SpeechHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): Happy New Year Madam Speaker and greetings to all members across the House. I hope we've all had a chance to have a bit of time with family and friends and to rest after what has been a couple of very difficult years. And I want to thank you for presiding in what is definitely going to be a most robust discussion on the Prime Minister's debate. There's no doubt that this year will continue to be a year where we explore lots of different ideas on how we help our country get through what is a very difficult time and a big group of people who are helping us do that are the New Zealand Police. My thanks my grateful thanks go out to them because so many of them have given up a lot of their time a lot of their family time to make sure that we are safe that we are well and that we are protected and I want to thank them so much for the work that they do. Last week I was at a graduation at the Royal New Zealand Police College—another 80 fine police graduates; I really enjoy going to graduations because increasingly we are seeing New Zealand reflected in our graduates: more women; more Māori Pacific and other ethnicities; more representatives of our LGBTQI communities—people who put themselves out there to keep our community safe and I want to thank them so much for that. These 80 new officers that I saw last week join the ranks of the largest police force ever in New Zealand—an increase of 15 percent since we came to Government. They're also better equipped with the necessary tools and training that's being rolled out in part due to our $45 million investment into front-line safety. But police are facing an increasingly complex environment whether it's policing during a pandemic or increasingly sophisticated organised crime and of particular concern is the use of firearms to inflict harm on our communities. That's why this Government is committed to tackling firearms violence in our communities by undertaking the most significant reform of our firearms laws in recent times. Tomorrow as has already been signalled the Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Bill has its first reading. This bill will introduce another tool to reduce gun crime and keep firearms out of the hands of those who would do us harm. Those subject to a firearms prohibition order will not be able to use access or be around firearms for 10 years. This is another part of our comprehensive plan to tackle gun crime. When I visit police on their bases and at their stations—and you know we've been a little bit disrupted; I haven't been able to get out as much as I would have liked—I ask them about what's the most important thing for them what we can do as a Government to keep them safe. They tell me More cops—more cops on the beat." That's why I'm really proud to support the work that we've been doing to increase our police. We're still on target to deliver the 1800 extra police into our service. But for me as Minister of Police I know that I will be privy to two of the most important things that I can do. Firstly what I can do to support our police to be safe—and I've already talked about our investment into front-line safety which looks at lifting the training for our front-line police lifting the training for police on base which means that we have ready access to the best trained police when the most significant issues happen out there in our community; better analysis; and better deployment. But the other thing that I can do is to make sure that our gun laws are fit for purpose and that our register is up to date so that we know that when we are deploying our police they are going into situations that they can assess the safety of that they can make good decisions about that. But the other reason that's really important is having a good handle on how to keep our community safe. If we know where firearms are we know how to keep our community safe. So I'm really looking forward to this year to putting some more of that flesh on the bones of that particular piece of work. I'm proud of this Government. Just one more message: please please please make sure you get your boosters because that will keep us all safe. Thank you Madam Speaker.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): I call Arena Williams—five minutes."