7. Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) Link to this
to the Minister of Police
Does she agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “National believes protection of the public should be the most important consideration”, and is that her most important consideration as police Minister?
Hon SIMON POWERHon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
What actions will she be taking to assure the public that when an alleged rapist applies for bail, the police do their job properly in that they check whether the proposed address is appropriate, that it is not close to schools and criminals, and, most important, that it is acceptable to the alleged victim—in this case, a 15-year-old—and, further, that this critical information is conveyed to the judge by the police prosecutor, given that these things were not done in the alleged rape case reported in this morning’s Dominion Post?
Police prosecutions accept that they did not follow correct procedure, because they did not carry out adequate inquiries prior to the hearing and therefore did not alert the court to the proximity of the alleged offender in that case to the victim. The incident is unacceptable. I have been informed that this morning the police and the alleged offender’s counsel have been working to find an alternative address for the offender to be bailed to by tomorrow. This is when the change in bail conditions would have taken effect from. How and why this occurred will be the subject of a review.
Sandra GoudieWhat actions has the Government taken to make protection of the public the most important consideration within its first 100 days?
In the first 92 days of the new Government, we passed legislation to make it harder to get bail and make crimes against children an aggravating factor in sentencing, and introduced bills to further protect victims of family violence, target gangs, expand the collection and use of DNA samples, impose a victim’s levy on offenders, and remove parole for the worst repeat offenders. I think that stacks up pretty well against the first 100 days of Clayton Cosgrove’s tenure as Associate Minister of Justice, which our records indicate resulted in one press release.
Hon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
Does the Minister also agree with the comments of justice Minister, Simon Power, with regard to the Government’s Bail Amendment Bill, that: “The overriding principle in taking these swift actions is the need to put public safety first.”, and does she think this incident is a good example of the Government’s swift actions in achieving public safety?
Yes, on behalf of the Minister of Police, I agree with the Minister of Justice. I am advised that the problem in this case was not with the law but that the police failed to follow the correct procedure laid down in the law on operational guidelines. I would also like to note that the member’s party voted for the changes in the bail law prior to Christmas—and the Government is grateful for that.
Hon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
Is the Minister not aware that under the watch of the Minister of Police there has been a litany of failures: the stabbing of a teacher at Avondale College, two escapes from police custody, large-scale gang confrontations in Gisborne, the killing of a young man after a tangi at Murupara, a police officer putting public safety at risk by allegedly driving drunk, and now—of course—this latest incident, and I could go on. When is she going to stop simply making excuses, wringing her hands, and start doing her job to ensure that public safety is her first priority?
Action has been taken in respect of those sorts of matters. A lengthy list of legislation that has been passed through this House through the first 100 days shapes up pretty well compared with the one press release that the member put out about party pills in his first 100 days as Associate Minister of Justice.