Davis KelvinFirst ReadingHon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Corrections): I present a legislative statement on the Parole Amendment Bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon KELVIN DAVIS: I move That the Parole Amendment Bill be now read a first time.The Department of Corrections plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system by supporting the maintenance of public safety and the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Legislation needs to support Corrections to fulfil this purpose in relation to offenders living in the community on extended supervision orders or ESOs as they are known.Today we are legislating urgently to respond to a High Court judgment in June that has impacted the enforceability of some programme conditions for offenders on an ESO. There are relatively few people who have been impacted by the judgment in New Zealand—approximately 27 but they are high-risk offenders. This High Court judgment found that the wording of the Parole Act 2002 prevents offenders on an ESO with residential restrictions from being required to live with their programme providers. Using a single provider model to deliver both the programme and residence conditions for these high-risk offenders is a longstanding practice of Corrections. It ensures these offenders have a wraparound support and supervision during their reintegration in a stable and structured environment.While the ESO regime was introduced in 2004 the part of the Parole Act that today's bill seeks to amend was introduced in 2014. Section 107K(3)(bb)(ii) was not intended to affect this longstanding practice of using a single provider model; the wording of the Parole Act has done so inadvertently. Instead this section was intended to avoid offenders being subject to daytime programme conditions that were in effect de facto residential restrictions. We need to pass this bill to urgently ensure that Corrections can continue to enforce these high-risk offenders programme conditions despite the June judgments and can continue to impose these conditions in the future to support the reintegration of these offenders and to keep the public safe.Corrections has continued to protect public safety following this judgment. This bill ensures that this will remain the case by repealing section 107K(3)(bb)(ii) of the Parole Act with this section being the subject of the High Court judgment. This bill means that Corrections and the Parole Board are protected from formal challenges and can continue to impose such conditions in the future. The bill has retrospective provisions to apply to the current impact of offenders and any future offenders on an ESO who have a single provider delivering both their programme and residential conditions. I'm confident that these amendments support Corrections to continue doing its job of maintaining public safety and supporting the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.I want to acknowledge the bill's impact on the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act or the BORA—the BORA rights of these offenders. You will see that the Attorney-General has issued a section 7 report on the bill's inconsistency with section 7 of the BORA. This was anticipated as previous amendments to the Parole Act including introduction of the ESO regime in 2004 were deemed to be inconsistent with BORA. Because public safety is paramount these previous legislative amendments were still deemed necessary and passed into law by Parliament. Similarly I consider that the changes in the bill are justified on public safety grounds and are in keeping with Parliament's original policy intent. To assist in mitigating potential BORA intrusions and to compensate for the removal of section 107K(3)(bb)(ii) the bill adds an additional protection for offenders by requiring the Parole Board to undertake at least two-yearly reviews when the offender is living with their programme provider. This change ensures that programme conditions continue to have a reintegrative and rehabilitative focus and are not for longer each day than is necessary.In addition to added protections in the bill officials at the Department of Corrections are working to ensure that offender rights are well covered during implementation. BORA issues can be dealt with in a thoughtful way through the Government's response to the Law Commission's substantive review of post-sentence orders which is due to be completed in late 2024.To conclude I want to thank members for accepting the need to pass the bill rapidly through all stages. It is critical that we address the issues raised by the High Court decision as soon possible. I therefore commend this bill to the House.