Prosser Richard: Parole Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeProsser Richard: Parole Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 26 November 2014. Volume:702;Page:881. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RICHARD PROSSER (NZ First):I am pleased to rise to speak to the second reading of the Parole Amendment Bill on behalf of New Zealand First and on behalf of my dear friend and close colleague Mahesh Bindra in whom we are fortunate to have a member with lengthy experience in and a deep working knowledge of the corrections sector.Although I sat on the Law and Order Committee which considered this bill this is the first opportunity I have had to speak to it. New Zealand First supports this bill because we believe it is a good bill a necessary bill and a piece of legislation that will tangibly improve the lot of people who have been victims of crime. Under existing parole arrangements they are forced to be revictimised entirely unnecessarily every 12 months and have to undergo the unpleasant and sometimes wholly traumatic experience of reliving the crime they were subjected to as offenders who have no realistic let alone deserved chance of gaining early release are granted parole hearings at regular and frequent intervals simply because that is what the law as it stands prescribes.There are some aspects of this bill with which New Zealand First is not entirely happy but it would be churlish of us to oppose it on those grounds. As with much of this Government’s approach to law and order issues we feel there are aspects of this bill that do not go far enough. New Zealand First takes a strong line on law and order. We are not soft on crime in the way that some parties in this House are soft on crime. I am not accusing National of being soft on crime I should say to members opposite—not at this point anyway. I cannot guarantee however that no such accusation will be levelled at any juncture throughout the 51st Parliament.National does have a bit of a track record of going a wee bit wobbly at the knees when push comes to shove. When the big stick needs to be waved and they can see the whites of the criminals’ eyes they do have a bit of a tendency to pull their punches to be a wee bit sensitive. It is our job to keep them on the straight and narrow. New Zealand First will be the voice of the people when the National Party’s conscience fails them when their collective stomach shows signs of weakness.There will be opportunity for some aspects of this bill to be improved during the Committee of the whole House and it is probable that New Zealand First will suggest some amendments by way of Supplementary Order Paper. We hope that the National Government will be open to the genuine and impartial consideration of these proposed changes. They will be reasoned and reasonable. We are like that. New Zealand First is a reasonable party. We are reasoned in our thinking. This is the approach that we believe is appropriate for constructive opposition. Members opposite and the general public may be assured that we will be just as reasoned and reasonable in Government.We have a caution with regard to this bill and that is that its name implies things that may give the general public cause to believe that the bill has aims and intentions that are in fact very much outside the scope of this bill as it has been formed. People could be forgiven for assuming that a bill named the Parole Amendment Bill might be a bill intended to correct all that is wrong with parole. It is no such thing of course. This bill will correct a singular deficiency of the parole system and that we both salute and support but it will not address the numerous other concerns that ordinary people have regarding the application of parole in New Zealand. It will not address the fact that far too many people are granted parole when they patently and obviously still pose a danger to the public. Far too many of them go on to commit further heinous crimes whilst on parole and innocent people are robbed beaten raped and murdered by criminals who ordinary common sense says should still be locked up.As much as with the ongoing deficiency of the bail system inherent faults in the mechanisms by which parole is granted in New Zealand continue to be the cause of far too much unnecessary crime and far too much real and irrevocable suffering on the part of far too many innocent people who do not deserve a bar of it. New Zealand First urges the Government to revisit the issues of both bail and parole as a matter of urgency as soon as is practicable in the new year. We accept the fact although we do not like it that it cannot be done this year but to undertake a complete overhaul of bail and parole laws is a matter of priority to ensure that these systems are able to protect innocent people to preserve justice and to keep ordinary folk safe from the actions of criminals.I know that many of these same concerns are shared by members on the Government side of the House because they were expressed by submitters during the consideration of the Bail Amendment Bill and the Corrections Amendment Bill by the Law and Order Committee of the 50th Parliament. The concerns of submitters found a sympathetic reception amongst some of the Government members of that committee. This is a matter of real importance and it is a matter of profound relevance to a great many New Zealanders. We very much hope that this Government will take these concerns on board and will respond proactively to them.This bill is a step in the right direction. It is a step along the right road. The changes that it will bring will be positive and beneficial and they will be appreciated by ordinary law-abiding people. We support it in that light. But it could be better. We will be making suggestions as to how it could be made better. We encourage the Government to consider our suggestions when the time comes as part of a commitment to improve corrections outcomes overall and to enhance the safety and security of our people and communities. New Zealand First supports this bill and we look forward to improving it during the Committee stage. Thank you.