Govt pledges boost to frontline Corrections staff
The Government has announced a $1.9 billion boost over four years to Corrections’ “frontline”, with more than $400 million of that re-prioritised within Corrections itself.
The announcement by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell included an 810bed extension to Waikeria prison, 685 new frontline staff at Corrections, 470 of those Corrections’ officers, and $78m going to extend rehabilitation programmes for prisoners on remand.
Luxon called it a “significant uplift in funding for the frontline of Corrections, so that we can increase the capacity in our prisons and support more offenders to turn away from crime”.
It comes after a man was found dead on Auckland’s Ponsonby Rd on Sunday night, after reports of a firearm being discharged.
Confusion over the number of beds at Waikeria dominated the announcement, and whether 600 extra beds already planned for Waikeria were part of the additional 810.
A statement following the press conference confirmed the funding would go towards an 810-bed extension at Waikeria prison, which was on top of the 600 planned beds.
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins called it a “horrific performance” that left “a lot more questions than answers”.
Corrections staff would also be in for a pay boost, but the Government would not release any details, instead pointing to the mid-year pay negotiations and December pay negotiations.
“We’ve got to go through a bargaining process as per normal,” Luxon said, adding it was budgeted for.
The $400m saved from within Corrections would be used for recruitment, training and deployment of the additional Corrections’ staff. The savings have come in part from not filling some back-office roles and doing a stocktake of more than 100 programmes and services to ensure they are value for money
On the extra frontline staff, Corrections Association president Floyd du Plessis said, “it’s all nice to say, but we have been short for a long time”.
“We’re currently about 500 (staff) short, roughly, and we need about 500 to go back to baseline, on top of that.
He said previously it had been difficult to recruit during the past six years due to staff assaults, the competitive job market, “and in those times Corrections isn't exactly the most glamorous or well paid out there”.
Du Plessis said there had been an improvement in recruitment over the last six months, while Mitchell said they had had a “massive uptake” in Corrections recruitment.
“We’re currently recruiting, training and deploying 130 corrections officer a month,” he said. “Finally we’ve actually got ahead of attrition.”
Earlier this year, staffing shortages and the increasing number of people being remanded in custody ahead of trials or sentencing continued to put pressure on New Zealand’s prisons system.
Mitchell’s office confirmed the 470 new staff would be on top of the officer vacancies.