Tukituki MP Anna Lorck claims Hawke's Bay Regional Prison could become a "mega-prison" if Act's Corrections policy becomes Government policy. Photo / Paul Taylor
Tukituki MP Anna Lorck claims Hawke's Bay Regional Prison could become a "mega-prison" if Act's Corrections policy becomes Government policy. Photo / Paul Taylor
Tukituki MP Anna Lorck has been accused of attempting a “fear campaign” after claiming Hawke’s Bay could become the site for a “mega-prison” under a National and Act Government.
Lorck, first in a press release and then in an interview with Hawke’s Bay Today, suggested the Act Party’s policy toincrease prison beds could have dire consequences for the region.
Act, should it form a coalition government with the National Party after the October 14 General Election, says it will commit $1 billion to increase the national prison capacity by 500 beds.
Lorck says Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison has a parcel of 40 hectares of additional land around its existing site, which makes it an “obvious target” for expansion.
“I don’t want any more beds built here in that prison. We know what that does,” Lorck said.
“It would mean more dangerous criminals coming here and, along with them, comes their associates.
“What we know happens is, if we build a mega-prison, there will be more serious criminals brought into Hawke’s Bay to serve their time and with them come their associates.
“Their associates then move into the region too and that can cause a whole lot more social challenges and I think we’ve had enough to deal with without more.”
Her challenge to Act and National is to identify where the 500 beds might go and to rule Hawke’s Bay out.
Act leader David Seymour told Hawke’s Bay Today the allocation of prison beds was up to the Department of Corrections, not political parties.
Act Party leader David Seymour. Photo / Paul Taylor
In a statement, the Department of Corrections said “there are no plans to expand Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison”.
Seymour said Lorck’s comments amounted to a “fear campaign”.
“Anna Lorck wouldn’t be the first Labour candidate to mislead voters on other parties policies over this election campaign.
“Act’s policy is about safer communities. We’ve committed to investing in prison capacity by 500 beds because imprisonment is better than lawlessness.
“Locking up criminals is about preventing more victims. This investment doesn’t mean ‘mega-prisons’ in Hawke’s Bay, it means returning prison capacity back to 2017 levels, before Labour pulled it back.”
National Party’s Tukituki candidate Catherine Wedd said she didn’t think anyone would take Labour seriously on law and order after they “gave $2.75 million to the Hawke’s Bay Mongrel Mob”.
National Party Tukituki candidate Catherine Wedd. Photo / Paul Taylor
“The only target Labour has achieved is a massive reduction in the prison population while crime has skyrocketed here in Tukituki.
“Labour’s Tukituki candidate should focus on trying to get her own party to stop funding gangs and start acknowledging crime in our community, instead of peddling desperate misinformation like this.”
The Labour Party gave a Mongrel Mob-run programme $2.75 million of Proceeds of Crime funding in 2021 to aid methamphetamine addiction treatment.
Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.
