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Archived Press Releases 2007 19th July 2007

Parliament restores victims’ right to attend parole hearings

(19th July 2007)

Following the TV One exposure last night of the Criminal Justice Reform Bill proposal to deny victims the right to attend parole hearings Parliament has just reversed this draconian piece of Legislation.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust who took the story to Close Up was today overwhelmed from calls from the public including local Mayors said Trust Spokesman Garth McVicar.

Mr McVicar said one of those to call him was Mayor Juno Hayes, the Mayor from the Clutha area who offered to galvanize support nationwide.

"Knowing we had colossal public support we contacted various MP’s who had not been privy to this invasion of the rights of victims."

That resulted in Heather Roy from the Act Party with support from Ron Mark from NZ First moving an amendment which reversed the Governments proposal.

Basically this means the status quo has been upheld and the right of victims to appear before the Parole Board has been restored.

We congratulate TV One, the public and Mayors involved and in particular would like to thank Heather Roy and Ron Mark.

Common sense sometimes prevails

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.