Financial Review Debate — New Zealand Police

What a marvellous thing it is to be the Minister of Police in a National Government! My goodness, it is fun! The fact is that we are a Government that supports the police, and we can see it in the way in which the police now have the confidence to do what they need to do. Not only are the police dealing with very serious crimes and criminals, such as gangs and, in particular, methamphetamine dealers—who took over an awful lot of people during the 9 long years of the Labour Government—but they are also able to take the assets off these criminals. The police have so far recovered $37 million worth of assets and cash, including diggers—that is my personal favourite—houses, farms, and lifestyle blocks. It is pretty much a case of you name it and they have got it.

But the police have not been able to do this just because of their own excellent work; there are certain things the Government has done. We have been able, with our colleagues in the ACT Party in particular and, with support from the Māori Party and United Future on certain issues, to bring to this House 18 new laws that have made a huge difference to the way in which New Zealand is policed.

We have also been able to bring in, and approve the use of, Tasers. This has had a dramatic effect on the safety of our police officers and on the safety of offenders, as well as of innocent members of the public. I am sure that most members can remember the terrible tales of woe and doom that would come upon New Zealand should the police be able to use Tasers to subdue offenders who were about to do something extremely dangerous. We were told that Tasers were a tool of torture. Well, they are not in the way the New Zealand police use them. We have seen that offenders who have been about to kill themselves or others, attacking people, have been able to be subdued without loss of life. This has saved the lives of offenders, and in my opinion the most important thing is that it has saved the lives of police officers, it has saved them from harm, and it has saved innocent members of the public from harm.

I hope the police realise, and I am sure they do, that this Government absolutely backs the New Zealand Police to get on with the job. We have around 12,000 members of the New Zealand Police. Almost 9,000 are sworn officers or, as we call them, constabulary staff, and about 3,000 are employees. All of those people are absolutely devoted to trying to make New Zealand a safer place, and to keep it that way. I would like to thank each and every one of them for the effort they put into their work. We have seen so much of this in the last 6 months—at Pike River, after the first Canterbury earthquake, and following the aftershock in Christchurch on 22 February. We have seen police officers from those districts, but also from other districts who were brought in from outside to help, go to the utmost of their abilities to show humanity, compassion, and professionalism, and make us all extremely proud.

When I went around Christchurch on 24 February this year, when we saw the Pyne Gould building, the CTV building, and the terrible state of almost demolition brought about by the earthquake, our officers were there, working with the Fire Service, working with urban search and rescue, and working with the other emergency services. But what I also saw were people who really understood that they were making a difference not only for the people of that area, but for everybody in New Zealand. We saw our New Zealand police at their finest. We saw them making decisions that, in many cases, put their own lives at risk to be able to save others. I would like to thank them for that.

By the end of this year we will have 600 more front-line police on the beat than when National came into office. I can say that that is making a difference. When I said we were putting 300 extra police into Counties-Manukau, the Labour Party spokesman said it was an ill-conceived, un-thought-out plan, or words to that effect. What we have seen in Counties-Manukau, with the extra police and the different style of policing that is going on there, is crime dropping, which is something that nobody would ever have thought possible. Next week the crime statistics will be released, and I am very pleased to be able to say to the people of New Zealand and to this House that our police are doing everything they can to keep crime down. I am sure everyone will share the great amount of pride that I have in the work they are doing.

Members, that is the sound of the new bell, just so you are aware of what it is.

Report noted.

Ministry of Education