Power Simon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Power Simon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:645;Page:14471] 
6.  
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
 to the  
Minister of Justice 
: Does she stand by her statement that “The pre-trial bail system must balance two competing considerations: the defendant’s right to be considered innocent until proved guilty and the safety of the community.”? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Justice) 
: 
 Yes. The statement reiterates two fundamental and longstanding principles of criminal justice that are recorded in sections 25(c) and 24(b) of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. 
Simon Power 
: What changed between the time that gang leader Daniel Crichton was refused bail last year and now that would make him any less dangerous and would justify his release last month or did the decision have nothing to do with public safety? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have no knowledge as to what conditions changed in that particular case nor would I expect to have information about that. It was a decision made by the judge. 
Simon Power 
: Has the Minister seen reports that when gang members inside Mount Eden Prison found out about the stolen medals and who had taken them there was “something of a clamour to take advantage of the information” and does the fact that so many criminals had such an epiphany of civic duty mean that that the practice of trading information for leniency from the justice system will become more commonplace? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have seen that report and I also heard defence lawyers on the radio today saying that it is not uncommon for criminals to provide information and for their lawyers to deal with the system in that respect. I do not think we are seeing anything new in this respect. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Anything goes in this Government. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I take exception to the comments made by Nick Smith that somehow or other the Government had something to do with the judge making a decision on bail. That may be what happens under a National Government but I can assure the people of New Zealand that we will not interfere and have not interfered in decisions that judges in this country make. We respect that separation of power. 
Simon Power 
: Does the Minister stand by her statement with regard to bail laws that “… judges are entitled to all information in order to make those decisions.”; if so did the judge know about the deal done between the police the Crown prosecutor and Daniel Crichton over the return of the war medals? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I have no knowledge of that. I was neither in the judge’s chamber nor where the judge was making those decisions. Mr Power as a lawyer knows that the Minister of Police and the Minister of Justice or any member of this Parliament would not have been there either. This is really a very dangerous path to go down—to try to assume that the Minister of Justice somehow or other was able to be privy to that sort of information. Judges of this country are making decisions based on information they have received. 
Simon Power 
: Has she seen reports that since Crichton’s release on bail he has been seen in downtown Auckland with members of the Headhunters gang and can she confirm that if this is in breach of his bail conditions the changes her Government made to the Bail Act last year make it far less likely that he will be recalled to prison? 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Nonsense! 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No I have not seen that report and I agree with my colleague Phil Goff: the assumptions made by that member are nothing other than nonsense. 
Simon Power 
: Can she give this House and the country as a whole an assurance that any other gang kingpin remanded in custody will not use the precedent set by this recent “bail for medals” scandal to get his associates to acquire on order other items that may be used to ransom his release? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: If some day I become a judge maybe I could give that guarantee. But as a member of Parliament and the Minister of Justice I can give no such guarantee because I have no say on the decisions an individual judge makes on any bail hearing. 
Ron Mark 
: Would the Minister agree that the far more serious question that we should be asking about bail relates to the case of Fanuaea Leatigaga a young man who was charged on 29 December 2005 with sexual violation and threatening to kill was denied bail by the District Court given bail by the High Court then went on whilst on bail to sexually assault a 16-year-old then went on to violate sexually a 15-year-old girl in the Aranui High School grounds whilst at the same time fighting off her 14-year-old girlfriend then went on to rape a 21-year-old pregnant woman at knifepoint in her home and subsequently admitted three counts of sexual violation and two of rape the bulk of which were committed after the High Court had granted him bail against all police advice? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: The Hon Annette King. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I do not think the language that Mr Ron Mark used across the House then is at all acceptable. 
Ron Mark 
: I have just outlined a severely tragic case involving a number of women who were raped and a number of young schoolgirls who were sexually molested. For Mr Brownlee to cheapen the argument about the bail laws that were in place in 2005—well before the amendment that he took a cheap shot at—is absolutely ludicrous and pathetic and actually undermines the seriousness of the situation and the position of those women. I think he is the one who should stand up and apologise. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Please be seated. I did not hear because there was too much noise but exception has been taken. Would the member withdraw and apologise. 
Ron Mark 
: I withdraw and apologise. I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I ask Mr Brownlee to have the gentlemanly decency to apologise in the same manner. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I did not hear what Mr Brownlee said either—I am sorry. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I simply asked who voted for the laws. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Well I do not think that requires to be— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: If that is offensive— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No it is not. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: —to Mr Mark I am terribly sorry. I withdraw and apologise to anyone who was offended by that question. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No I cannot comment on the case that the member has just outlined. I have huge sympathy for the women who received that treatment at the hands of somebody who obviously should be locked away for a long time. What I can say to the member is that in 2007 almost 400000 bail cases were heard in New Zealand and in the overwhelming majority of those cases our judges made incredibly good decisions. Our judges do a very good job and I think to have it cheapened by somehow trying to pretend that politicians can tell judges who should and who should not get bail sets a very bad precedent. 
Simon Power 
: I seek leave to introduce a member’s bill in my name which repeals the changes to the Bail Act made by the Government last year; and for that bill to be set down together with an inclusion in it that no bail decision should be influenced by any help a defendant has provided to a criminal investigation for a first reading ahead of private and local orders of the day on 12 March 2008. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought. Is there any objection? Yes there is objection. 
Ron Mark 
: I seek the leave of the House to table documents to show that these offences occurred in 2005. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
Ron Mark 
: I seek leave to present documentation to show that the adjustments to the Bail Act of which Mr Brownlee was so cheaply speaking occurred in 2007. 
Document not tabled. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I seek leave to table the first decision made by Justice Heath after the changes to the Bail Act were made in which he said: “It does not seem to me to put the test”— 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection.