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February 13, 2024
Cultural report axing racism in action
Gideon Porter
Posted On February 13, 2024
Download AudioLobby group People Against Prisons Aotearoa says the coalition Government’s decision to scrap Section 27 cultural reports is about racism rather than saving taxpayers’ money.
The Government has pointed to the $7 million a year now being sent on the reports, but PAPA spokesperson Emilie Rakete says that compares with the billion-dollar annual cost of keeping prisoners housed and fed.
That cost will increase if judges send more people to prison for longer terms because they have only limited information when sentencing.
“So this has got nothing to do with cutting down on unreasonable costs. It has everything to do with cheaper, lazy, racist and right-wing governments – like this – have to rely on to distract from their disastrous failure at events like Waitangi for instance,” they say.
Emilie Rakete says while it’s not just Maori who will be impacted, they will bear the brunt of the policy change.
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