Mark Ron: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Mark Ron: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:606;Page:3461] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 Might I say firstly that it is good to be back. I congratulate all members on having a safe Christmas. I am looking forward to the rest of this year.  
Having just heard that rather interesting contribution from the senior Government whip a member who sits on a salary higher than most members in this House receive I now do not understand one reason for taxpayers paying him anything. The first thing I want to say to him is that if he feels seriously strongly and passionately about an issue then he should come down to the House and talk about it. Obviously someone else wrote his speech for him because he had to read the whole thing out. If he had something serious to say something he seriously believes in then he would have stood in the House like some of the great orators who have gone before him in time such as David Lange to name one and just spoken from the floor. But oh no what did we see? The man stood up and read word for word off his speech. That tells me he knows nothing about the things of which he speaks.  
So let us talk about this Government. Over the holiday period we all witnessed the events in Iraq as they unfolded—[ 
Interruption 
] Sometimes one really has to worry about the well-being of some people who sit in those seats. That lady should take a pill. Over the Christmas holiday much of our time was occupied in watching the events unfold in Iraq and the Gulf. All members in this House have had to exercise not only their minds but also their consciences as to where they sit on this issue. I have noted the Government’s comments. I have also noted the fact that we have service personnel deployed in the Gulf of Oman already and that they are setting about doing their duties in terms of supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. I will be watching with interest to see how this Government handles any further deployments.  
My greatest concern and I will signal it now as we head into what could become known in history as the Third World War—because there are very few nations that are not now engaged in some way—is that there be a debate in this House. I expect and indeed the taxpayers the citizens and the voters of this country will demand that that occur before this Government commits its service personnel to any further involvement in that region. So far we have not had debate. We have skived around the issue by saying that it is an extension of an operation that we were already engaged in in Afghanistan. Well I can accept that to a point. But the point is here now and any further involvement that this Government commits this country to in respect of actions in the Gulf I expect to be debated on the floor of this House. 
Jill Pettis 
: As we always do! 
RON MARK 
: No I say to Jill Pettis the junior whip who is more highly paid than most other MPs in this House the House did not debate the deployment to the Gulf of Oman. Do not sit here and lie to me— 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Point of order— 
RON MARK 
: Oh that got him on his feet! 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think you can anticipate my point of order. That is an outrageous breach of the Standing Orders and I think that the member should withdraw and apologise. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member accused the other member of telling a lie. The member will stand up and withdraw. 
RON MARK 
: Speaking to the point of order Madam Speaker— 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No no the member will stand up— 
RON MARK 
: Are you going to bully me into this without listening to an explanation?  
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member will please be seated. I have clearly ruled on the matter. The member will stand up and withdraw the remark about— 
RON MARK 
: I withdraw. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: No I have told the member to withdraw the remark. 
RON MARK 
: I withdraw the remark. That member over there said in her own words that this Government has debated every military deployment it has instigated. That did not happen with the deployment to the Gulf of Oman. How would members interpret her comment? I know how everybody in New Zealand who is listening would interpret it and I know how I interpret it but I am not permitted to say so in this House. That would seem to be somewhat bizarre but we shall move on. The point I say to Jill Pettis is that I expect a debate in this House before the Government deploys any troops to any action in Iraq. We expect that and so does New Zealand. The member should wake up.  
Over the next few months there will be closer scrutiny on a number of areas of the Government’s portfolios because the Government has shown that it is incapable of acting in certain areas. I point to the corrections portfolio for a start. Before the House rose and we went into the Christmas break the select committee was advised that the cost of the Ngawha prison would be $105 million. Today we read in the newspapers that Ngawha will top $132 million. In my book either the Minister of Corrections should get the sack or the head of the Department of Corrections should get the sack because I know Helen Clark and she always utters the truth. She said there would be new levels of accountability in this Government. Not only do we still have the ongoing issues of Ngawha that the people of Northland are protesting about which is their democratic right but also we have a very simple issue of accountability. And how big are we around this Chamber on chasing issues of accountability? Eighty-nine dollars worth of underpants kept the Labour Opposition Party going for years! Yet here we have a Budget blowout of $100 million and no one is fired. 
There are people in Northland who would say and one would have to forgive them: “It’s probably because the Pakehas are running it eh?”. One would have to take that on the chin. From where they sit when their concerns are being ignored and they see these sorts of numbers coming in one could forgive them for saying that. But all we know is that it is simple incompetence. It is not racism; it is incompetence. It is incompetence by the Government because it has allowed the situation to get to that stage; it is incompetence by the Minister because he has done nothing about it and still does nothing; and it is incompetence by the head of that department who probably is paid more than the Prime Minister because of creating such a disaster in the first place.  
The corrections problems do not just sit there do they Tariana Turia? The honourable Minister over there knows of the issues inside of corrections that have yet to be addressed in terms of the way it runs itself. I am looking across this House for support. 
Darren Hughes 
: So conciliatory. 
RON MARK 
: Young Daryl Hughes can scoff but behind him sits a Minister with far more experience knowledge and information at her fingertips than that junior member will ever have no matter how much he might aspire.  
There are issues to deal with in corrections. We can look in the Christchurch-Canterbury prisons can we not? We need to look at the goon squad. We need to look at all the decisions. We need to look at the death of an inmate that the coroner said was contributed to by the actions of corrections staff and management. What have we done? Absolutely nothing! A young man is dead because he was given a day out to visit a woman who is known for dispensing drugs illegally. She has since been convicted of giving him the drugs that ended his life. What have we done? Nothing! This House is sick to death of hearing Labour members and I have to say Progressive Coalition members out on the hustings saying all the things they want to do to people. “Poor inmates”—yet when it came to the goon squad when it came to Canterbury prisons and when it came to that young man nothing was done. He is dead. His parents grieve. His family grieve. The only reason he is dead is that he was allowed back into prison. He was not searched. He used the drugs he was given on a little day outing that was not properly supervised and he overdosed. Oh brilliant! Well done corrections! And well done the Government which has not acted to clean up what is going on inside corrections. I can name about five or six members on the Government benches who know precisely of what I speak.  
We can do this the hard way or we can do it the easy way. The Government can take control of it sort it out and work with its own members who know what is going on or we will do it the hard way. The hard way is through the media—it is “kick down get out drag it out do it bad and dirty”. And who wins? Really nobody wins. I would much rather see the Government members who know what is going on inside corrections bring the issue to a head and then we deal with it as a Parliament and in a way that Helen Clark said she would with her new levels of accountability. Well it ain’t happening! It has not happened for 3 years. We are out to 4 years and my heart is telling me that if it is left to this Government it might not happen.  
I am looking at a very eminent lawyer—I cannot think of his name—who is sitting in the ranks over there. He is well known for standing up for and protecting prisoners’ rights. I expect more from that man. We have heard a lot about how Maori are doing so well economically. Is it not a shame that the Kyoto agreement and the Climate Change Response Bill will now impact so heavily on Maori corporations that are trying to develop their economic well-being? What have I heard out of any one Maori MP on those benches? Zip zero nothing zilch! And that is right at a time when we are going to see a downturn as announced by Fonterra in the payouts to those corporations. But of course we will hear the rantings around the House about how Maori should do more for himself. The Kyoto agreement and the Climate Change Response Bill will do nothing for their farms.