Parker David: Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParker David: Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee[Sitting date: 17 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:8084. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour): There are two issues I want to raise in this call. First of all the purpose of this legislation is in part for the New Zealand Police to gather information on returning criminals. We have been told in earlier stages in this debate that some of the offenders who have been returned or deported from Australia to New Zealand have come without particulars being known to the New Zealand authorities and that is one of the reasons why we need to be able to stop those people—so we can get that information from them.I would like to know from the Minister of Justice whether that is correct and whether in respect of the intervening period from earlier in the year when increased numbers of people were being deported from Australia to New Zealand there were any instances where people arrived in New Zealand and the New Zealand authorities on their arrival did not know the offences of which they had been convicted particularly in serious cases. If that is the case then that seems to me to be irresponsible on the part of the Australian authorities and we in this House have got a right to know whether that is the case. If that was the case it seems to me that there are only two possible explanations for it: either the Australian authorities were not willing to provide the information or if they were willing the New Zealand authorities did not seek it. So I would like to know whether there were any cases between the start of the year and now where people have been deported following serious offences and where the particulars of their offending were not known. I think that is a reasonable question to ask the Minister and I would ask that she respond to that point.The second point I want to make is a point that has not yet been made in respect of the interpretation clause clause 4. Clause 4 sets out the meaning of “determination notice” and “returning prisoner”. This is necessary because the legislation says that where the Commissioner of Police determines that the nature of the returning prisoner’s prior convictions and penalties passes a threshold then that person is said to be a returning prisoner within the later provisions in Part 2 subpart 2 of the bill and the definition is given effect to through clause 4 of the bill. I in an earlier contribution—and I do not know whether the Minister was in the Chamber at the time—asked the question as to whether the effect of clause 28 on those definitions means that the jurisdiction of the court to consider whether indeed the Commissioner of Police has made a valid determination notice to catch people within the provisions of the Act as being a returning prisoner is ousted. My reason for that question arises from the words that are in clause 28(2). If a determination notice is made by the police it seems that a court cannot discharge or vary the terms of a standard notice that has been imposed under this legislation and that the jurisdiction of the court is being ousted. I would like the Minister to comment on that.In terms of the issue that I started with which is the estimated 157 people who have been deported to New Zealand between May and September this year—which I think was the figure that was used by my colleague Phil Goff—I want to know whether on arrival the New Zealand authorities had instances where they did not have information. That goes to the question as to whether this legislation goes far enough because my understanding is that the legislation is not of retrospective effect and that we will still have a lacuna in the New Zealand information if that information was not collected at the time and was not provided by the Australian authorities.I would hope the advice that we have had in this Committee today on that point to date is wrong because I would find it almost unbelievable that the Australian authorities would deport from Australia to New Zealand people who have lived there all of their lives; who are from their point of view Australians; who have no support networks back here; and on whom the New Zealand Government may have absolutely no records. If these people have been living in Australia for 30 years—effectively all of their adult lives; often since they were very small children—the New Zealand authorities will have no records of their own in respect of these people because they have never been in New Zealand. They might have been born here they could have left New Zealand as a baby and there will be no records here of their offending while they were in Australia. There will be no records of any of their other interaction with governmental authorities because they have had none. Therefore the New Zealand system is blind to their history and the risk that they pose except to the extent that that information later comes to the New Zealand authorities.Who holds that information? Actually the organisations that hold that information in respect of the people who have been living in Australia are the Australian authorities. I would be very surprised if the Australian authorities had been deporting more people with serious offences between May and September without providing to the New Zealand authorities details of the offending the sentences and also other information if it had been requested by the New Zealand Government. If the Minister could answer that question that would be appreciated.Secondly what requests were made for information in respect of that group of people from earlier this year until the passage of this legislation? If in fact people have been arriving without information I would expect the Australians to provide that information voluntarily but if they have not I would also expect the New Zealand Government to be seeking it. I would have thought that if a similar request were made of New Zealand authorities in respect of people whom we were deporting to Australia the New Zealand authorities would cooperate with Australia and I would hope that that sort of cooperation would be reciprocated. Thank you.