Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill

Thank you. I just want to wrap up the speech on this bill, which we will be supporting. I want to just take this time to especially say a big thankyou to all those first responders that have been in your area, with your people, and just to pay respect to them and thank them for the good work that they are doing up there, and also to yourself. Hopefully they can get those bodies out very quickly and the families can get some closure at this time.

I also wanted to take this time to especially thank our prison officers, who do a fantastic job through our country. They are people that put themselves in danger every day, dealing with the most hardened members of our community that don’t have respect for people or personal rights and are very difficult people to deal with. Those prison officers deserve our thanks and gratitude for the work they do. At this time of year, I think that we need to publicly thank them and acknowledge the good work that they do.

It’s been very disappointing to see in the last year that the current Government hasn’t taken their role seriously and has meant that we’ve had an increase in assaults on prison officers, and they’ve even had to go and look at getting prison officers in from Australia to cover the gap over the Christmas period from the current Government. That’s been disappointing to the prison officers, and I know the Government has had to back down and stop that process in the last few days because they know it’s not the right thing to do.

So this bill will get the support of the National Party, but I just want to use this opportunity to thank those that work in our first responders’ areas, and also, especially, our prison officers for the great work they do and I wish them all the very best for the festive season.

Madam Speaker, tēnā koe. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei, tēnā tātou katoa. I’m pleased to take a call on the Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill. Firstly, can I congratulate the member who is sponsoring the bill, Darroch Ball, for his success in getting it drawn.

Labour will be supporting this bill to select committee. As the bill talks about further protection of first responders and prison officers, can I, too, add my word of condolences on behalf of the people of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti for the tragedy that has unfolded in Whakaari / White Island. I want to acknowledge the sad passing of those that have lost their lives, and those families still waiting to hear from ones unidentified. I want to also acknowledge the response from the Government, and local members like yourself, Madam Speaker. I also want to acknowledge the recent flooding in the South Island—the West Coast—and the gallant work of our first responders in these tragedies that we’ve seen around the country.

As we head in towards the festive season, we hear numerous accounts of harm coming to our first responders, like ambulance drivers, like our police, like our prison officers. So as we head into the festive season, it’s in acknowledgment of the work that first responders do that I stand in support of this bill.

It does amend the Crimes Act. First of all, it is to ensure that for those that may come to harm in the execution of their duty—be they prison officers, be they ambulance drivers—we are giving them maximum protection under our law. So this bill attempts to amend the Crimes Act.

It also attempts to insert a new section 85A in the Sentencing Act. So the amendments through this bill are to both the Crimes Act and the Sentencing Act, and also some minor technical changes in the Summary Offences Act. So this is a bill clearly enabling better protection for our first responders. I believe that there is an issue here to be addressed, and this is why Labour is supporting it to select committee, so we can hear first-hand from the first responders that do a mighty job on behalf of all our communities in keeping ourselves safe.

In looking at the transcripts of the introduction of the bill and previous speakers, I see it’s had a long gestation when it first got read in this House. I’m not too sure as to the reason why it has taken this long, but in reading former members’ contributions to this bill, it appears that some of the speakers probably got off slightly on a different tangent rather than the bill itself. It does talk about the amendments to the respective bills, and maybe members that are going to follow on from me can make a contribution as to why they feel that this is an important bill. This is around protecting our emergency service workers, wherever they are. Like I said, it attempts to amend three pieces of legislation. We on this side want to ensure that all our communities are safe and no less safe than those that respond to tragedy and emergencies like we have currently in this country.

It’s important that we make sure that our legislation is up to date, is relevant, and has taken in any past learnings to ensure that those at the forefront of emergencies or tragedies aren’t abused—like I made mention of earlier, as we go into the festive season, when there may be elements of too much alcohol consumed, that quite likely plays out for many of our first responders. So we want to make sure that the law gives them the protection and access to a deterrent not just for festive seasons—as we head into Christmas—but for all occasions that the safety of those first responders is protected and remedied, if required, under law.

