Financial Review Debate — Department of Corrections

It is an absolute pleasure to speak to this report in relation to the Department of Corrections. I am extraordinarily proud of the work it has done over the last year and the fact that it is, in my opinion, a stand-out department. That is certainly something that was not true under the previous Labour Government.

I acknowledge that in the past year we had a tragedy happen to corrections with the death of our first corrections officer to have died on duty, Jason Palmer. I acknowledge his loss and the loss that that was for all of our staff—as well as, I am sure, for many people in the country who felt very deeply for him and for his family.

However, apart from Jason’s very untimely death, this year has been a fantastic year for corrections. Our staff turnover has been the lowest that it has been in the last 5 years. Escapes are down to the lowest level ever—escapes from our prisons are at the lowest level ever, despite the fact that we have more people in prison now than we have ever had in the past. Positive random drug tests are down to the lowest level ever—despite all the rhetoric from the previous Government, they are at the lowest level ever. Community Probation and Psychological Services is now working at levels it has never worked at before. It is doing outstanding work. It was a part of the department that we came into a crisis with when we came into Government.

We also inherited a crisis in accommodation for prisoners. We found that we were suddenly faced with looking at whether we had to let prisoners out of their sentences earlier—we certainly were not about to do that. We have now got almost 1,000 extra bunks from the double-bunking that we put into our prisons. Despite all the calling from the Labour side and the fact that it left us with a prison-muster crisis, there was not one word from Labour to congratulate our staff on the excellent work they have done to deal with the situation.

We have had the container cells. Everyone will remember the container cells. Well, Labour said that container cells would not happen, they were a stunt, and they would not be used. I announced them in about August, and by September we got the funding approved. Work started on them around November, and in March they were ready to go. It took about 4 months to get them ready. Despite all the rhetoric that they would be slums and that they would be inhumane, I am told that at Rimutaka Prison the prisoners are basically lining up to get into them because they are so good. They are some of the best accommodation, and they are about one-third of the price of a traditional build. So what we actually have is a department that is doing the most amazing work.

In addition to that, it is rehabilitating people. Under Labour, only 500 prisoners a year could get into drug and alcohol rehabilitation. By the end of this year we will have over 1,000 prisoners in rehabilitation—we will have doubled Labour’s number over the 3 years we have been in office. Not only that, but we are now targeting people who are in prison on short sentences. Basically, under Labour, they had to be in there for years and years, and at the end of their sentences they would finally get some help—just before they went out. Now we are getting to them early, and that means we are getting to people who are in prison for crimes that are not as bad as some others. I think that is really important. It is important to get to them while they are young, earlier during their time in the system, so we can get them out of the system and keep them out of the system. This is rehabilitation that works.

💬 Sue Moroney: But violent crime is going up.

Well, I say to that member: “Just wait for the crime stats next week, honeybun, because they won’t be.” Crime is actually coming down under this National Government, and I am so thrilled that it is, because we are taking crime very seriously. We take it very seriously and we take victims seriously. Unfortunately, the previous Government had absolutely no idea what to do. It was so soft on crime that it sent out the message to criminals that they could just keep going back to jail because it was a nice warm place to be. Well, funnily enough, under a National Government what we are forecasting for prisons is that they are not going to grow in number to the same extent that they did under Labour, and that is because people want to get out of prison. What we are seeing, as well—[Interruption] and let us be sensible here; I know that it is difficult for the Labour Party—is that rehabilitation is absolutely paramount when we are dealing with the prison population. It is absolutely paramount to get drug and alcohol rehabilitation both in prisons and in the community. Labour never did it, but National is doing it.

It is a pleasure to take a call in respect of the work of the law and order Minister—Minister Collins, the Minister of Corrections and the Minister of Police. It is very interesting to note that nobody from the other side of the Chamber decided to jump up and seek a call after the Minister completed her speech. The reason for that is that the National Government has taken the heat out of the law and order debate. The issues that were going on within the police portfolio, and within the corrections portfolio, up until December 2008 have dissipated away, because the Government has taken some initiative.

This Government has built on work that was done under the previous Government around police numbers. At the end of 2008 it was obvious that if the Government did not take some action in South Auckland, or Counties-Manukau, in respect of where the state of affairs had got to around law and order issues and policing in South Auckland, there would be some big trouble. The National Government committed to putting 300 new staff into South Auckland. What did that do? It put 25 two-manned incident cars, their supervisors, and their relievers on the front line 24 hours a day. What did that do? It drove down crime in Counties-Manukau. It took the number of murders down, in the year after Labour left Government, by 57.1 percent.

People in this Chamber will recall, no doubt, as those listening on radio or television will recall, the early stages of 2008, when we had a horrific number of aggravated robberies and murders in the South Auckland area. People will remember, for instance, the murder of Navtej Singh and a number of others, and that the terrible situation there was put down by the then Prime Minister to the effect of the “mother of all Budgets”, and by the police Minister to the effect of the position of the sun and the moon. Well, the National Government has worked hard in this area and has had some stunning results.

As a result of law and order policy implemented as part of the 100 days of action programme, we saw the completion of the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act, and we have seen $36.5 million of assets seized in the first years of operations in that particular area. The P busts had a street value of $30.4 million in 2010, up by one-third over the take seized in 2009. Police safety orders were another initiative of this Government, and 2,773 orders were issued as at the end of January. A number of people said those orders would just be breached, in any event. Actually, there have been only 186 breaches. This is all good news. Do members remember the street racing crime that was prevalent under the previous Government and caused all sorts of headaches? There has been a reduction of 18 percent just in that particular area of crime. The people of Christchurch have noticed that particularly, and are relieved about that. The number of confiscation orders was 49; that has shut it down completely.

I congratulate not only the Minister in the chair but the members of the police, operating under her administration and direction, on the huge successes they have had. Just recently I visited the child and sexual abuse centre on Auckland’s Great South Road, and was shown around there by Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Pizzini. He ran through the work that they do there, and how the various agencies work together in a very collaborative way to deal with sexual offences and child abuse offenses. I was incredibly impressed with the level of professionalism that has come into this area of police investigations. It was noticeably different from my experience in the time when I was in the police.

In respect of prison capacity and in respect of prison rehabilitation, I commend the Minister for her work in these areas. I commend her for the reduced level of recidivism we have seen, the enhanced number of mental health opportunities available to deal with the 65 percent of prisoners who do have mental health problems, and the drug and alcohol beds that are available for the 83 percent of prisoners who have drug and alcohol issues and dependency issues. The work we have done in 2 years in Government in respect of that has resulted in a doubling of the number of beds that are available for those prisoners.

It is great to see the level of confidence in the police has been completely enhanced—

The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy): I am sorry to interrupt the member, but the bell is not working, and his time is about to expire.

—and the attrition rate in the police, which was very high under the previous Government, is now less than 1 percent. I congratulate the Minister.

Report noted.

New Zealand Police