Enough is enough: O'Connor must go
Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor and CEO Barry Matthews should resign or be sacked over their failure to act on promises made after Liam Ashley's murder, says National's Justice & Corrections spokesman, Simon Power.
He is commenting after another prisoner was bashed in the back of a prison van, even though all five men in it were supposed to be segregated and after the assaulted man had actually asked to be kept separate from others.
"Damien O'Connor and Barry Matthews have abdicated their responsibilities.
"From what I can see they have done absolutely nothing to ensure the Ashley tragedy is not repeated.
"Damien O'Connor stood up in Parliament in last December and promised the Ashley family and the public that he would do all he could to put things right.
"The day after the report into Liam Ashley's death I asked him if he had offered to resign and if not, why not. He said: 'No; I have a clear responsibility to oversee changes to the corrections system to prevent such a tragedy from occurring ever again in the future.'
"He is also quoted as saying he hoped the Ashley family 'can be reassured that we are doing everything we can to prevent similar tragedies occurring in the future … I have a responsibility as the minister to make sure that the systems cannot allow this to happen ever again.'
"And Barry Matthews gave a similar assurance: 'I have made it very clear to the family that we will accept the recommendations ... to ensure that as far as humanly possible we will prevent a recurrence of what occurred.'
"But they have not done this.
"And we are told today by the prison guards union, that promised meetings on the issue have not taken place. That's not surprising when answers to parliamentary questions reveal that the project team reviewing prisoner transport has yet to report back – eight months after Liam Ashley's death.
"It's time heads rolled. The public has had enough of watching the horror stories coming out of our prisons.
"I call on Helen Clark to again repeat her confidence in Damien O'Connor and her glowing praise of Barry Matthews as one of the best CEOs of a government department.
"After all, it was she who said: 'I believe [Damien O'Connor] should fix this.'
He is commenting after another prisoner was bashed in the back of a prison van, even though all five men in it were supposed to be segregated and after the assaulted man had actually asked to be kept separate from others.
"Damien O'Connor and Barry Matthews have abdicated their responsibilities.
"From what I can see they have done absolutely nothing to ensure the Ashley tragedy is not repeated.
"Damien O'Connor stood up in Parliament in last December and promised the Ashley family and the public that he would do all he could to put things right.
"The day after the report into Liam Ashley's death I asked him if he had offered to resign and if not, why not. He said: 'No; I have a clear responsibility to oversee changes to the corrections system to prevent such a tragedy from occurring ever again in the future.'
"He is also quoted as saying he hoped the Ashley family 'can be reassured that we are doing everything we can to prevent similar tragedies occurring in the future … I have a responsibility as the minister to make sure that the systems cannot allow this to happen ever again.'
"And Barry Matthews gave a similar assurance: 'I have made it very clear to the family that we will accept the recommendations ... to ensure that as far as humanly possible we will prevent a recurrence of what occurred.'
"But they have not done this.
"And we are told today by the prison guards union, that promised meetings on the issue have not taken place. That's not surprising when answers to parliamentary questions reveal that the project team reviewing prisoner transport has yet to report back – eight months after Liam Ashley's death.
"It's time heads rolled. The public has had enough of watching the horror stories coming out of our prisons.
"I call on Helen Clark to again repeat her confidence in Damien O'Connor and her glowing praise of Barry Matthews as one of the best CEOs of a government department.
"After all, it was she who said: 'I believe [Damien O'Connor] should fix this.'