Collins Judith: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Collins Judith: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:17474] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 It is an absolute pleasure to speak to this report in relation to the Department of Corrections. I am extraordinarily proud of the work it has done over the last year and the fact that it is in my opinion a stand-out department. That is certainly something that was not true under the previous Labour Government. 
I acknowledge that in the past year we had a tragedy happen to corrections with the death of our first corrections officer to have died on duty Jason Palmer. I acknowledge his loss and the loss that that was for all of our staff—as well as I am sure for many people in the country who felt very deeply for him and for his family. 
However apart from Jason’s very untimely death this year has been a fantastic year for corrections. Our staff turnover has been the lowest that it has been in the last 5 years. Escapes are down to the lowest level ever—escapes from our prisons are at the lowest level ever despite the fact that we have more people in prison now than we have ever had in the past. Positive random drug tests are down to the lowest level ever—despite all the rhetoric from the previous Government they are at the lowest level ever. Community Probation and Psychological Services is now working at levels it has never worked at before. It is doing outstanding work. It was a part of the department that we came into a crisis with when we came into Government. 
We also inherited a crisis in accommodation for prisoners. We found that we were suddenly faced with looking at whether we had to let prisoners out of their sentences earlier—we certainly were not about to do that. We have now got almost 1000 extra bunks from the double-bunking that we put into our prisons. Despite all the calling from the Labour side and the fact that it left us with a prison-muster crisis there was not one word from Labour to congratulate our staff on the excellent work they have done to deal with the situation. 
We have had the container cells. Everyone will remember the container cells. Well Labour said that container cells would not happen they were a stunt and they would not be used. I announced them in about August and by September we got the funding approved. Work started on them around November and in March they were ready to go. It took about 4 months to get them ready. Despite all the rhetoric that they would be slums and that they would be inhumane I am told that at Rimutaka Prison the prisoners are basically lining up to get into them because they are so good. They are some of the best accommodation and they are about one-third of the price of a traditional build. So what we actually have is a department that is doing the most amazing work. 
In addition to that it is rehabilitating people. Under Labour only 500 prisoners a year could get into drug and alcohol rehabilitation. By the end of this year we will have over 1000 prisoners in rehabilitation—we will have doubled Labour’s number over the 3 years we have been in office. Not only that but we are now targeting people who are in prison on short sentences. Basically under Labour they had to be in there for years and years and at the end of their sentences they would finally get some help—just before they went out. Now we are getting to them early and that means we are getting to people who are in prison for crimes that are not as bad as some others. I think that is really important. It is important to get to them while they are young earlier during their time in the system so we can get them out of the system and keep them out of the system. This is rehabilitation that works. 
Sue Moroney 
: But violent crime is going up. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Well I say to that member: “Just wait for the crime stats next week honeybun because they won’t be.” Crime is actually coming down under this National Government and I am so thrilled that it is because we are taking crime very seriously. We take it very seriously and we take victims seriously. Unfortunately the previous Government had absolutely no idea what to do. It was so soft on crime that it sent out the message to criminals that they could just keep going back to jail because it was a nice warm place to be. Well funnily enough under a National Government what we are forecasting for prisons is that they are not going to grow in number to the same extent that they did under Labour and that is because people want to get out of prison. What we are seeing as well—[ 
Interruption 
] and let us be sensible here; I know that it is difficult for the Labour Party—is that rehabilitation is absolutely paramount when we are dealing with the prison population. It is absolutely paramount to get drug and alcohol rehabilitation both in prisons and in the community. Labour never did it but National is doing it.