Dean Jacqui: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 12 June 2012. Volume:680;Page:2829. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 One of the things New Zealanders hold very dear is feeling safe in their homes. It is one of those things that my constituents hold very dear. In fact I know a number of people move to the South Island and to small towns in the South Island because that is where they feel safe. They feel safe going about their business they feel safe on the roads and they feel safe in their homes and that is something that I believe we will want for all New Zealanders all throughout New Zealand.  
That is why National embarked when it came into Government on a comprehensive programme of reform to protect our communities: to protect everybody in New Zealand on the roads at work and in their homes to prevent crime happening to New Zealanders and to put victims at the heart of the justice system. In the time that the National Government has been in power we have passed 80 new laws to do with the safety of New Zealanders. We have introduced pieces of legislation like the offender levy where $50 is taken from offenders and put towards the victims of crime. I was looking for the latest figure of how much has been gained from the offender levy and I am afraid I cannot find it. It is not to hand but I know that it is a significant amount and I know that that offender levy is making a real difference to the victims of crime in New Zealand.  
This Government has given victims more say in court with victim impact statements. This Government has put 600 more police on the beat—on the front line—in the small towns and the cities throughout New Zealand. This Government has provided tools to seize the proceeds of crime. Again the amount recovered from the proceeds of crime is indeed significant and that money is in turn being put to good use. This Government has brought in tougher sentencing and parole laws and now is looking at bail laws for all New Zealanders. We have tackled gangs we have tackled P and we are making significant gains on the importation of precursors of P. This Government has also worked on road safety and we now have the lowest road toll in 50 years.  
But of course that is not enough. Budget 2012 has a strong focus once again—and I am very pleased to see it—on law and order. Recorded crime is now at a 15-year low and the crime rate which is set at a rate per 100000 of population is at a 30-year low. Those are figures that are to be celebrated but according to the Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections Anne Tolley much more needs to be done. What a great attitude from our Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections. This is a Minister and a Government committed to making our communities safer with a focus now on prevention—that is preventing crime from happening and also reducing crime.  
Budget 2012 supports this target for safer communities for New Zealanders. It supports this target and builds on the achievement of less crime. This Budget reprioritises $65 million in operating expenditure over the next 4 years and this expenditure is targeted in certain directions. There will be 33000 offenders including remand prisoners accessing drug and alcohol treatment.  
This Government has already banned smoking in our prisons. It was probably about 1½ years ago that smoking was banned in our prisons—a move that has been reported to us in the Law and Order Committee as an outstanding success. There is cleaner air both for officers and for inmates alike improved health—of course—as a consequence of no smoke in the air and a decrease in standover tactics now that tobacco has been removed as a currency. I will never forget the day when the Department of Corrections came to the Law and Order Committee and showed us a video and photographs of fires in prisons. Prisoners wad up their bedding sheets or paper light it with their cigarette lighters throw it out into the corridor and watch the ensuing mayhem placing not only corrections officers themselves but other prisoners at risk as the corrections officers scramble to put out those fires. The incidence of fires is now virtually nil and so it would be fair to say that prisons are now a safer place for officers and inmates alike.  
The Corrections Amendment Bill has passed its first reading. This is a bill that will remove red tape allowing our prisons to operate more effectively and also importantly that makes improvements to both drug testing and strip-searching procedures. All these are measures to make our prison environments safer for all those who have to live and work in them.  
Budget 2012 provides for more rehabilitation places. Again the Law and Order Committee is to travel to Rimutaka Prison this week to have a look at this and I extend a welcome to any other members of Parliament who would like to come. It is a select committee trip but it is open to any other members who are interested in law and order issues and who would like to take part in this visit. This visit will have a look at rehabilitation programmes at work. These programmes are designed to equip prisoners with the skills to face the world outside prison when they get released. As part of Budget 2012 there will be 2950 more prisoners in education and training. There has already been a 45 percent increase in New Zealand Qualifications Authority credits gained by prisoners in trades training and work skills. It is pretty obvious is it not? The more work skills a prisoner has and the more trades training skills a prisoner has the greater the likelihood of getting employment on release; it is much enhanced. So too is there less likelihood of prisoners reoffending and ending right back where they began: in prison. It is notable particularly following the contribution by the member who was so fixated on the colour red in a previous contribution that in Christchurch there are 130 new places for trades training. Of course those are skills that are going to be sorely needed in the future in Christchurch and those skills are around building carpentry and those practical skills that are going to be sorely needed.  
Corrections has looked very carefully at the way it operates as part of an expenditure review and has identified the best investments with a view to reducing reoffending. By seriously addressing these contributors of crime—things like drug and alcohol addiction and lack of literacy and numeracy skills—we can reduce the likelihood of reoffending.  
Budget 2012 supports the police in working smarter and better. Of course by working more efficiently the police are providing a better public service to taxpayers which is a very strong focus of this Government and they have a real impact on crime rates in New Zealand. Police Minister Anne Tolley announced the Prevention First strategy late last year which outlines how police aim to prevent crime before it happens. Most important it puts the victim first ultimately making New Zealand a safer place to work and to live. The strategy also aims to reduce the number of crashes on our roads to give police greater control of the criminal environment to put the police on top and to provide a better service once again to victims. The Prevention First strategy puts prevention of crime at the forefront of police security. It allows police to be more proactive and work in a planned way. I was interested to hear a policeman say to me that gone are the days when the police car leaves the police station tosses a coin and then decides whether to turn left or right. Those days are gone. Now police are working more effectively and smarter.  
Budget 2012 supports front-line police with the provision of new technologies which gives them faster access to information so that they can make better decisions when they are out on the road and facing crime. As the Prevention First and Policing Excellence programmes continue to be rolled out police are on course to reach the target of a 13 percent reduction in crime by 2014-15. That is a big goal. This Budget supports that.