Lole-Taylor Asenati: Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLole-Taylor Asenati: Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 26 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13809. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Le’aufa’amuliaASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First): Today I rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak to the Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill at its Committee stage. I think we all agree that law and order is very important to our country. It is crucial not only to maintain order in our society but also to ensure safety and maximise security for all New Zealanders. We are all aware that some of our citizens continue to break the law some fail to behave in accordance with the law and some just do not know any better so it is impossible to imagine that human perfection is likely to happen any time soon.New Zealand First supports the move to remove barriers in managing offenders in the community in a manner that is safe humane secure effective and of course efficient. It is important that New Zealanders have confidence in our justice system and that offenders are made accountable for their actions to the community they have offended against. It is therefore crucial that the way we manage offenders in our communities is done with no room for any mistakes or any errors. We all know the consequences of mistakes. They leave communities worried about their safety something that we should not allow to happen.We read in the news this week about a 19-year-old and his girlfriend who violated a young 10-year-old girl. The Administration of Community Sentencing and Orders Bill must close the loopholes that could lead to this kind of immoral and unacceptable behaviour in our community.The Law and Order Committee report proposed amendments that were intended to improve the original bill. Those amendments are encouraging. Community-based sentences were introduced in New Zealand for many reasons. It would be interesting to see a report on any improvements made since their introduction. They are to reduce incarceration relieve the overcrowding of prisons offer a more appropriate sentence for crimes of less gravity and reduce costs to the Department of Corrections.Why then two decades after non-custodial sentences being introduced have we become a nation with too many people in our corrections system? Why is it that our Government continues to look for more ideas for being productive in building more prisons and enhancing the high incarceration statistics in New Zealand? Are people in New Zealand committing more crime or are people just enjoying being involved in criminal activities? It is time for us to look at other techniques to prevent crime. Whether this bill is the answer is I think a crucial question.This bill seeks to ensure we do not trap people in a web where they constantly come in and out of prison wasting their lives and adding more burden to the taxpayers. New Zealand First knows that the provision allowing community magistrates to alter or cancel a community-based sentence previously imposed by a community magistrate means that this will allow the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections to approve changes of address for home or community detention. Hopefully it will not be the same mess created in the “Beast of Blenheim” case. Although New Zealand First recognises the valid intention behind this approach I would like to mention here the need for accountability to be maintained. Shifting administrative responsibility should not create cover-ups or loopholes in terms of accountability.This bill has also been amended to allow a probation officer rather than the court to direct that up to 20 percent of a community work sentence of at least 80 hours be spent in training. This is a good initiative. This is a good way forward. As a strong advocate of rehabilitation and reintegration I cannot emphasise more the need for the probation service and the Department of Corrections to work together to manage community-based sentences. This bill in general will give probation officers more powers in directing a proportion of community work sentences into training. Reducing barriers to enable training for offenders should be encouraged.And yes offenders need training but New Zealand First asks what the cost is to the taxpayer. How many offenders with community work sentences actually need training? This information is important and would necessitate funding for relevant resources as well. From previous reports there were concerns that with the increased imposition of community service there is evidence that those sentenced to it are more likely to be those who would otherwise have received fines but could not afford them.It will be crucial that probation officers use these new proposed powers with discretion. No doubt there will be conflicting ideas and differences of opinion betweenwhat the judiciary and probation officers may recommend. In terms of the sentencing hierarchy we are making a change here through this bill giving what were once the powers of the judge to the probation officers. Guess what that means? I believe it means that the Minister of Corrections has complete confidence in the probation service to perform these vital roles for New Zealanders. Does she have that? I would like to hear a response from the Minister or for her to take a call and answer this question. What evidence does she have to confirm her confidence?It is interesting to see the recommendation that a court may not cancel or replace the first sentence if that sentence was imposed by a higher court but may instead remit the matter to the court that imposed the first sentence. Let us just hope that the higher court will always get it right. Consistency in our judicial system is important and the administration of community sentencing orders must always be aligned across all Government departments. If something is to be implemented it should be done to the best of one’s ability to achieve the maximum quality results.To do so however one needs the right tools to do the job. The probation service will need to be sufficiently resourced to ensure that mandatory pre-sentence reports are done to the correct and highest standard. This will also ensure that when offenders are directed to training the probation service has the time to organise the best appropriate programmes for offenders—not just someone who comes off the road and says “I can do this. I can deliver it. Just because I can talk to the prisoner I have the best programme to ensure that this person does not offend again.” In recent years there have been a lot of cases where placements in programmes for various offenders have been poorly assessed.A probation officer can now review the suitability of the home detention residence or curfew address. This is when the court defers the commencement of a second sentence of home or community detention for more than 2 months and indicates that for the purpose of determining when post-detention conditions commence any concurrent or cumulative home detention sentences will be treated as a notional single sentence.The other part of the proposed amendments includes where an appeal against a home detention sentence is unsuccessful. There is a requirement for the registrar of the appeal court to notify the controlling officer of the relevant probation area and the offender if they are not in court of the date on which the sentence resumes.So community safety is vital and absolutely a priority for our nation. New Zealand First strongly believes that to achieve effective law and order in our nation the public should have confidence in our judiciary our police and the corrections system. I believe we can all accept the fact that for a nation of our size we have far too many people in our corrections system. Let me once again remind the National Government that a genuine Government is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus. New Zealand First supports the initiative to fix up the loopholes and supports what this bill intends to do.