Sharples sidelined in Corrections role
A Cabinet document reveals that Associate Corrections Minister Pita Sharples was deliberately not consulted on the Government’s three strikes policy, says Labour Law and Order spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove.
The document, released by Corrections and Police Minister Judith Collins, shows that the only consultation that occurred was between National and ACT, Clayton Cosgrove said.
"I find it astounding that Pita Sharples, a senior government minister, was not consulted on an issue that directly affects his own roles as Associate Corrections Minister and Maori Affairs Minister.
"It is even stranger that no consultation was carried out with the Maori Party given that the Maori Party is a confidence and supply partner and young Maori feature disproportionately in crime and corrections statistics, and.
Clayton Cosgrove said it was becoming more obvious by the day that the relationship between Ms Collins and her associate lacked any substance whatsoever.
"Either that, or she has no confidence in Dr Sharples’ abilities or in the value of the Maori Party as a government partner.
"Dr Sharples’ office has confirmed that he has also received no briefings whatsoever on Hamilton’s Te Hurihanga youth offending programme. This innovative programme is destined for the chop, but how the Government can do so without consulting the Maori Party is beyond me. It is incredibly arrogant," Clayton Cosgrove said.
"Dr Sharples’ workload in the Associate Corrections portfolio is being heavily restricted by the Government. Records from his own office show that he received only 27 briefings from January to the end of November last year. That’s only about two a month, and some of them would have been very brief indeed.
"Even more tellingly, nine of those briefings occurred in June. The rest of the year he has been given virtually nothing to do. For reasons presumably known best only to herself, Ms Collins seems to have washed her hands of him."
