Speeches

Good evening.

It’s great to see you all here tonight.

When we went to the polls in November 2008, we asked the public what they thought were the main law and order issues that we should address as government.

The message we received was loud and clear.

Many people believed the criminals were getting the upper hand in this country.

They were concerned that violence, dishonesty and drug offences have been increasing.

They were concerned about the rise of organised crime and the spread of methamphetamine that went with it.

We listened, and we’ve acted.

Over the past 18 months we have given Police the tools, the manpower and strong new laws to push back on crime.

We have made changes to the justice system so it focuses on the rights of victims and other law-abiding members of the community, rather than the rights of criminals.

Since November 2008 we have passed 11 new laws - and introduced three more - to toughen sentences, removing parole for the worst repeat violent offenders and crack down on gangs and methamphetamine.

We are also rebuilding the Serious Fraud Office after years of neglect by the previous government.

We’re bringing peace to neighbourhoods and safety to our roads by sending a very strong signal to illegal street racers that their cars will be crushed if they continue with their anti-social behaviour.

And we’re exploring the possibility of greater private sector involvement in the corrections sector to raise standards and reduce costs to taxpayers.

I’d now like to talk about these initiatives in a bit more detail.

More Police on the beat

Nothing deters crime like healthy numbers of Police officers on the streets and in our neighbourhoods, tackling crime where it takes place and deterring further crime from taking place.

In Counties-Manukau, the country’s fastest growing Police district, the need for extra Police officers was acute.

Violent crime in Counties-Manukau increased by 69 percent between 2003-04 and 2007-08.

Recorded violent offences per 10,000 of population rose from 124.1 in 2003 to 191.9 in 2007.

We promised to put an additional 300 officers into Counties-Manukau by the end of 2010, and a further 300 into the rest of New Zealand by the end of 2011.

I’m delighted to report that 208 new officers have been deployed in Counties-Manukau to date.

Tomorrow a new Wing of around 40 officers will graduate from the Royal New Zealand Police College and almost all will be deployed in Counties-Manukau.

In total, 368 additional officers have been employed nationwide since November 2008.

We’ve also given Police the tools they need to keep themselves and the public safe.

Police have been given 733 new Tasers and the power to DNA test offenders arrested for imprisonable offences.

Tasers are currently being rolled out throughout the country and have already showed how effective they can be in keeping Police and the public safe.

There is a growing list of violent events around the country that have been resolved without injury thanks to the Taser.

Taking on the methamphetamine barons

New Zealand has always had an underbelly - networks of criminals who have made a living from the proceeds of crime.

In the 1940s and 1950s we had the bookies. In the 1960s and 1970s it was cannabis. In the late 1970s and early 1980s it was heroin.

We have been fortunate that organised crime has not been deeply embedded in our culture and way of life.

The criminals who ran illegal enterprises often formed into small-time groups on the fringes of society.

The arrival of home-made methamphetamine a decade ago opened a new and incredibly lucrative market for those who were prepared to operate outside the law.

No longer do gangs exist solely to assert their identity, as a support group for the disenfranchised or a reflection of members’ other common interests.

Today’s gangs exist to make money and gain power. They have a catalogue of criminal activity with which they do that.

Not only does this cause unspeakable misery in the community, it creates the risk of corruption. That is something we do not want taking root here in New Zealand.

We’ve launched a full-scale attack on organised crime.

We are restricting access to the precursor chemicals gangs use to make P, creating dedicated anti-drug Customs taskforces, devising a new police strategy to go after gangs and dealers, creating additional places in drug and alcohol rehab and providing increased support for families and communities to protect people from gangs and the dangerously addictive drugs they sell.

We’re going after the profits of crime.

The new Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), a team of 22 seasoned Police investigators, will support new legislation the Government has introduced to target the proceeds of crime, including the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act and Anti-money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill.

This legislation gives Police the power to detect and seize the assets and profits gangs and organised crime obtain illegally.

Already $36 million of assets are under investigation by Police, and there is more on the way.
Recently a Mongrel Mob pad in Dunedin was seized. Long suffering neighbours are reportedly delighted the building is now in the hands of the Crown.

No parole for the worst repeat offenders

Late last month Parliament passed the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill into law.

The new legislation upholds the Government’s election pledge to remove eligibility for parole for the worst repeat violent offenders and incorporates significant aspects of ACT’s Three Strikes policy.

The Bill denies parole to repeat serious violent offenders and to offenders who are guilty of committing the worst murders.

It also imposes maximum terms of imprisonment on persistent repeat offenders who continue to commit serious violent offences.

With this Bill the Government is sending a strong message that we are serious when we say that parole is a privilege, not a right.

The new legislation ensures that the rights of victims and their families are put before the rights of those offenders who choose to continue to offend.

This Bill has a lot of critics who say we are being too hard on offenders.

