8. Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) Link to this
to the Minister of Corrections
Does she have confidence in the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections; if so, why?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Corrections) Link to this
As the State Services Commissioner said at the Law and Order Committee this morning, confidence will come from improvement in performance, and the magnitude of the task ahead of the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections means that confidence will take months, not days or weeks.
Hon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
Does she consider, given that answer, that nine prison escapes, two prison deaths, and two prison assaults, in the course of a little over 2 months under her watch, constitute an improvement in the performance of the Department of Corrections?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS Link to this
No. The basis on which that member has asked the question is disputed.
Sandra GoudieHon JUDITH COLLINS Link to this
I am advised that at the Law and Order Committee this morning the State Services Commissioner confirmed to committee members that the department had repeatedly warned the previous Minister of Corrections, Phil Goff, that the probation service was struggling to cope with the number of offenders, and of the risks associated with that. But his Government chose to ignore those warnings.
Hon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
Does the Minister not agree that it is impossible to expect the public to have confidence in the Department of Corrections, given her and her Government’s continued failure to express confidence in the department’s chief executive?
Hon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
Can the Minister explain why the following statements about the report of the State Services Commissioner into accountability at the Department of Corrections are contradictory: the first being her own statement, when she claimed on Newstalk ZB on 10 March that Mr Matthews had been held accountable by the State Services Commissioner; and the second being the claim from the Prime Minister on Television New Zealand’s Breakfast programme on 16 March that the State Services Commissioner in his report had not apportioned responsibility to anybody?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS Link to this
One word is “accountable”; the other is “responsible”. They are two different words. Mr Cosgrove should get them right.
Rahui KateneIs the Minister aware that Arohata Women’s Prison recorded the highest assault rate among small prisons, and given that some 58 percent of the female inmate population are Māori, what specific interventions will be undertaken to ensure that Māori responses are instrumental in addressing violence?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS Link to this
I am concerned about assaults and violence in prison, and I look forward to working with Minister Sharples to provide Māori-appropriate responses, because this Government is focused on what works.
Has the Minister been advised that the Corrections Association president, Beven Hanlon, has called prisons “a powder keg”, referring to an intolerable amount of violence, and how does she believe that contract management of prisons could address the seeming rising tide of violence in prisons?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS Link to this
Yes, I have heard that report. Mr Hanlon has recently released a report that portrays privately managed Port Phillip Prison in Melbourne as comparatively safer than the New Zealand public prisons that the writer visited when he was recently in New Zealand.
David GarrettDoes the Minister’s failure to express unequivocal confidence in the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections mean that she is not satisfied with the report of the State Services Commissioner on the Auditor-General’s report, which identified numerous failings within the Department of Corrections?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS Link to this
No. It means that, as the report of the State Services Commissioner has noted, Mr Matthews is working very hard to bring corrections to a standard where I as the Minister, and, more important, the public, can have full confidence, because this Government cares about public safety.