National leader Judith Collins this morning dismissed a comment about no one escaping custody when she was Corrections Minister as a "joke".
Ms Collins spoke in Palmerston North yesterday, where she made the claim whilst trying to call out the Government over the number of people to have absconded from Covid-19 managed isolation facilities.
"There was the odd one who might have popped out, but they all got caught," she said today, trying to rectify the situation when speaking to media this morning.
However, pressed by media, Ms Collins said it was a joke - apparently identified by an eyebrow movement.
"You want to understand the joke when you hear it," she said. "When my eyebrow goes up it's a joke."
According to data from Department of Corrections , in the 2008/2009 year, 11 people escaped custody.
They were made up of two breakouts, two which escaped from an escort, one which breached a condition of their temporary release, and six cases of absconding.
There were also nine escapes in the 2009/2010 year, made up of three breakouts, one from an escort, three temporary breaches of release, and two absconders.
Then in the 2010/2011 year, there were four escapes. Two were breakouts and two were from escorts.
However, Ms Collins shifted focus today.
"The numbers I'm hearing about are the 436,000 New Zealanders who are looking at losing their jobs and those are the numbers that people want us to focus on, not silly stuff from you," she told media.
"I think you want to get your Monty Python right."
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