Gosche Mark: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
Gosche Mark: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Bill — In Committee Procedure Third Reading 
[Volume:626;Page:21029] 
Hon MARK GOSCHE (Labour—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 At a time when New Zealand has the leading figures for unemployment throughout the world and a crime rate that is going down to a level that has not been seen for over 20 years it is extraordinary to listen to a speech such as that. The reality is that there is not one single answer to crime in this country. But I tell members that we as a Government have built or are about to build an extra set of prisons that I do not think this country should have to spend its money on. We have also made sure that a significant number of New Zealanders now have a reason to get out of bed in the morning—they have a job. For Mr Alexander not to understand that means that he lives in a completely different world from me. 
I live in south Auckland. I was born there I grew up there and I still live there. People sometimes point to that community and ask who would want to come from that place and who would want to live there. I am proud to say that I come from that place. I was proud to read in the local newspaper recently of a dairy owner in Mangere who said that in the past he had to keep his eye on young guys who came into his shop in the morning; that they would usually nick something when they came in because they had nothing else to do. Now they are coming in to buy their lunch because they are off to work. That is the real answer—not this crap about victims about every New Zealander being a victim. What a bizarre thought—that all New Zealanders are victims! That is absolute nonsense. 
Brian Connell 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. In the past you have ruled that type of language out of order. I am wondering why you have not on this occasion. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: It has been tested now. The member has withdrawn and apologised. 
Hon MARK GOSCHE 
: For Mr Alexander to claim that every New Zealander is a victim is extraordinary. It is just not true. This bill seeks to deal with a situation where a person has been imprisoned and the system has not treated that person as it should—in the normal humane way that any decent human being would expect to be treated or would expect a member of his or her family to be treated if he or she were in prison anywhere in the world. If we fall foul of those standards those people should have some legal redress. This bill seeks to ensure that the victims whom that person in prison offended against now have the opportunity to say: “I’m not prepared to let that person get the money while I stand here and get nothing.” and we have made it very simple for them to do so. 
Most New Zealanders would understand this bill to be sensible legislation. But that lot down there who spend their lives obsessing about the problems rather than the solutions are ignoring the fundamental fact that we in this country do not want to go down to the lowest common denominator and ignore human rights no matter who sets them—and we set our own human rights legislation in this land. I want to be part of a Parliament that says we have standards that apply even to people we imprison people whose rights and liberty we take away and we should live by them. That is what we as a Government want to do and that is what we are doing with this bill. 
I am happy to support the bill. But I remind people out there that the real answer is not to pass law after law that deals with the punishment side of things. This Government has a very strong record on that by the way. We have had to build prisons and increase the numbers of police staff prison officers probation service staff and social workers because we are cleaning up after 15 years of neglect 15 years of new-right politics in this country that ignored the human values that this Government stands for. That is why we need this legislation.