Davidson Marama: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Legislation Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDavidson Marama: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Legislation Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 01 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11614. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA DAVIDSON (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. I am proud to support the Green Party which will be supporting this bill that will electronically track more offenders. I will tell you why. [Interruption] I will tell you why we are supporting this bill before you start cheering too much. This could be a good tool. This could be a good tool for a better justice system and absolutely good technology should be part of the way forward in any system especially in a better justice system. That is part of the reason why we will be supporting this bill but it will not be without concerns and without wanting to review and closely monitor whether this bill will achieve what it is actually set up to achieve which is a better justice system. That is why I stand to support the bill but because we are the Green Party I do have to be very clear in this House on what we are actually aiming for when it comes to a justice system because this is not a solution to lower reoffending—not in and of itself.It is perhaps a tool to keep more people out of prisons and that is a positive because we certainly know that prisons do not reduce reoffending. On that matter it is also important for why we are supporting this bill. Māori and Pacific people are absolutely overrepresented in prison and also in offending and so it is important that I as spokesperson for both Māori affairs and Pacific peoples stand up to make sure that my lens with those portfolios is passed over this legislation. I want to say that yes we are supporting this bill but this bill is not about true restorative justice which is what will really keep our communities safe. This bill is a tool—the electronic monitoring of offenders is a tool—but the Green Party would like to see true restorative justice. I am deeply concerned about safety for all people in our community and that is actually the side I am on. I am on the side of a safer community. It is not necessarily about saying that I am on the side of victims or that I am on the side of offenders. I am on the side of truly safe communities and that actually takes more equal societies. More equal societies are the cohesive societies with less crime and less offending.It is public knowledge and has been known now for my entire time that I have been in Parliament that I am a victim of child sexual abuse. This electronic monitoring tool is absolutely not the thing that would have kept me safe in the first place. So I do want to be very clear about that as I continue to debate the concerns that the Green Party will keep putting up in light of this legislation.We want a better justice system. True restorative justice is actually about truer accountability than what we get when we send people to jail. I do want to state clearly in the House that that is actually what we would prefer investment and pūtea to be put into if we are really serious about justice in our society and in Aotearoa. True restorative justice actually has a better effect at reducing reoffending than imprisonment and even more so than the tools that support the current system which is punitive. However again we will be supporting this in the hope that it is a tool that can be effective towards a better justice system.One final point I think Mr Assistant Speaker—because you are listening?The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): I apologise for being distracted by the Attorney-General.MARAMA DAVIDSON: Thank you. One final point is that I do take note of Kim Workman’s concerns about whether this legislation will be put in place—whether electronic monitoring will be put in place—at the cost of investment in proper reintegration programmes. What organisations like the Salvation Army have pointed out in their submissions on this bill is that the electronic monitoring will possibly allow people to be reintegrated into their communities without the proper strong programmes around that reintegration. The Greens will certainly be wanting to keep a check on whether this electronic monitoring tool is going to be at the cost of something that will create sustainable true safety for our communities.Just to finish off the Greens will want to review how this goes. We will be looking for this to be an effective tool for safety and a better justice system. We will want to hear more about other reintegration support programmes in our communities. We will want to check who is being monitored and whether it does breach the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and other human rights standards because once we have lost our human rights standards we lose everything. We will want to keep pushing for more equal societies because that is actually what creates safer societies for all of us. Kia ora thank you.