Dr CAM CALDER (National): It is a privilege to take a call and speak on this bill, the Corrections (Use of Court Cells) Amendment Bill. National campaigned on improving safety in our communities, and we are addressing this issue with a raft of measures. This bill is part of keeping that pledge.
The New Zealand prison population has steadily increased over the last 10 years. Why is this? One of the drivers was an increase of over 40 percent in the number of violent offenders. I will say that again. There was an increase of over 40 percent in the number of violent offenders over the last 10 years, and, of course, a concomitant higher proportion of convicted offenders sentenced to imprisonment. Equally, there has been a disproportionately large growth in the remand prison population.
This Government is trying to lift New Zealand’s performance across all sectors. To do this, we are open-minded and we welcome innovation and fresh thinking. We have said sayonara to the dogma-driven policies of the late, unlamented Labour administration. Those policies led to a 40 percent increase in violent crime and to inadequate accommodation to house the convicted offenders. We have heard from the Hon Clayton Cosgrove about the fact that Labour attempted to address the problem. We accept that, but Labour failed. It became a terminally tired administration that deteriorated to become little more than a loquacious lobby for lassitude, languor, and inaction. This bill is necessary as a result of that legacy of supervised neglect.
The National-led Government has inherited a rising prison muster and a concomitant imminent shortfall in accommodation, owing to inadequate funding by the Labour Government. This bill is necessary to ensure we can provide safe, temporary accommodation for offenders. I commend this bill to the House.
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