I say the Government has a fundamental obligation to do what it can to keep the public safe from those who repeatedly commit violent crimes.

An offender who has committed three serious offences will, in all likelihood, go on to commit a fourth. By imposing maximum sentences without parole, Three Strikes gives offenders much less opportunity to do so because they will be in prison.

Moreover, all 40 qualifying offences for Three Strikes involve serious violence or sexual offending, and all have a maximum penalty of at least seven years in prison.

We don’t want our version of Three Strikes to be like that used by California where small offences result in long prison sentences.

Safeguards have been put in place to ensure that the appropriate charges are laid, particularly at the third stage of the regime.

At stage 3 Police will refer all charges that qualify for the mandatory maximum penalty to the Crown Solicitor for review either pre-charge or by second appearance.

In addition, all cases involving offenders on a final warning, who are subsequently charged with committing a serious violent offence, will have their cases heard in the High Court.

Only the High Court, the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court will be able to sentence an offender for a stage 3 offence.

Helping offenders turn their lives around

Three Strikes recognises that some prisoners are incorrigible and no matter what is done, they will present a serious risk to the community.

Some, but not all.

Many turn to crime partly because they lack even the most basic work skills, or the ability to read or write.

The vast majority of prisoners in our jails have ongoing drug and alcohol problems, and will continue to reoffend unless they can kick their habits.

Last week we had a record 8706 people behind bars in our prisons and Police cells.

We cannot go on locking such large numbers of people up – the social and economic cost is simply too high.

One thing many of our prisoners have in common is that they have been in prison before.

91% of all offenders starting new prison sentences in 2009 had a previous history with Corrections.

Approximately 43 percent or prisoners – and 65 percent of prisoners under 20 – reoffend within a year of their release. Within four years approximately 70 percent of released prisoners will have reoffended.

If we can stop their reoffending then we will make a real impact on the number of offenders in our prisons.

For those prisoners who want to turn their lives around, we have an obligation to give them the opportunity to do so.

Approximately two thirds of prisoners enter prison in New Zealand with drug and alcohol problems. Corrections’ drug and alcohol rehabilitation strategy will be a major step in getting them off the treadmill of crime and incarceration.

This Government has stated from the beginning that tackling drug and alcohol addiction is a priority.

We are meeting our commitment to double the number of places in prison providing drug and alcohol treatment, from 500 to 1000 by 2011.

Three additional Drug Treatment Units will be operating in New Zealand prisons by 2011.

The link between employment and reduced re-offending is well documented. International studies have shown that participation in employment can reduce the risk of re-offending by between a third and a half.

The employment and job skills strategy will result in at least 1,000 extra prisoners gaining skills and work experience on any given day.

Prisoners generally have higher literacy and numeracy needs than people in the community. There are currently 650 prisoners participating in targeted literacy and numeracy training in any given week.

The Department will increase this by offering literacy and numeracy training as part of employment and on-the-job training by another 1000 prisoners per year.

The best way to lower rates of crime is to address the conditions that lead to criminal behaviour.

The Government has been looking hard at the drivers of crime. The initial focus has been on four main areas:

Antenatal, maternity, and early parenting support,
Programmes to address behavioural problems in young children,
Reducing the harm caused by alcohol,
Alternative approaches to managing low-level offenders, and offering pathways out of offending.

Efforts to reduce crime cannot be pursued separately from efforts to address other social harms, but need to be part of a co-ordinated response across sectors.

Ministers will work together, and with community groups, to achieve change that will have wide-ranging benefits.

Of course, the best way to see a sustained reduction in crime and safer neighbourhoods is to encourage young people from embarking on a criminal career.

The Government has invested $72.4 million in the Fresh Start programme to turn young offenders away from crime.

This will provide the Youth Court with new powers to place young offenders in 3000 new programme places, including new military-style activity camps, mentoring courses, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and outdoor activities.

Just last week a new "boot camp" residential unit on the former Hobsonville air base was opened by the Prime Minister.

The boot camp, formally known as the Limited Service Volunteer course, is the expansion of a course run by the Defence Force at Burnham military camp for the past 10 years.

Up to 2000 young people aged between 17 and 25 will go through the six-week course this year in one of three centres.

I think the friendships, the skills and, above all, the confidence these young people will gain will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Keeping pace with prisoner numbers

As I mentioned earlier, we now have a record number of prisoners behind bars in this country.

This is not a statistic of which we should be proud.

The fact remains that Corrections has an obligation to ensure it has enough beds for the prisoners sent to it by the courts.

An additional 2270 additional prison beds will be needed by 2019 to cope with forecast growth in prisoner numbers and the need to replace obsolete prison cells.

To manage short-term prisoner numbers we have expended the use of double bunking and are trialling container cells, which are around 30 percent cheaper than standard construction.

Longer term we are exploring designing, building and managing a new, 1000-bed prison through a public-private partnership.

