National's equal pay law to be ditched as Labour stamps its mark on several policies

National's equal pay bill, introduced just months ago, will be scrapped by the new coalition Government as it moves quickly to stamp its own mark on policies.

New Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says the major problem with the law was "that it didn't give female-dominated occupations the opportunity to compare with male dominated occupations".

He says he'll start from scratch on equal pay legislation, but work with business and unions to get it right.

National leader Bill English says the Government is getting rid of something without saying what's going to replace it.

Meanwhile new Justice Minister, Andrew Little, is scrapping the three strikes law that allows third-time violent offenders to receive a maximum prison sentence. 

Mr Little says that law is not acting as a deterrent but is only putting more people in prisons for longer terms.

His move is backed by a sociology lecturer, Professor Ron Kramer, who says the three strikes law doesn't deal with the causes of crime.

"I think it is generally not effective because it's premised upon this idea of incapacitation and simply making it impossible for people to physically engage in crime. But it doesn't actually do anything to address the underlying driver or causes of crime," Professor Kramer said.

However Mr English says the three strikes law does act as a deterrent, so the community will be less safe if it's repealed.

"What's the point of having more police bringing them in the front if they're just going to release them out the back," he said.

The law, introduced in 2010, hasn't stopped the prison population rising rapidly, and Mr Little says prisoners' problems with mental health, addiction and literacy have to be fixed if we want to stop recidivism.

Private prisons are also gone, and Mr Little is considering tearing up the contract for a new 1500-bed, $1 billion prison at Waikeria.

"That's a mark of failure for the previous government and if we can afford doing that, we will," he said.

Mr English said: "The Government will find that you can't tell the courts to stop sentencing people."