Ririnui Mita: Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) — Second Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:1014] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 I congratulate my colleague Jacinda Ardern who has just resumed her seat for her opening remarks on Mr Garrett’s experiences in Arizona. When she spoke I thought to myself briefly that either Mr Garrett was a very naive member which is quite possible or he went around Arizona with his eyes closed—and Jacinda has just confirmed that possibly he did. When he said that he travelled with his former colleague Stephen Franks I thought “Well no wonder they saw nothing apart from the birds and the trees and the flowers growing in the gardens in Arizona.” There was not much value in that trip whatsoever—but back to planet Earth and please excuse my manners Mr Deputy Speaker. This is my first opportunity to take a call in the forty-ninth Parliament and let me first acknowledge your appointment to Deputy Speaker as well as the appointments of the Assistant Speakers and the Speaker the Hon Dr Lockwood Smith. 
It has been an interesting debate around the quality of the parliamentary process in terms of scrutiny of legislation. As mentioned previously by a number of speakers on the Opposition side of the House the Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) is one of the first bills we have debated during this urgency that has been through the select committee process. Although I want to acknowledge the members of the Law and Order Committee chaired by the former New Zealand First member of Parliament Ron Mark I also need to acknowledge the contributions made by the current Minister of Justice Simon Power and the other committee members who were part of that process. I found it unusual that although three written submissions came to the committee only one submission was heard. I think that means that only one asked for an oral hearing at the select committee. It is surprising what we learn about the real world when we allow the process to go its full course. We learn about people who are out there in the community and who have firsthand knowledge of what is actually going on in our corrections system whether they are current or former corrections staff. Of course it is very difficult for those people to approach a select committee. 
I will say one thing about the select committee process. There is an assumption by a number of MPs and various parties in this House that they have the solutions to all the problems and that there is no need to consult with our wider communities to give us some direction on how we should resolve these matters. I will give it to the former Ministers of Corrections and the Labour-led Government that we valued that process very very much. Therefore it is only fitting for me to acknowledge the previous Minister of Corrections Phil Goff and his predecessors. I will mention them one by one: the Hon Mark Gosche who was also a Minister of Corrections; the Hon Paul Swain who was a Minister of Corrections as well; the Hon Damien O’Conner; and the previous Minister of Corrections the Hon Phil Goff. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: The member’s left out the Associate Minister! 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I was getting to the Associate Minister. The previous Minister of Corrections Phil Goff who is now the Leader of the Opposition also played a very firm part in dealing with many of the problems within our corrections institutions. Of course as the Opposition whip said there was the role of the previous Associate Minister of Corrections who outlived I think four of those Ministers. 
Hon Phil Goff 
: There’s a statement in that. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I think that makes a statement about endurance and commitment to the job. 
I am a former probation officer and I was also Associate Minister of Corrections. During that period as a probation officer I had the opportunity to go into some of our institutions and get firsthand experience of what is actually going on within our prison system to sit down and talk to corrections staff and to talk to inmates through their appointed spokespeople. It is surprising what one hears. We have had a wide debate in the House today about the value of this bill. There is wide support across the House although I think there is a bit of what we call “totarawahi rua” on behalf of some people—they are not too sure what they are supporting. It is interesting that in my view there is not a broad understanding within the House of what actually happens within corrections institutions. I think the new Minister of Corrections might benefit from paying a visit on regular occasions to our institutions to get a firsthand look and some experience of what is actually going on and to talk to people within the institutions about problems they have and possible solutions. 
My primary role as the previous Associate Minister of Corrections was to deal with Maori inmates who are the massive majority of our current inmate population. 
Sitting suspended from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. 
Debate interrupted.