Historic gathering as parole boards meet

Wairarapa last week provided the backdrop to a historic gathering that will have lasting effects on both New Zealand's and Australia's parole systems.
In a first for both nations, parole board heads converged in Wellington on Thursday and at Martinborough's Alana Estate Winery on Friday to share information and discuss ways to work collaboratively.
The conference's major result was the mooting of a shared system to manage deported serious offenders.
Greytown resident Alistair Spierling, who manages the New Zealand Parole Board's administrative support service, said there had been "much talk" around the idea.
"At the moment, a criminal can offend in New Zealand but once deported to Australia he can walk free over there, and vice-versa. They're free to be part of society and there are no measures to stop that.
"What we've discussed is the possibility of parole boards in each country managing and sharing information about these offenders."
Mr Spierling said there had been cases of known criminals in Australia offending here as a result of there not being a shared system.
As a result of the meeting, the proposal is to be put before both Governments.
Mr Spierling spent a year organising the conference, which attracted representatives from Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and ACT.
The delegates were given a spirited welcome to Alana Estate with a kapa haka performance by Martinborough School pupils.
He hopes it will become an annual event.
"We've shared experiences and learned that the parole system here and over there are quite similar, with a few subtle differences.
"For example, in Australia some of the state boards do hearings by paper, or hold video conferences. "But here in New Zealand we like to sit down and eye-ball the offender to find out what changes they've made."
New Zealand Parole Board chairman Judge David Carruthers, originally from Pahiatua, said each of the board heads showed keen support for positive changes to their parole systems.
"We all agreed there was a need for reciprocal regulations on deported offenders."
Mr Carruthers said the conference also gave him a chance to share what he had learned from visits to parole boards in Canada and the United States.
Despite some views that the parole board was too lenient on offenders, Mr Carruthers said most people were in support of the board's work.
"I'm always humbled by the strong support, good spirit and generosity people show. They have a sense of, 'what can we do to help'."
Mr Carruthers declined to speak on the National Party's proposed "life means life" parole policy to abolish parole for the worst repeat offenders.
Ron Burrows, whose daughter Coral Burrows was murdered by her stepfather Steven Williams in 2003, was in full support of the policy and in an earlier Times-Age article had slammed the parole system as "namby-pamby".
However, Mr Carruthers said the board did not make laws.
"We don't get into politics, we just uphold the rules," he said.
South Australian Parole Board chairman Frances Nelson, QC, said the conference was timely as many Pacific nations are in the process of setting up boards.
"It's been very fruitful. There's a lot to be said for sharing ideas, as (New Zealand and Australia) both work by the same principles.
"I really hope we can do this again."