Sepuloni Carmel: Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Sepuloni Carmel: Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8098. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CARMEL SEPULONI (Labour) 
: 
 It has come up over and over again but we cannot say it enough: one of the main reasons that Labour members oppose the Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill is that we believe that prisons are a core function of the State. 
Hon Member 
: Oh God. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: They groan whenever we say that. Do members know why the Government members groan? They groan because they do not understand what we mean when we say that prisons are a core responsibility or core function of the State. The reason they do not understand what we mean is they would quite happily privatise anything. They would quite happily privatise all the functions of the State—education prisons health accident compensation and perhaps even our welfare system. Who knows? They are quite happy to privatise. They do not understand what a function of the State is. That is one of the reasons why Labour members oppose this bill. 
We understand given some of the things that have happened in the last year since this Government came in why the Minister of Corrections and the National Government would want to shift the responsibility for this function. We understand given what has gone on under their watch. Let us look at what happened over the last year that might explain why the Minister and the Government want to shift responsibility for our prisons to hand over the accountability to private managers. Let us look at what happened. Under the Minister of Corrections’ watch over the last year two prisoners broke out of a police van at Palmerston North District Court on 15 January. Three remand prisoners broke out of a prison van in Hamilton on 19 January. Ărai Hema fled from an outside work party at Auckland’s Paremoremo prison on 21 January. 
Sandra Goudie 
: Hello? We’re doing Corrections not the Police. 
CARMEL SEPULONI 
: I say to that member that she should hang on—there is a lot more to go. I might have to take two calls on this one. Storm Hughes fled from a work party outside the Spring Hill Corrections Facility in North Waikato on 11 February. Robert John Wikaere escaped from Te Awamutu’s Waikeria Prison on 17 March. Ollies Siaea walked out of the Manukau District Court after he claimed to be another prisoner on bail on 20 March. Three prisoners were caught on a roof at Mount Crawford prison on 13 September trying to jump over a prison wall. A fourth who had already managed to successfully escape that way was caught by police less than an hour later. William Katipa aged 43 escaped from a medium-security unit at Waikeria Prison after scaling a security fence on 29 September 2009. On 23 October police were seeking help in locating Ernie O’Neal Paul a high-risk offender who was wanted for breach of bail. Christopher Watkins 46 escaped from Tongariro/Rangipo Prison on 22 October. 
These things happen and they are happening more so—the research shows this. All of the submissions that came through the selection process except for the one made by GEO Group supported what Labour members are saying. These things happen more in private prisons but the point of difference is that when prisons are privatised the Government no longer has to be accountable for them. The Government can put the blame entirely on the private company that is managing the prison. We can see why the Minister would like to shift the responsibility. The Government does not want to take responsibility for this. It would rather see the private companies cop the flak so that it is not the Government that is held to account by New Zealanders. That is the issue. 
I will go back to the proposition that private prisons are safer better and cheaper. Everything that has come up tonight from this side of the Chamber and from my Green colleagues demonstrates that they are not safer better and cheaper. As my Green colleague Metiria Turei said earlier in respect of prisons all of a sudden the Minister of Corrections is concerned about iwi. This issue was discussed in the submissions as well. We saw a submission from prison officers who had worked in both State-run prisons and the Auckland Central Remand Prison when it was under private management. They said that cultural factors were not taken into account when that prison was privately run. They brought up the fact that at one point Australian prison officers were brought over to New Zealand to work in the prison. There were issues with regard to how much they were being paid compared with our local prison officers. There were issues with regard to the ability of the Australian prison officers to understand the cultural background of some prisoners. They gave examples in respect of Pacific Island prisoners.