Dialogue: Tranquil rural community being treated like rubbish

First a dragway, then a major dump, and now this country area has been chosen as the site for a new regional prison. What, asks PAUL HUTCHISON, has Meremere done to deserve this?

What is outstanding about Matt Robson's choice of Meremere as the site for the new regional 650-bed prison is his lack of logic, his circuitous way of informing the public and his inability to be more innovative.

The Department of Corrections' national prison facilities and services strategic plan states that it is committed to a regional prisons policy.

This is based on the principle of locating inmates as near to their home or support as possible, subject to the constraints of prison and sentence management. This is seen as an important component in reducing reoffending.

The minister briefed MPs a few hours before a midnight announcement on the prison. He said it would be based at one of two sites south of Meremere, but that his preferred site was closer to Papakura.

In choosing this site, the minister must be aware that there are no bus stops, no train stops, no sewerage and that it is next to New Zealand's proposed largest dump, as well as the Waikato River.

It is a wonder he hasn't placed the women's prison alongside so conjugal and other rights could also be enjoyed. He did admit to having never visited the proposed site himself.

The department states that the contribution made by prisons includes containment, deterrence and rehabilitation.

A focus on rehabilitation and treatment has been identified as most likely to have a significant impact on reoffending. It is highly relevant that a recent study on New Zealand prisons has shown a high level of psychiatric and personality disorders and that most of these go untreated.

Placing the prison a significant drive into the country from Auckland means more costs and more difficulty in attracting the skilled therapists who are so badly needed.

The new prison apparently will not take inmates from Mt Eden. This seems poor planning because Mt Eden has been identified as a national disgrace and disaster.

Before their cloak-and-dagger decision, the ministry and the minister could have considered that some sections of the Northland community vied for a prison on their patch because of the perceived economic benefits.

The proposed North Waikato prison will employ about 250 staff. A further 88 jobs are likely to be created in the district through the supply of goods and services to the prison. The value of staff wages and salaries has been estimated at $11.6 million a year and a further $3 million a year will be spent on goods and services in the area.

Mr Robson should have in the first instance organised his department to seek possible sites in South Auckland, where the local community saw merit in having a prison.

From the Northland experience, this is not unrealistic. Of the 40 sites originally considered by the department, I have heard from people who would welcome a prison near them because of the resources it would bring their community.

The principle of open consultation should be applied to both prisons and landfills from the beginning. There should be an onus on the Government to first seek an approach that reverses the not-in-my-backyard syndrome.

If a state-of the-art landfill is the best we can do, a levy should be imposed on all material brought to it.

From that money, compensation would go not only to individuals harmed but to an area within a specific radius. Sufficient money would be raised for specific environmental enhancement projects, such as a natural wetland or a park that neighbours could enjoy.

In that way, the local community would at least receive some benefits. A significant levy would also act as a signal to keep up the search for alternative or safer waste-disposal methods.

The same sort of principle could be applied to prisons.

The Government needs to look to its rhetoric. It talks about open, consultative government. Its prison search was carried out in the utmost secrecy. To add insult to injury, even though the site was announced just before Christmas, submissions close at the end of January.

For the rural landowners who want to live in peace, tranquillity and security by the banks of the Waikato River, the triple whammy of a dragway, a dump and now a prison is almost unbearable.

The Meremere dragway was put there before the Resource Management Act. Now, Marian Hobbs does not even want to acknowledge the national importance of New Zealand's largest dump, which will take rubbish from millions of households and be situated only 500m from the Waikato River.

It is to the eternal shame of the Minister for the Environment that she has not yet called in the ministry to ensure a balanced hearing at the Environment Court.

On the prison, the Government has at best taken a cynical view. By placing the prison at Meremere, it knows there will be less flak than in the more highly populated South Auckland.

What, however, about the potential violation of prisoners' rights if toxic fumes from the Hampton Downs dump drift into the prison?

It is tough on an isolated rural community to have to take on both the rubbish and the offenders of Greater Auckland. It is ironic that both the dump and the prison will be sited a few kilometres upstream from Auckland's latest water supply.

Could it be that contaminated water is what Aucklanders deserve?

Mr Robson said in his briefing to MPs that if there was compelling evidence to change the site, he would reconsider.

He should read his own handbook, then start looking again.

* Dr Paul Hutchison is the MP for Port Waikato.