Mark Ron: General Debates 
Mark Ron: General Debates 
[Volume:618;Page:13862] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I was intending to talk and I shall talk about the law and order issues that this Government is failing to deal with. But I really do have a bit of a doozy here that I would like to share with the House before I go as far as that. 
I ask Mr Speaker and the ladies and gentlemen of the House whether they are aware that these days when one goes on a visit to a prison one might be handed a visitors survey form to fill out. The pamphlet I have with me here is a very glossy one. It would have cost the taxpayer a lot of money. But what is of interest is that the Department of Corrections not only is concerned about the way in which it is seen by the visiting public—by all those fine upstanding citizens like members of gangs such as the Mongrel Mob and the Nomads who go to a prison to conduct a bit of business—but actually wants to know what the visiting public thinks. 
I have in my hand a national visit survey form from the Department of Corrections and I want to share with members some of the questions it asks. First it reminds visitors that they are anonymous. When a person comes to the door and signs in as a visitor visiting “Inmate Bloggs” that person is handed a form that says: “We don’t know who you are you are anonymous but we want you to fill in this form. We won’t tell anyone who filled it in.” Then the department proceeds to ask questions on the form like: “Have you ever been asked to bring drugs alcohol or other unauthorised items into a prison? Yes or No.” Then it asks: “What drugs alcohol or other unauthorised items have you been asked to bring into prison? Tick all that apply.” and it lists them. I can just see all the gang members out there lining up and filling in this form very studiously saying: “Yes I bring in drugs and yes I’ve been asked to bring in alcohol and yes I’ve brought in a SIM card. Oh I’ve brought in a weapon and cannabis and methamphetamine and Ecstasy.” It goes on: “What drug alcohol or unauthorised items have you brought into prison that you have not told the prison staff about?”. 
Well how stupid and how naive is it for the Department of Corrections to be asking visitors—and now inmates I understand—these sorts of questions? Is this Government so naive when it comes to dealing with law and order and crime? Does it seriously believe—and I can see Mr Peck laughing already—that inmates their visitors and their associates will fill in this form and not lie or will even bother to fill it in at all? I seriously wonder about a Government that runs its corrections and rehabilitation policies on surveys of that type. What an utter waste of time and money! 
 One other issue of pressing concern to New Zealand First is police staffing and in particular police staffing in communications centres. In the last 2 weeks I have twice asked the Minister of Corrections what he was doing about the overworked overextended staff at communications centres around this country. Those questions have come on the back of articles published in the  
Police Association News 
 Nos 4 and 5 dated May and June giving extensive coverage of the problems facing those centres. I cannot understand why a Government that is so concerned about employees’ rights labour laws and stress in the workplace has ignored the letters received by the Minister of Police from very concerned staff at the communications centres. 
One letter addressed to the “Rt Hon Mr Hawkins” specifically details a number of incidents of concern. One specific incident which I am astounded the Minister has ignored is that pregnant women working as dispatchers are working 10-hour shifts with no relief. Those pregnant women do not even have adequate time to relieve themselves. To do that they would have to abandon their workstations and they fear that if they did that a call for assistance from a policeman on the street would go unanswered and they could be held responsible for the death of a policeman. Those concerns are well articulated in the  
Police Association News 
. 
In reference to waiting times another incident related by a staff member concerns an “elderly woman living on her own being harassed by neighbourhood children. She’s been waiting over an hour now and it may be another hour before attendance will be arranged. At that same time I have logged on seven highway patrols working from the Rangiora base and none of these are available to attend it. They are all dedicated to traffic and traffic alone.”