Future of National/NZ First coalition item on sentencing reform unclear

NZ First leader Winston Peters is set to have a meeting with National leader Christopher Luxon later tonight. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The future of an aspect of sentencing reform promised within National and New Zealand First’s coalition agreement is uncertain as party members contend with official advice warning the promise will cause “unmanageable increases to the prison population”.

The agreement states the Government would amend the Sentencing Act 2002 including “removing concurrent sentences for those who commit offences while on parole, on bail, or whilst in custody”.

An adapted version of that commitment, which only encouraged the use of cumulative sentences for such offending, was contained within the suite of sentencing reforms that Cabinet has now signed off, with a bill enabling them to be introduced to Parliament this week.

The Herald yesterday reported how the Ministry of Justice regulatory impact statement on the bill warned a complete removal could put an additional 10,000 people in prison for mostly minor offences, more than doubling the prison population in what officials described as “not a feasible option”.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says it is still his intention to honour the coalition agreement. Photo / Ben Dickens

In June, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith told the Herald that “encouraging” instead of “requiring” cumulative sentencing would prevent the prison population from exploding too suddenly, but the Government would still honour the National-NZ First coalition commitment by the end of the parliamentary term.

Today, Goldsmith said it was still “our plan” to remove the use of concurrent sentences for such offenders but it wasn’t being done immediately.

“That remains a commitment within the coalition agreement, and we’ve got three years to do that.”

Asked whether he doubted the advice from his officials, Goldsmith said he would “look into the detail of it and how it works in practice”.

He said there had been conversations with NZ First MPs about the promise and indicated his coalition partner was still committed to it.

NZ First leader Winston Peters had already shown how strictly he would adhere to coalition promises amid National’s attempts to alter the commitment to training 500 extra police officers.

Peters intervened when Police Minister Mark Mitchell indicated publicly the timeframe to train the 500 officers would be extended to three years instead of two, as outlined in the coalition agreement.

NZ First leader Winston Peters had previously stepped in to ensure the coalition agreement was followed to the letter. Photo / Mark Mitchell

After representatives of the parties met, it was clarified the timeframe would remain two years.

However, Peters today said parties would be “awfully lucky” to achieve everything within their coalition agreements in one term of government, saying: “A lot of these things is a work in progress.

”There will always be a difference between parties and we sort them out. That is why we have, every now and again, meetings between the party leaders as to how things are progressing and one of those meetings is tonight.”

He said the meeting, set for 5pm, wasn’t “about that issue, about other issues”. Peters didn’t say what those issues were.

Earlier, Peters rubbished the officials’ advice, stating his first priority was the safety of New Zealanders.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.