So the Protection of First Responders and Prison Officers Bill, as introduced by New Zealand First’s Darroch Ball, I think is a bill that I am keen to have come to our very hard-working Justice Committee. I’m looking forward to this bill, hopefully, passing through the House and coming to our select committee so we can hear from those first responders directly to ensure that the legislation as it is now, under the three Acts of the Summary Offences Act, the Crimes Act, and the Sentencing Act—

Tim van de Molen: Time’s up.

—does give the protection needed for our first responders. I commend this bill to the House.

💬 DEPUTY SPEAKER: It’s Christmas, I did allow it.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I look forward to your benevolence continuing, and I too wish you a merry Christmas.

💬 Hon Amy Adams: Geez, that’s risky for Tim!

Ha, ha! Yes, I might finally get to complete my maiden speech.

Yesterday afternoon and evening, there were some very moving and heartfelt tributes in this House to all who have been caught up in the terrible tragedy that occurred on Monday on Whakaari / White Island. So I’d just like to commence by echoing the comments of my friend and Hamilton colleague the Hon David Bennett, and also the member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, who has just resumed her seat, the Hon Meka Whaitiri, in, again, just placing on record our deepest sympathy. I did have a chance to speak on an unrelated bill yesterday. While knowing that I can’t bring the Speaker into the debate, I hope that I can acknowledge the member for East Coast, the Hon Anne Tolley, who has just returned to the House, who I know has been fully involved in assisting constituents and supporting first responders and others. I just say to her, and to everybody up in that area, how grateful we are for the tremendous compassion and hard work of the first responders, medical teams, and others who have been working in the most distressing of circumstances. It remains an unfolding situation, and I just want to acknowledge everybody, and particularly, again, want to send my deepest sympathy to victims and their families in what has been the most horrific and unexpected tragedy.

Could I also say how delighted I am to be able to speak in support of this bill. It’s not often that we can rise in this House and genuinely embrace measures from other parties. But on this occasion, I congratulate Darroch Ball for his initiative in bringing this bill to the House, and I would ask Mr Patterson to convey that sentiment to him, to say how thrilled I was to hear that it also enjoys the support of not only my own party but also of Labour. I echo the comment a moment ago of the chair of the Justice Committee, Meka Whaitiri, I too welcome the fact that this will be coming to our select committee, and I look forward to working on it—in particular, because I believe that there will be an opportunity to strengthen the bill even more. I look forward to hearing the submissions of those who may be of a like-mind.

I was a member of this House in 2012, when a measure was introduced—and I think I can possibly say that the then Minister of Police may have been the Hon Anne Tolley; I’ll see if I can get the exact detail—amending the Sentencing Act which required the courts to consider offences against the police, prison officers, and fire and health services at the scene of an emergency as aggravating factors when it came to sentencing. So this is very much an extension of that very sensible initiative that therefore picks up on the work that the then National Government was doing. Sadly, even though that very good measure was introduced at the time, what we have seen in recent times is further attacks on those who are doing their very best in the most critical and distressing of circumstances—often, first responders on the scene of a terrible accident and that sort, or perhaps providing services in our emergency departments around the country.

I’m sure that all members would share the sense of outrage that I feel whenever I hear reports of our medical teams or our first responders being attacked when they are doing their level best, in many cases, to save lives and to bring some comfort to people who are in terrible agony, or their families who are watching on, feeling helpless, and who absolutely rely on the efforts of those people. So when they are coming under attack that is naturally frightening for them and totally unacceptable. We all know that often it reflects impairment—often drug- or alcohol-induced, but that’s not an excuse; it’s simply an explanation of what is happening. Therefore, I warmly support this particular measure.

I’ve heard reports on several occasions from the emergency department head and others in my own area of Hamilton, through the Waikato Hospital, of people coming into the wards—particularly the emergency department—and literally intimidating and sometimes attacking their staff, and doing the same to ambulance officers. We all want to do everything we can to ensure that there is a minimum risk of that happening or at least to ensure that the penalties are appropriate.

