PM's Press Conference 11/6/18: A Little Correction
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today said her coalition parties were in 'universal agreement' the current justice system
was not working and 'US style' mass incarceration was not the answer. This came after Justice Minister Andrew Little announced he would not bring a proposal to end 'three strikes' sentencing after New Zealand First indicated they would not support the change.
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Little had also indicated his intention to present to cabinet ideas such as bail changes and expanded planned August
criminal justice summit process anyway.
Cabinet's final decision on the future of Waikeria prison in the face of an ever-increasing prison population will be
announced on Wednesday.
On Tuesday Ardern will announce the new Chief Science Advisor and on Thursday she hopes to attend Fieldays. After today
she planned to stay with driving distance of Auckland hospital as her due date approaches. She indicated the search for
a name for the baby was going 'terribly'.
The Prime Minister also announced a short extension to the New Zealand Defence Force mission in Afghanistan, allowing a
further decision on future of the deployment in September, closer to other decisions relating to that region such as the
Iraq deployment.
Other topics included the announcement of a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to New Zealand, talks between the United States and North Korea in Singapore, and work towards declaring a medium scale
adverse event after the Tologa Bay floods.