Urgent Debate: Corporate Manslaughter

Kia ora tatou.

He whai haere i te ia o te korero, me tuku i nga poporopoaki ki te Whaea kua ngaro nei i te tirohanga kanohi  i nga wiki kua hipa

Kua rongo tona whanau i te ahuatanga o te ngau o mate.  Ka tapirihia ki te Pepe o Hoani Waititi ki tera o nga mate kua pa mai ki a au o Te Arawa ki a Witarina Harris. 

Me penei rawa te korero haere nga mate haere koutou moe mai. 

Ka huri ki a tatou te hunga ora e noho nei i te whare nei i tenei wa tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou.

***

We think of the Whaea who has departed from us in the week past.  Her family has experienced the nature of the pain of death.

We also think of the infant at Hoani Waititi, and those deaths which are part of me, of Te Arawa - the passing of Witarina Harris. Let us say farewell yay departed; sleep on.

And I now turn to those of us, the living resident in this House, at this time.  Greetings, thrice greetings.

To those people – we say farewell;  return to the ancestors, sleep on and now I turn to the House.

***

This issue, the tragic loss of life which the Muliaga family has experienced over the last fortnight – and indeed which has had major ramifications throughout this country – is not, we regret to say, the first of this nature.

And we in the Maori Party have been painfully aware that for too many families there have been lives lost, hardship endured, poverty experienced and no-one taking responsibility.

Responsibility which must rest in the hands of many – but not the least being the state and its agencies.

Madam Speaker, we concentrate here on our ability within this Parliament, to truly make a difference.

We know there have already been rules and policies that should have been followed. 

We know there is already an Electricity and Gas Commissioner.

We know there have been guidelines for low income and vulnerable consumers.

So the question would be, why did this tragedy occur?

Some have chosen to point the finger of blame at individuals.

We have been appalled that the crisis which occurred for the Muliaga family should have been turned inward on a community, on a family, on consumers – rather than looking at those with the responsibility. 

Responsibility and accountability for crisis management must be taken seriously – and not just in this sad case.

Madam Speaker, we too, think, of the train crash at Kerang last Tuesday, in which New Zealander Nick Parker lost his life.  A crisis which sent shock waves across the Tasman.

It is not the first time, of course, that fatalities have occurred in public transport. 

Who will ever forget that Christmas Eve in 1953; the night 151 people died when the rail bridge at Tangiwai collapsed, causing the Wellington Express to crash into the flooded river.

Later investigation suggested that although a lahar was undeniably responsible for the disaster, warnings by amateur geologists about the state of the crater wall should not have been ignored by the authorities.

Next April 10, marks forty years since the Wahine sunk in the worst recorded storm in our history.   The court of inquiry held ten weeks after the disaster found that although conditions had been fatally dangerous; errors of judgment had been made both on board the ferry and on shore.

Fast forward, Madam Speaker,  to November, 1979, - the Mount Erebus disaster, New Zealand's biggest single tragedy; killing all 257 people on board Flight 901.  The Chippindale report attributed the captain's decision to drop to a height below the approved level, as the main cause of the accident.  A year later, Justice Peter Mahon's report instead placed the blame for the accident on the airline systems. Public opinion has remained divided ever since on where the blame for the disaster should rest.

Then twelve years ago, fourteen people lost their lives when the viewing platform at Cave Creek collapsed.  A platform which had been designed, approved and built by people who lacked engineering, building or design qualifications.  A Commission of Inquiry found that the Department of Conservation had acted illegally and negligently in constructing the platform.  Resignations followed; procedures were changed, but no prosecutions resulted.

Madam Speaker, although mass fatal disasters such as these, are engraved in our collective memory, less known but just as worthy of attention, have been the numbers of individual deaths occurring from a malfunction of corporate, state or company responsibility. 

Edited out from the glossy annual reports have been the facts that people have been dying of poverty and neglect for years. 

Every Member of this House will have been approached by advocacy groups such as Grey Power; the Child Poverty Action Group and others; who have warned us all that the savage and consistent toll of rising rates; electricity and other price rises is creating accelerated levels of severe hardship amongst many super-annuitants, beneficiaries and low-paid workers.

Have we listened?  What have we done?

We have elderly people who die from the cold every winter.  We have children dying from basic needs not met.  And yet the agonizing price of poverty is considered of less interest than a debate around a sports stadium or the victory in Valencia.

Hospitals and health authorities have buried their fatal mistakes in hearings which blur the boundaries between medical misadventure and medical error.

Madam Speaker, in the question of life and death - who will take responsibility? 

When will we recognise that when tragedies occur, and corporates are involved, we expect people to take responsibility.  How hard is it to say sorry?

Not only did the Muliaga family suffer the neglect of a state agency – but what must be of serious concern to all in this House is the way in which the family were treated after this tragedy occurred.

Madam Speaker, one would have expected with the recent profile on the Police that they would have had far more sensitivity than to be rushing into the house, treating the children – the recently bereaved children – as witnesses for their crime sheet.

It is very sad and disappointing Madam Speaker, that innocent children, heartbroken from the loss of their mum, were then exposed to the cold process of interrogation that has been reported at large.

And then for the widowed husband to be put through the gauntlet as well, well that beggars belief.

Accusations of "brutish corporate heartlessness" in the wake of recent events have given rise to the call the Maori Party has taken up, to consider the relevance of a corporate manslaughter law.

It is a concept that CTU President Ross Wilson has previously supported, suggesting that in cases of gross negligence, company principals should not be protected from criminal law by the corporate façade.

Of course we do need proper guidelines in place; regulations to determine where responsibility lies – the lines of accountability between companies, SOEs, businesses and Government.  But when accidents occur, when tragedies happen as they do – and will continue to –the law must see that justice will be done.

Justice will be seen in having effective laws in place to prosecute organisations that pay scant regard to the proper management of health and safety - with fatal results.

Justice will be seen when an organisation accepts liability if the way in which its activities are organised causes a person's death.

Justice will be seen when a corporate body acknowledges their culpability amounts to a gross breach of duty of care owed by that organisation to the deceased.

Justice is in having legislation that will make it easier to prosecute companies when gross negligence is deemed to have contributed to death.

Madam Speaker, we in the Maori Party believe that there were many more issues surrounding the health and wellbeing of Folole Muliaga.  We asked why was she discharged from hospital when clearly her health was in a crisis state?

We have asked why those guidelines that Mercury Energy and Mighty River Power already had in place were not followed in this case – and perhaps many others – who we don't hear about.

When will agencies take seriously the aspect of making information freely available to their clients in respect of simply being able to enjoy a quality of life – rather than having guidelines and policies gathering dust and sitting in manuals never looked at.

I personally have been asked by people – what should we do when we get in situations like this?

We think that New Zealanders have the rights to ask for information about basic services  - services which sustain life and well-being.

We don't think that is too much to ask.

We can not let another tragedy like this occur again.

It is up to us all in this House to ensure information is available, guidelines are tight, and most of all that communities are cared for.

ENDS

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