Lole-Taylor Asenati: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lole-Taylor Asenati: Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 26 June 2012. Volume:681;Page:3320. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First) 
: 
 I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (2012 Expiry and Application Dates) Amendment Bill on behalf of New Zealand First. It was Baroness Thatcher who once said that if you set out just to be liked you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time and you would achieve nothing—absolutely nothing. One thing I know for sure is that New Zealand First is never going to be soft on crime. It is impossible to compromise in relation to serious crimes for the sake of being well liked. 
The intention behind this bill is to amend the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims Act 2005. I think I am more than qualified to talk about the experience that staff have to go through being someone who used to work at the Department of Corrections. The main purpose of the bill is to extend the boundaries around the awarding of compensation. According to the Minister of Justice’s own words in the first reading it ensures that “awards of financial compensation are made to prisoners only in extraordinary circumstances where no other remedy is deemed appropriate.” The bill also seeks to ensure that the victims’ claims process applies to any compensation awarded or to be paid pursuant to an out-of-court final settlement in respect of a prisoner’s claim made on or after 1 July 2012 but before 1 July 2013. This is all very well. However there is a balancing argument between prisoners as victims and as people who should be punished. Yes I acknowledge there is a need for practical rules to ensure that abuse of rights by prisoners is not possible. 
There is also a very strong criticism to be made about National wasting Parliament’s time with bills that could have been avoided with better prioritisation and fewer unnecessary bills on education and social welfare that the Government has introduced and we have spent so much time on. 
I would like to reiterate the view presented by my colleague Denis O’Rourke in the second reading. New Zealand First has no objection to the passage of this bill and supports it proceeding. The restrictions on the awarding of compensation simply defer the expiry date to 30 June 2013 while we await the substantive legislation namely the Prisoners’ and Victims’ Claims (Redirecting Prisoner Compensation) Amendment Bill which is yet to have its first reading—a bill that seeks to make the existing victims’ claims process permanent and to redirect any prisoners’ compensation remaining after that process to fund services and programmes for victims of crime. I cannot help wondering why there has been a delay by the Government of this review. Of course New Zealand First is reserving its position on the substantive bill and will consider the Government’s position when the bill is read. 
Prison sentences should be orientated towards rehabilitation to avoid reoffending. The issue is not who needs to be tougher on crime. We can no longer afford to argue with one another and participate in an ongoing law and order auction—no no no. Our aim should be to reduce crime. There is no point throwing someone into prison and throwing away the key when there are no active steps in place to ensure a reduction in recidivism especially when the prisoners are released back into our communities. 
There is also a need to restrict unnecessary claims by prisoners. Prisoners cannot and should not make claims to certain things that do not need claiming. However on the other hand prisoners are victims too. Prisoners should have their basic rights upheld—the rights to medical treatment and mental health care—knowing that they have already been deprived of their right to liberty and freedom. Recent studies that focus on punishment have told us that punishing prisoners by imprisonment does not achieve our overall goal of reducing crime rates in New Zealand. The National Government does not want to be seen as soft on prisoners either. But what about standing up and making sure that whatever steps this Government takes they should be steps to the goal of reducing crime rates and making New Zealand a safer place to live? 
Furthermore if the Government had dealt with its proposed bill earlier we might very well have been debating that bill today rather than this bill which simply extends the expiry date. The National Government should be getting its priorities right. Stop wasting our time. This bill could well have been avoided if we had not wasted time on other unnecessary paper-shuffling schemes from the social welfare Minister and debates about the education Minister’s misinformed ideas on class sizes. Efficiency is key for a working Government to operate well. On that note we support the extension of expiry dates as required in this bill. Thank you. 
Part 1 agreed to. 
Part 2 agreed to. 
Clause 1 agreed to. 
Clause 2 agreed to. 
Clause 3 agreed to. 
Bill reported without amendment. 
Report adopted.