Also, can I just conclude by acknowledging the prison officers. There are very few of us who would want to work in our Corrections facilities, and I’m always deeply grateful to those who feel a calling to that particular role. They deserve our utmost gratitude and support. The last thing they deserve is to come under some attack, but we know that they deal with very dangerous and volatile characters. Again, I’m pleased that they are included under this particular bill.

I hope that we will be able to take it even further to ensure that anybody providing a service of that sort will be covered. Unfortunately, we can’t stop it happening. But we can do everything we can to send a message that it’s unacceptable behaviour.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Like other contributors to this debate, can I just commence by acknowledging the situation at Whakaari / White Island, to send out thoughts and prayers to those who have been so deeply affected by the events there, and to acknowledge all of those in different capacities who are doing their level best to support people in that very tragic situation.

Really, as we turn to this debate, there could be nothing that is a greater reminder of the importance of the role of first responders in our country. I would acknowledge those members from this House who have been present at Whakaari / White Island and the surrounding area to provide support and leadership, including the local member, the Hon Anne Tolley; the Minister for Civil Defence, the Hon Peeni Henare; the right honourable Prime Minister; local list member Kiri Allan; and local member for Waiariki, Tamati Coffey. While it is important that political leaders are there in these situations to show support and leadership and to ensure that the arms of State are working as they should to provide support, really, the most important work—the lifesaving work—is done by those who are first on the scene at these kinds of events.

While the events at Whakaari / White Island are a unique event, the reality is that every single day in our country, there are situations in which first responders save lives and help people, and this bill fundamentally is about ensuring that those people should be able to be safe as they carry out their work for other New Zealanders. It is also about ensuring that they are able to do their jobs, because, of course, one of the problems is that if first responders are confronted with situations in which there is violence or the threat of violence or intimidation or other forms of disorder, not only is their own safety at risk but it makes it far more difficult for them to provide the life-preserving services that they are there to provide, as well.

Of course, these are incredibly important roles in our society, and we want to make them as attractive as possible for skilled people to train and enter into. The possibility that a person might enter into one of these roles and then be subject to abuse or intimidation or violent behaviour can only be off-putting to the people that we need to attract into these essential professions, as well.

So for all of those reasons, this is an important bill. The issues are real. I was actually shocked to read some of the numbers of assaults that some of our first responders face. If we look at emergency service workers: St John Ambulance reports 2,000 verbal attacks over the past year, and 161 physical assaults. That’s over three per week that ambulance service people are facing when they turn up at the scenes of house fires, assaults, car crashes, and the like. That is shocking to hear and it is something that we do need to address.

Of course, the resolutions to these issues are in a range of policy responses. This is not the only one but it is an important one. We do know that often in these cases—and the previous member referenced this—alcohol is involved. That’s something that we need to address through other policy responses. It’s my understanding that sometimes in these cases we’re dealing with people in significant states of agitation, who may have real mental health issues as well. We need to have a significant response in that area as well, and that is a major priority of this Government. But we do also need to send a clear message both to the responders and to the public that we’re not going to tolerate assaults on people carrying out this incredibly important work. So what this bill does is put in place, through amendments to both the Crimes Act and the Sentencing Act, provisions which allow a maximum sentence of up to 10 years and a minimum sentence of no less than six months for people who are found to have attacked a first responder in this way.

The Labour Party is supporting this bill to select committee because we believe this issue is important, because we need to keep people safe, because we need to send a clear message. In the select committee, we do want to explore whether we’ve got those provisions exactly right. It’s a relatively unique piece of legislation in the way that it sets those sentencing guidelines, and we think that it’s important the select committee looks at those fully and on an informed basis to make sure that we get this right. But certainly this is an important bill. We strongly support the intent of it and I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Like others, I wish to acknowledge those involved as first responders, as well as those most directly affected by the recent tragedy at White Island, also known as Whakaari. I recently bumped into the Minister of Civil Defence, and I hope he won’t regard it as a breach of confidence that he assured me in that setting how impressed he was by the work of the New Zealand Defence Force in that context. So while the scope of the bill is first responders and prison officers—or Corrections officers, I suppose we might also call them—it’s helpful to acknowledge, as others have done in this House, those who have been involved in that particular occurrence and doing such wonderful work on the ground and, indeed, at sea surrounding that island.

