6. Prisons—Prison Population and ReoffendingHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of CorrectionsPrisons—Prison Population and ReoffendingHon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn): I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek leave for this question to be held over until the Minister of Corrections is available to answer it.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that? Yes there is.6. Hon AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by all his statements?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the House) on behalf of the Minister of Corrections: Yes in the context in which they were made.Hon Amy Adams: If he stands by his statement that the Government will reduce the prison population by 30 percent over 15 years and prisons are nearing full capacity what have been his specific instructions to the Department of Corrections regarding short-term measures to reduce the prison population?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: The Government is still working through short-term measures as to how we will reduce the prison population as part of a wider programme of work to reduce the overall level of offending and reoffending. I want to endorse the comments made by the current Leader of the Opposition that the prison rate in New Zealand is a moral and fiscal failure—a failure of that member's party in Government.Hon Amy Adams: Does he intend to keep the former Government's Better Public Services (BPS) target of reducing reoffending given his own statement that removing BPS targets would mean that There is no longer … accountability to the taxpayer for Corrections' failures."?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: We are reviewing the previous Government's failure to meet their own Better Public Services target of a 25 percent reduction in reoffending. They didn't even manage a quarter of that.Hon Amy Adams: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I didn't ask him to comment on the previous Government; I asked him whether he intended to keep the previous Government's target given that he had indicated himself that he thought removing them was a failure of accountability to taxpayers. He didn't address that; he simply attacked the previous Government's record.SPEAKER: Ask the question again.Hon Amy Adams: Does he intend to keep the former Government's Better Public Services target of reducing reoffending given his own statement that removing BPS targets would mean that "There is no longer … accountability to the taxpayer for Correction's failures."?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I indicated in light of the previous Government's failure to meet that target or even get quarter of the way there it is something that is under review. Hon Amy Adams: How does he reconcile his target of—SPEAKER: Order! There was another member who also called. Rt Hon Winston Peters: Could the Minister advise whether or not prison reforms and changes that this Government is making are likely to be fertile ground for potential leaders of the National Party?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: I'm very happy to comment on that matter.SPEAKER: No no. I can't believe the Minister was seriously going to answer it.Hon Amy Adams: We feel that way lots of the time. How does he reconcile his target of reducing the prison population by 30 percent with his decision to remove the BPS target given now in his own words there will no longer be any accountability for failures by the Department of Corrections to the New Zealand taxpayer?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I've indicated—that is that the target is under review as part of a wider range of work that this Government is initiating to reduce offending and reoffending and the imprisonment of New Zealanders within the prison system.Hon Amy Adams: Does he stand by the statement that removing BPS targets is the equivalent of the Wallabies deciding not to keep track of the score so that no one could accuse them of losing—that statement being made by Kelvin Davis?Hon CHRIS HIPKINS: As I indicated in my answer to the primary question the Minister stands by all of the statements he has made in the context that he had made them."