O'Connor Damien: Criminal Justice Reform Bill — First Reading 
O'Connor Damien: Criminal Justice Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:636;Page:6872] 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 I listened with great interest to Simon Power’s contribution. It would be nice to have the National Party supporting the Criminal Justice Reform Bill going to the Justice and Electoral Committee because it is very significant legislation. 
I came into the role of Minister of Corrections at a fortunate time. Prior to that this Government had acknowledged that there were issues right through the justice system that had resulted in an escalation in prison numbers that was not sustainable. The Government had initiated the Effective Interventions programme which was effectively a 12-month review of the justice system from front end to back and what we could do to try to reduce prison numbers over time. We did that not necessarily just because we wanted people out of prisons but the number of people in prisons is an effective measure unfortunately of failure right across our society. The fact that we have to lock people up indicates that we are failing at some point; it might be at parenting at preschool education in training—or wherever. But the number of people we put in prison is a measure of failure within our society. The Government is determined to improve that situation because these figures have not been great. 
We have a strong record of action on law and order and have made many improvements to the system since 1999. New Zealand’s crime rate is now the lowest since 1982 but that runs contrary to the trend in the prison population which drove the need to look carefully at what we have been doing and where we needed to make changes. This legislation is the outcome of that very thorough and considered process. 
New Zealand will still need prisons. For the serious repeat offenders and hardened criminals from whom the public must be protected there is no other option than imprisonment. We maintain that position. But non-custodial sanctions will end up being more productive for many others in our prison system and for this country and will allow us to make smarter use of the resources we have at the back end of the justice system. 
I came into the role facing additional cost to complete our new rebuild programme of prisons and that along with the realisation that we were locking up people at I think the fourth-highest per capita imprisonment rate in the OECD—I say the second-highest in the Western World—is both embarrassing and something that should not be tolerated. This Government will not tolerate it. That is why we have to make some changes through this legislation. 
My colleague the Hon Mark Burton Minister of Justice has outlined some of the key points of the changes that we hope the legislation will make after thorough consideration by the select committee. For example we hope to turn home detention into a sentence in itself. Home detention costs a third of what it costs to imprison someone. Some people have said that home detention is an easy option but it is not. That fact was clearly identified by those who have been on home detention. Yet it results in far greater rehabilitation far lower reoffending rates and a far better outcome for the justice system the corrections system—indeed the whole of society. So we hope the introduction of that initiative along with the new community sentence options will give a greater number of tools to judges when handing down sentences for offenders. The Government is not going to step back from that. People who commit crimes will be caught will be processed and they will have to repay their debt to society for that crime. 
However we must be smarter at working on ways to have that repayment to society made in full and enabling and assisting those offenders to rehabilitate themselves—or habilitate unfortunately in the case of many—and reintegrate themselves into society. At a time when we have the lowest levels of unemployment when we have a desperate need for skilled and semi-skilled workers throughout our entire economy we have locked up over 7500 people most of whom are males who are very capable of contributing usefully to our society. By means of this legislation and other programmes in the corrections system we must boost rehabilitation and reintegration. It is a very very difficult area of the corrections system. 
Internationally neither rehabilitation nor habilitation gives outstanding results but we are a little country and we do not have to copy the trends or indeed the practices of other Western nations. We have the ability to develop practices and programmes that will be truly effective. We have a sad statistic that 50 percent of the prison population are Maori the indigenous people of this country. Many of the influences on those offenders are unique to this country so we must develop our own programmes. The Government has reviewed and assessed programmes within the prison system and found that some of them are not as good as they could be and we have made changes. We will continue to do that. We have introduced workers within the corrections system specifically to help prisoners beyond their sentence to rehabilitate them into their homes into jobs and into society. That work will continue and is part of the ongoing achievements and improvements the Government has made within the corrections system. 
As I said earlier the bill contains a number of provisions. It deals with law changes in the Effective Interventions initiatives. It aims of course to reduce criminal offending and reoffending and increase certainty around the penalties given to convicted offenders. Although I understand the views expressed by the previous speaker about the Sentencing Council I think it is not a bad system to have fairer and more consistent guidelines for penalties that are laid down by judges. I think the member along with most of us would have heard from members of the public up and down this country about their dismay at some of the penalties. 
Simon Power 
: Why don’t we just legislate? 
Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR 
: In fact we have legislation that provides guidelines but its implementation is inconsistent. We hope that through the Sentencing Council we can assist the judges—not dictate to them—by giving them fairer and more consistent guidelines. 
I think most members will welcome the new community-based sentences of community detention and intensive supervision along with home detention. As I said those initiatives will give judges a larger tool box in trying to ensure that those people whom they convict of offences are able to turn their lives around and be reintegrated into society as useful and productive members. The community detention and intensive supervision provisions and the provisions that allow judges to review programmes that these offenders will undertake while on parole will provide a higher level of confidence in those community sentences as laid down. 
One of the frustrations has been that through changes made for good intent the community sentencing system has not offered confidence to judges has increased frustration with probation officers and has undermined the value of community sentencing right throughout society. We hope the adjustments we are making through this legislation which I think will be widely supported by all members of the House will result in fewer people going to prison because anyone who goes into prison is three times more likely to go back into prison. Whether it be home detention or community sentencing or intensive supervision along with community work if we can keep people out of prison secure the public and ensure the penalty is repaid to society then over time we hope to reduce the prison population in this country. It is embarrassing and it is expensive that we lock up at the second-highest rate in the Western World. As a country that is made up of very small communities where most of us are related to one another or know one another we can make a greater effort in this particularly difficult area of Government and societal responsibility. 
As Minister of Corrections I welcome this bill into the House. I welcome the support and consideration for it through the select committee process. I trust we will have positive outcomes from its passage.