In the red corner

Like many in Aotearoa, I was deeply saddened to read about Juliana Cayena Bonilla Herrera earlier this year. Everyone in New Zealand should be safe in their community and in their own home.

The Department of Corrections has confirmed it will review its community notification policy to make sure it continues to support public safety. As this is an internal policy, this is an appropriate first step.

It is my understanding that Corrections’ policy largely focuses on the community notification of child sex offenders and people on extended supervision orders, but it does provide for the notification of other serious offenders.

The current policy also allows for a range of factors to be considered in each case.

This includes the terms of the person’s release, their history of offending and possible risk to the community.

Another consideration is that successful rehabilitation and reintegration, when appropriate, can protect against future harm.

No doubt the scope and application of this policy will be thoroughly explored in Corrections’ review.

While Corrections has their review underway, our Government is continuing to take action to make sure that New Zealanders are safe.

This includes moving swiftly to introduce new laws when necessary, based on evidence. For example, we recently introduced a raft of legislative changes to give police additional tools to seize the illicit assets of organised crime.

This means that not only do we have more frontline police than ever before, they also have greater power to hit criminals where it hurts.

There’s no easy fix when it comes to tackling crime.

Putting in place tough consequences is just one of the ways that we’re making our communities safer. We’re also providing rehabilitation and opportunities for New Zealanders who need help getting back on the right track, including through our Better Pathways package which extends programmes that have a record of success driving down crime.

There’s still more work to do, but we are making good progress on our plan to keep New Zealand communities safe.