National says murderers will get 15 years

By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter

The minimum sentence for murderers would be increased from 10 years to 15 years, and frontline police ranks would be boosted by 500 extra under a National government, leader Bill English said yesterday.

Other violent offenders would not be eligible for parole until they had served two-thirds of their sentence.

At present, prisoners have automatic parole release at two-thirds of their sentence.

A bill before Parliament reduces eligibility to one-third but judges may impose a minimum non-parole period of not more than 10 years.

Limiting parole eligibility to two-thirds of a sentence was the only way to make sentencing effective, Mr English said.

"Having parole at one-third of the sentence makes the sentencing a waste of time."

Key policy points are:

* True life sentences for the worst murders, such as multiple murders.

* Increase the standard minimum non-parole period for other murders from 10 years to 15.

* Extend the non-parole period for violent offenders from one-third of a sentence (as proposed in a bill before Parliament) to two-thirds.

* Extend the non-parole period for non-violent offenders from one-third of sentence to 50 per cent.

* Reintroduce suspended sentences (abolished in bill before Parliament).

* 500 extra frontline police officers.

* Reverse the onus of proof on drug dealers and confiscate their assets unless they could prove they legitimately acquired them.

* Reduce the thresholds of possession for supply for dealing in methamphetamine (speed).

Mr English is starting a nationwide tour of 54 towns in 35 days to confront what he called "the serious issues": education, law and order, economic growth and treaty settlements.

"There is no point in having a strong economy if you don't feel safe in your community," Mr English said.

"There is no point in talking about the great way of life in New Zealand if a woman who goes out for a walk on a Saturday morning gets killed," he said, referring to Kate Alkema's death in Lower Hutt.

The victims of violent crime were not just those directly affected.

"They are the elderly, our women, the people who feel vulnerable every day, every night because of a terrible event that happened to one person."

The Government's policies were seen as a "betrayal" in the wake of the 92 per cent support for tougher action against crime in the 1999 citizens-initiated referendum.

Justice Minister Phil Goff said National had a credibility problem.

In 1999 it planned to reduce police numbers by almost 500.

It says it would increase the minimum non-parole period for non-violent offenders from a third to a half - the exact opposite of what it did in Government in 1993.

The Sentencing and Parole legislation before the House was expected to increase the prison muster by 300 to 350.

The bill meant the worst murderers would get a minimum non-parole period of at least 17 years.