It costs an average of $91,000 a year to keep a prisoner in New Zealand.

We can do better.

A custodial PPP is an opportunity to inject new ideas and new innovations into the corrections sector to enhance public safety, improve rehabilitation and lower costs.

In April the Government announced its intention to establish a new men’s prison in Wiri under a public-private partnership.

This PPP prison is estimated to offer savings of between 10 and 20 percent over conventional procurement methods over the 25-30-year life of the proposed contract.
It would be good to ease the burden on the taxpayers of New Zealand.

The Wiri facility is also expected to have a positive economic impact on the Manukau Community.

While Corrections is still assessing the economic benefits, it’s clear from previous experience that corrections facilities bring jobs and work for local businesses and local people.

By way of example, the Otago Corrections facility injected a large sum of money into its local community.

Over 1850 people worked on the site during construction. In its biggest month of expenditure $12 million was spent.

Of the 186 corrections staff working on the site, over half were recruited locally and 80 families moved into the region.

When the Government announced it was considering a new prison, it was approached by the councils from three North island cities asking that it be build nearby so they could reap the ongoing economic benefits.

That’s how much of an asset they see a facility such as this.

Rebuilding the SFO – our guardians against white collar crime

It’s not just street crime that we’re focusing on. It’s also white collar crime.

The serious Fraud Office was once this country’s premier lead law enforcement agency for investigating and prosecuting serious and complex financial crime.

However, it suffered years of political neglect under the last Government.

At a time when there was a pressing need to boost oversight of the financial services industry, the Clark Government signalled its intentions to actually disband the SFO.

There are still too many cowboys out there for our liking, so we have decided to retain and rebuild the SFO.

Recently the new SFO CEO Adam Feeley has embarked on a restructuring programme to ensure the office is well positioned to tackle the threat from sophisticated white collar criminals.

The SFO also has an important role to play in maintaining New Zealand’s reputation as a safe place to invest and do business.

Through the Minister responsible for the SFO, Judith Collins, the office will have strong support from the Government as it rebuilds its capabilities.

The SFO has some challenging goals for the next three years. The Minister is expecting that the SFO to work closely with receivers, the business community, professional organisations and others who have an interest in a corruption free New Zealand.

It will also be crucial that the SFO works more effectively with other regulators to ensure a speedier, united response to cases of suspected fraud.

Perhaps most importantly, it will be expected to set clear priorities based around their impact on the public and the New Zealand economy.

Peace in the neighbourhoods, safety on the roads

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed lately, it’s that much fewer people are saying they are being kept awake at night by illegal street racers.

Illegal street racers had become a serious problem in many of our communities.

Not only did illegal street racers and their friends endanger other road users and destroy the peace and quiet in our neighbourhoods, but a certain mob mentality had taken hold.

When a lone Police officer in Christchurch was attacked by a large mob of illegal street racers last year, we realised it was time to act.

We passed two new laws in October last year that gave police, courts and local authorities greater powers to crack down on illegal street racing, including seizing and crushing the vehicles of the worst repeat offenders.

The new laws seem to be having the desired effect.

Since they were introduced, reported offending is down by over 15 percent.

No cars have been crushed. Feedback from frontline staff is that the threat of their car being reduced to a cube has made many young offenders modify their behaviour.

It’s great to see the deterrent effect is working.

Looking ahead, we have great work under way in our prisons to rehabilitate offenders and put them on the straight and narrow.

Our PPP prison project is progressing well. We will be driving a hard bargain with potential contractors in order to they deliver the innovation, the outcomes and the value that we are seeking.

The Government’s priorities for Police the 2010/11 year reflect our commitment to reinforcing Police visibility, accessibility and responsiveness to the community.

We’ll see some common sense changes.

Police will make it easier for victims of crime to get help and to keep updated with how investigations are progressing.

Rosters will be changed so there are more officers on deck where and when they needed.

Officers will be given the flexibility to use discretion when dealing with some less serious offences while still holding offenders to account.

When they dial 111 people expect a fast and professional response from a well-trained and well-resourced Police service.

Officers will spend less time behind desks and more time on the streets where they can respond quickly to calls for service.

Police will utilise new technology which will enable them to manage cases more quickly and cut back on time spent on paperwork.

Taking strong steps to reduce crime is not an unreasonable thing to ask of a Government. In fact, this is one of the fundamental reasons that government exists.

People expect safe communities, where they can walk the streets without the threat of violence or intimidation, where they can sleep at night knowing their families are safe in their homes, where there is respect for property, people and the law.

Since becoming the Government we have put the interests of victims of crime, the security of law-abiding citizens and a commitment to a better, safer New Zealand at the heart of the Government’s priorities on law and order.

My pledge to you is that this will continue to be our focus in the years ahead.

Thank you, again, for the opportunity to talk to you tonight.