The only thing I’ve heard so far that’s disturbed me about this bill is the extent to which my speech notes that I’ve been making have reflected the comments that the member for Mt Roskill has made. In all seriousness, he’s actually—

💬 Michael Wood: We’re both embarrassed!

That’s right—“We’re both embarrassed!”, says the member. So perhaps I’ll charge on reasonably briefly, except to say that he made the point about the fact that it’s every day for first responders and not simply the case of the recent albeit tragic events at White Island, and, for that matter, the flooding in the South Island, and so on. But it’s every day, and I’ll underline that word “every” in the context of the upcoming Christmas - New Year period. A holiday for many, but for those of us who keep their fellow Kiwis—and visitors, for that matter—safe on our roads and at sea, it is an ongoing proposition and, therefore, ongoing danger to which they are exposed, not only by the inherently risky and dangerous nature of what they do but additional danger and risk in the case of behaviour that we would not wish to have them exposed to.

That, of course, is the subject of the bill. I look forward to finding out a bit more about that, including—again, as the member for Mt Roskill has acknowledged—whether the settings are exactly right, and there are different policy responses. I have the good fortune of being on the Justice Committee, so along with the chair and others in the House, I welcome the opportunity in that forum to engage a bit more closely with the detail. We must do what we can to help those who help others. So it’s a matter of justice but also recognising those consequences in terms of not wishing to have people who would put their hand up to perform these roles—we don’t want them to be discouraged from doing so. On that note, I’ll finish my contribution but say that I look forward to continuing to engage with the debate and the discussion and the bill itself as it progresses further.

I rise on behalf of Darroch Ball, the sponsor of the bill, to give his reply. It is poignant, as others have noted, that we are dealing with this Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill at a time when we are seeing our first responders at their very finest, putting themselves in the way of harm to help others in a significant national event. I too join my voice to those that have acknowledged that today.

I’d also like to commend Darroch Ball on bringing this forward. This is a Government that is looking at changing the justice system and how we do things and do them differently and things like restorative justice and rehabilitation, health-based approaches to things, and they’re all important discussions. But Darroch is someone that is immersed in all that and studies this sort of thing extremely closely, and he’s also someone that is an advocate for consequences as well. We cannot just have an educational approach; there does need to be consequences when people transgress, and particularly when they transgress in an egregious manner—in this case, against first responders, some of our most worthy citizens and well-meaning citizens putting themselves into places of trouble.

The scale of this issue is significant. The figures I’ve got here—we’ve got, for 2019 to date, 1,800 assaults on police officers, including 350 that resulted in injuries; 655 assaults against prison officers, of which 20 were serious and 16 were of a sexual nature. In 2018, we know that there was, in terms of the ambulance and Fire and Emergency response, 747 crew abuse cases, including 193 assaults. These first responders are often dealing with distressed, drunk, or drugged individuals, and it is a dangerous situation all too often. Those figures are stark, and I’m quite, actually, alarmed by them. This is totally unacceptable, and New Zealand First will not stand by and accept those figures. We would find it unconscionable that the Parliament would not prioritise our first responders in supporting this bill, and I’m pleased to hear so far that the speakers from both the Labour and National parties have indicated they will support this bill.

Of course, the key measure, I think, is the minimum sentence of six months. If you assault a first responder, you are going to jail, and that is a strong deterrent along with other measures. I think that that is the key feature of the bill. We’re just sending a signal as a society and as a Parliament that assault on first responders is totally unacceptable and we will not countenance it.

So in the 13 months since this bill was introduced or drawn, there have been literally hundreds of assaults against our first responders. We must get on and deliver this bill so that we can actually give them the security and the protection that they deserve in the important work that they do. So my urging to the Parliament is: let’s get on with the job, get this bill passed, and put those protections in place. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Bill read a first time.

Bill referred to the Justice Committee.