Mike Williams says Emily Henderson's maiden speech, delivered without notes, was one of the best he has ever heard.
Mike Williams says Emily Henderson's maiden speech, delivered without notes, was one of the best he has ever heard.
At this time of the year just about everyone who writes about politics feels bound to name a "politician of the year", and this year there can be just one winner.
Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is the only possibility - having listened to the scientists, led the country withauthority, grace and style over many gruelling months and seen off Covid-19.
Let us be clear - this virus could have killed thousands of Kiwis as did the last pandemic of 1918.
The plight of countries like the USA and the UK right now demonstrates just what a valuable and challenging achievement this has been.
The PM is uniquely plugged into the thinking of middle New Zealand in a way that no politician in my lifetime has managed.
It is very hard to imagine any other leader, New Zealand or anywhere, having the authority to get away with a declaration that the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were essential services.
Her richly deserved reward was a landslide victory for the Labour Party in the general election of October and majority government, unprecedented (and thought impossible) under the MMP electoral system.
An accolade is also surely due to the New Zealand Labour Party, now one of the oldest and most successful social democratic parties in a world where its philosophy is (hopefully briefly!) out of fashion.
It is difficult to think of a political party anywhere in the world that has repeatedly produced leaders of international stature – Savage, Fraser, Kirk, Clark and now Jacinda Ardern.
The party has equally attracted a crop of first-rate new MPs in this political cycle.
I listened to one memorable and moving maiden speech after another over the last couple of weeks, and was fortunate to have the new Whangārei MP, Emily Henderson, as the guest speaker at a Howard League event in that city last Monday.
Emily Henderson has had a stellar legal career which includes a doctorate from Cambridge University and put her name forward for an electorate normally regarded as safe for the National Party.
Her speech, delivered without notes, was one of the best I have heard and directly on point. She brings to Parliament years of priceless experience in difficult and topical areas of the law.
Mike Williams
The Howard League has been supportive of what has been achieved in the first term of the Jacinda Ardern Government and would like to see the penal reform direction taken by the government accelerate in this term.
The Labour Party's policy, when elected in 2017, was to reduce our bloated prison muster by 30 per cent.
As of last week, the prison population was down from its peak of 10,820 in March 2018, to 8665. This amounts to a touch under a 20 per cent reduction, so the party is nearly two-thirds of its way towards reaching its 2017 goal.
This is to be commended, but to introduce a touch of comparative reality, our prison population would need to be more like 4000 to match many of the European countries we are often compared to.
The new Government will now have the opportunity to repeal the ridiculous "three strikes" law whereby judges' discretion is removed for a third offence, no matter how trivial, and a long sentence is mandated.
The Department of Justice website tells us "observations of crimes targeted by the law do not appear to demonstrate any obvious effects", meaning that it doesn't work.
It costs taxpayers dearly in extended sentences at $120,000 per prisoner per year – it should go.
Literacy amongst prisoners is also improving but, again there is a long way to go with 58 per cent of prisoners functionally illiterate (LLNAT step 3 or below) and 18 per cent profoundly illiterate (LLNAT step 2 or below).
These levels are down from 71 per cent and 31 per cent respectively in 2102, but Covid-19 has affected access to jails badly in 2020, both for the contracted literacy providers from the Wānanga and the Howard League's volunteer tutors.
The Howard League now has more than enough literacy tutors to meet the current demand from illiterate prisoners and to reach our full potential, prisoners need an incentive to undertake learning.
New Justice Minister Kris Faafoi should consider a measure like that which contributed to a 25 per cent reduction in the prison population in the state of New York. This policy offered reduced sentences for prisoners who gained skills.
For an easy passage through Parliament, Minister Faafoi could simply adopt National Party policy of 2017: "Prisoners whose sentences are two years or less and who successfully complete their training and treatment plan will be eligible for release 10 per cent earlier. Prisoners serving more than two years will get an individualised training and treatment plan. Successful completion will trigger an earlier parole hearing."
Mike Williams grew up in Hawke's Bay. He is CEO of the NZ Howard League and a former Labour Party president.
