Adams Amy: Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAdams Amy: Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee[Sitting date: 17 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:8032. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister of Justice): I move That the Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill be now read a first time. As the Minister of Justice my paramount concern is of course the safety and security of the New Zealand public. The aim of this bill is to better protect the law-abiding public by ensuring that a similar regime of supervision applies to convicted offenders who served their sentences in prisons overseas as applies to those convicted and imprisoned in New Zealand. It puts into effect the third of three initiatives we have had under way to strengthen New Zealand’s oversight of deported offenders.In late December 2014 Australia made changes to its immigration laws and in February of this year it became clear to me that there was the potential for a greater number of New Zealand - born offenders to be deported back home than had previously been the case. Let us be quite clear: we cannot stop Australia exercising its sovereign right to ultimately decide to deport any category of people that its Parliament decides is lawful nor can we change the fact that Australian law permits those being considered for removal to be held in detention centres during that process. We have registered at a number of levels that we do not agree with the policy and we do not like it but the fact of the matter is that we cannot force the Australians to change their law. So we have created a supervision regime that will better protect New Zealanders from those offenders returning to New Zealand. As with those released from New Zealand prisons we can never completely remove all risk but this legislation is an important part of reducing the risk for law-abiding New Zealanders.For generations Australia and other countries have deported New Zealanders who commit crimes abroad without any oversight back in New Zealand. On average these numbers were around 80 to 100 each year and included the most serious of offenders. With the recent policy changes in Australia these numbers have increased to potentially around 250 to 300 a year and this of course poses an increased risk to New Zealanders. However it is important to note that not all these people are deported offenders. The new regime also includes deportations on character grounds so the number of offenders being deported has not increased by that same amount.It is critical that we have in place a regime that can manage and supervise the offenders who do return many of whom have been convicted of serious offences. The proposed supervision regime as set out in this bill will mean that offenders who arrive in New Zealand shortly after being released from prison will be subject to the same sort of oversight as offenders who have served a similar sentence here. The proposed regime in the bill will apply automatically to returning offenders who are sentenced to more than 1 year in prison in another country who return to New Zealand within 6 months of their release from custody overseas and who were imprisoned for behaviour that would be an imprisonable offence under New Zealand law.The bill contains three specific aspects. The first is allowing police to compel returning offenders to provide information—names date of birth fingerprints etc. and in qualifying cases a DNA sample. The second is the standard monitoring and supervision conditions that will automatically apply to all returning prisoners who are sentenced to more than 1 year in prison in another country and who return within 6 months of being released from custody including time in detention centres. This includes those who are released early. The regime will apply regardless of whether the offender is eventually deported or removed or chooses to return voluntarily. The length of time each offender will be supervised will be based on the length of their overseas sentence. Finally the bill gives new powers to the District Court to impose special conditions on eligible offenders on either an interim or an ongoing basis. This allows the court to impose conditions on any offender who is subject to some form of monitoring or supervision at the time that they return to New Zealand regardless of how long it has been since their release.Another key addition to the proposals that I announced a few weeks ago is the inclusion of a mandatory review of the operation of the legislation by the Justice and Electoral Committee 2 years from the bill’s commencement. The proposal is that the bill is referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee for review and report to Parliament as I consider that the issues to be canvassed are likely to traverse across operational practical and social matters as well as just legal matters. From the outset it has been my intention that criminals being returned to New Zealand should be subject to the same sort of oversight as offenders who have served a similar prison sentence in New Zealand and this bill achieves that aim.The Government has moved at pace to get this entirely new regime in place. This has not been an easy task and it has involved working across three agencies and of course with Australian officials. A key aspect of the regime has been getting the information we needed from the Australians. With a register and information-sharing agreement now in place I announced the proposed regime earlier in the year confirmed Cabinet approval 3 weeks ago and am now introducing a bill to Parliament. Developing an appropriate oversight regime for returning offenders is complex. We have needed to strike the difficult balance between offenders’ rights and public safety. Despite these challenges we have introduced a bill that will provide protection for New Zealanders where there has previously been none.The estimated time to draft a bill from instructions being received to introduction is around 80 working days. This bill was drafted consulted on and approved by Cabinet in just 12 working days. The quick turn-round demonstrates the Government’s urgency and commitment to protecting New Zealanders. Kiwis can be assured that this Government has done all it could and moved as quickly as possible to get an appropriate oversight regime in place given the restrictions we have had in getting the information from Australia.Throughout the development of this supervision regime I have endeavoured to work with my parliamentary colleagues on all sides of the Chamber. In my view political parties should be able to work together on issues as important as these. I would like to think that every party in Parliament recognises that there is a gap in the law and supports a bill that does something about it. I have been working with all of the parties in Parliament all the way through the process since Cabinet confirmed its approach. There are some areas that we do not necessarily agree on but I have endeavoured to engage in numerous discussions with them and to provide opportunities for them to offer suggestions. They have received copies of the Cabinet paper and draft bills and have been updated regularly on revisions. We have gone backwards and forwards where we can and I have done that in an effort to try to build widespread support but in the end of course voting decisions are theirs.I also have to thank the Ministry of Justice officials and the Parliamentary Counsel Office for all of their tremendous work in getting this bill put together in such a timely manner.To conclude I wish to thank this House for accepting the need to pass this bill under urgency. There is strong public interest in putting in place appropriate systems to manage the risks posed by returning offenders. This bill does exactly that. I am proud of the proposed supervision regime and the speed with which we have responded to this issue and I commend the bill to the House.