Burton Mark: Criminal Justice Reform Bill — In Committee 
Burton Mark: Criminal Justice Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:640;Page:10580] 
Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 I thank members for their various contributions. It has been an interesting afternoon in Parliament and generally the debate around what are important matters to do with the organisation of the criminal justice system has been worthy of Parliament. 
I say to the member who has just resumed his seat Dr Richard Worth that I do not for a moment agree with him that the Sentencing Council and sentencing guidelines in any way reduce the requirement of a high level of judgment and indeed wisdom on the part of judges. Of course the guidelines provide ranges for judges to operate within but it is interesting that the concept enjoys its highest level of support among the judiciary among those who make the most judgments— 
Dr Richard Worth 
: That’s not right! 
Hon MARK BURTON 
: It is entirely correct. 
One member commented earlier that somehow the Sentencing Council was going to be made up of appointees of the Government—that was clearly the inference that was suggested. Well I remind that member that the person who will have the single most influence over the composition of the membership of the Sentencing Council will be the Chief Justice and that 50 percent of the membership of the council will be judges. I think that the comments made by at least one member a little earlier on—not Dr Worth—cast rather unfortunate aspersions on the character of judges when we consider that they will play a very significant role on the Sentencing Council. 
I conclude by saying that although it is certainly the case that there are a raft of provisions in this legislation for community-based sentences to broaden the range of non-custodial sentences there is no question that this Government remains firmly committed to the policy that those serious repeat violent offenders who are incarcerated will need to continue to be so. There is no question of that. The issue is that equally through some of the measures in this legislation and elsewhere in the effective interventions package the community knows that better rehabilitation and better dealing with mental health and addiction issues are being addressed in the criminal justice system and in the corrections environment and that is equally important. 
Let me finish with this challenge to members: is there any member in this Parliament who can hand on heart take any joy in the notion that New Zealand has one of the highest levels of incarceration in the OECD in the developed world? Why would any member want to see an increase in the number of New Zealanders imprisoned? 
Our objective as a Parliament should surely be to protect society first and foremost through early intervention and crime prevention. I suggest to members opposite that that is by far the most effective form of intervention. It is certainly the best way to avoid victims becoming victims in the first place. So the package of interventions which is about early intervention about prevention and about rehabilitation is critically important because the interventions address the overwhelming majority I tell Dr Mapp of those who are in fact involved in the criminal justice system. As for the small minority in total who are indeed serious repeat violent offenders the community of course must be protected from them and it will be. This legislation addresses itself to the overwhelming majority for whom we simply must do better and I say to the Committee that the advancing of this legislation will enable us to do just that.