Labour legacy” and “Ongoing pressure on capacity at New Zealand’s prisons is testament to failed corrections policies under the former Labour government”. The National Government had to contend with a raft of failed policies right across the board not least in the corrections system. Officials’ advice was being ignored and the pressure on prison capacity and the probation service was absolutely pitiful. 
I say to the Opposition that under the leadership of this excellent Minister everything has completely turned round. For a kick-off there has been a $1.4 billion increase in the funding in the Budget. What did the corrections sector get under Labour? Sweet-all. I tell members that the changes have been absolutely magnificent. 
I start by saying that in relation to the estimates the public-private partnerships have been a wonderful initiative and been a big part of the Budget increase. The public-private partnerships are a great new innovation in dealing with our prisons and their introduction by the new Minister is to be applauded. I refer to the implementation of the Wiri Prison public-private partnership and the reintroduction of contract management of Mount Eden Prison. The previous Labour Government did not see fit to progress that which was unfortunate because it was incredibly successful. 
One of the really exciting initiatives of the current Minister is the Prisoner Skills and Employment Strategy which is expanding the work-based training in prisons industries. Several successful examples can be found in the facilities today. They are building strong relationships with polytechs and institutes of technology resulting in new practical training opportunities for prisoners. This strategy provides for those relationships to be expanded and for new partnerships to be established. Literacy and numeracy training is also a key focus because we know that in our prisons the lack of those skills is one of the biggest problems we have to contend with. It is being taken very seriously by the current Minister who is making great strides in that regard. 
Once again it is all good news for corrections and the staff are getting behind the initiative. They are also getting behind the other initiative of the new awards that have been established by the Minister to recognise and promote honour and excellence in corrections. Corrections staff are very excited by the awards because they feel their work is being valued and they are being backed promoted and supported by their Minister. The people who received the inaugural awards were absolutely delighted. It was a very big initiative for them. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Ha ha! 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: It was. Sean Francis and Miller Slade received the awards at the graduation ceremony for corrections officers at Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt. They were the first to receive those awards. 
The Minister established the awards to recognise newly graduated corrections officers who have demonstrated outstanding achievement. That is just one way of saying thank you to corrections officers because they do such an outstanding job. It is a tough job and they are helping to restore the public’s faith in the corrections system in terms of looking after the safety of our citizens. That is an eminently good way to be. 
I will also talk about the containers. We were in a crisis in terms of housing our prisoners. Opening the container cell units averted that crisis. A reporter spent a night in one of those containers and found it exceedingly comfortable. That reporter thought it was a great initiative by the Minister of Corrections and applauded it. Those containers are quite fantastic. Pictures of them were presented to the Law and Order Committee to give us greater understanding and we saw that they were absolutely excellent and everybody agreed on that just not the Opposition.