4. SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) Link to this
to the Minister of Justice
Does he have confidence in the Ministry of Justice; if so, why?
Hon MARK BURTON (Minister of Justice) Link to this
Generally, yes; because they are hard-working and conscientious public servants.
Can the Minister confirm that his ministry’s latest forecast of the prison population, released in July this year, projected that the number of prisoners for 2007 during the peak month of September would be 7,959, yet the actual muster was 8,372 at the beginning of September, and that he stated on 1 October that New Zealand’s prison population is now approaching 8,500?
I do not have the figures in front of me, but I am sure I can rely on the member being accurate in the report he has given.
Can the Minister confirm that the forecast of 7,959 inmates takes into account his Government’s Effective Interventions initiatives to reduce the prison population; and is it any surprise that those policies have failed, when one of those initiatives, electronic bail, was expected to be granted to “upwards of 1,000 defendants per annum in order to save 120 prison beds a year”, yet in its first 10 months only 56 defendants have been on electronic bail, thus saving just eight prison beds?
Again, I do not have the figures in front of me, but I am sure the member is quoting accurately. I say to the member that if he wants to put down questions about the operation—
Pansy WongFor goodness’ sake, the member should listen to the whole answer. If the member wants to put down questions around the operation of electronic bail, that is actually a matter for the police, and he should put the question to the Minister of Police. Equally, the member should be aware that the Effective Interventions policy was about slowing the rate of growth in the prison population, and that is something that was made very clear at the time it was announced.
Hon Phil GoffCan the Minister confirm that two of the reasons that the prison population may have increased are, firstly, that this Government is committed to increasing the numbers of police, and will have done so by more than 1,000 front-line officers, and, secondly, that this Government put into effect the tough legislation that the National Government never had the guts to do over 9 years?
Indeed, I can confirm both of those things. That is a good illustration of why they are called projections.
Can the Minister confirm that the current prison muster is close to the total capacity of the prison system of 8,624, which includes beds set aside in the event of a disaster; and is the approaching crisis the reason why the Deputy Prime Minister told the House last month that Cabinet devotes “considerable attention to keeping track of what is going on within the prison system”, stating: “It is one of the few areas where … every week we examine the number of people in custody,”?
Again, I would have thought that the member would understand by now that if he wants to put down questions about the prison muster, he should do so to the Minister of Corrections—that is his portfolio responsibility. As to the other matter, I think the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement illustrates why this Government takes issues around law and order and imprisonment seriously—clearly, more so than the National Opposition.
Did the Minister read a March Budget paper that states that the Effective Interventions decisions already taken have allowed Ministers to avoid decisions on 800 additional beds over the 5-year period to 2011; and given the current prison population is now at the level it was forecast to be at in 2011, does he concede that Effective Interventions seems to be failing to reduce the prison population?
Hon Paul SwainIs the Minister aware that National Party members, who were supposedly wanting to get tough on crime, were advising local communities on how to stop prisons being built in their local areas?
Yes, indeed I am, and I think it is just a further illustration of National’s—there is a word I cannot use—double standards, which we see daily in this House.
Can the Minister confirm that the last three forecasts from his ministry have consistently underestimated the prison population, yet, unlike the previous two, the latest forecast was quietly posted on the ministry’s website without a press release from the Minister himself; and is that because he knew by the time the forecast was released that the actual numbers had already overtaken that forecast?