Mark Ron: Estimates Debate — In Committee Procedure 
Mark Ron: Estimates Debate — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:618;Page:14424] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 It is always good to see a Minister rise and defend himself as opposed to relying on another member of Parliament to do so. I want to touch on a couple of points. There is an old saying—and most grandmothers tend to remind us younger people of it—that there are lies damned lies and statistics. Do members remember that saying? This afternoon’s debate about statistics as to whether the crime rate is up or down can be very simply put into perspective by picking up a Government document and turning to page 18 of the statement of intent for 2004-05. This is not a source; this is a Government document. It is easy to read. The graph there is the one that the Government’s agency has printed for the Government. It has not been sourced from Mr Connell or from myself. The Government the Minister’s own department has produced the graph and what does it show? It shows that the trend in violent crime every year from 1995 to 1999 was steadily and consistently tracking down. It is not my document; it is the Minister’s own document. What happened from 1999 until now? The Government’s own statistics show that the graph has steadily and consistently after a massive leap between 1999 and 2000 continued to rise. If we pick up the national crime statistics trends as published what do we see? We see that in 1999 there were 39688 cases of violent crime and in 2003 there were 45614. Excuse me! If the Government’s own documents give us those figures what credibility is there in the Minister’s claims and in the claims of Labour members of Parliament that they have violent crime under control—that it is going down? There is no control on it as the public would see it. 
What is the crime that most concerns upsets annoys and worries elderly New Zealanders and mums and dads? It is violent crime. I am sorry but long and loud speeches do not change the facts in the Minister’s own documents which are that violent crime is going up. We do not like that and I know that the Minister does not like it. But we need to look clearly at why those things are happening. Some of us would point to the methamphetamine rings. It is fair for the Minister to criticise past Governments and to talk about police staffing cuts. Yes there was a party that sought to replace cops with a computer and that was wrong. New Zealand First tried to curb that by getting in 500 extra police which countered directly against the then Government’s intent. 
Hon George Hawkins 
: Voted for it. 
RON MARK 
: The Minister can say that but the facts are the facts in the coalition agreement and in the subsequent estimates and the subsequent financial reports. They are there for everybody to read; no amount of yelling will change that. 
I challenge the Minister by asking whether if at the end of this year violent crime has again gone up he will resign from Parliament. It is a simple question. Helen Clark came to this Chamber and in her opening speech when Government members took the benches for the first time said that New Zealand would see a new era of accountability. That is what she said. The country said: “Halleluiah on the back of the last 9 years we are looking for that. On the back of Fay Richwhite we are looking for that. On the back of the wine box the bloodstock industry and the film industry we are looking for that.” I say to the Minister that now we want to see it. It is time to put the money where the mouth is. It is not about what is said before an election and what is said after an election—the “Maharey principle”. It is about accountability. 
We accept that everybody cannot get everything right every time. Mr Cosgrove has made some criticisms of me but I ask whether I was right when I said that home detention was a mess. Yes I was right. How do I know that? The Minister himself admitted it to me. Was I right when I said that there were people on home detention who were baking P and that someone had died from a P overdose? The Minister’s first reaction was to say it was wrong—it was a made-up story. But I was right. The Department of Corrections confirmed that. Was I right when I said there were rapists thugs and wife-beaters serving home detention? Minister Barker stood up and said there were no violent offenders on home detention. Was I right? I was right. Was I right when I said that the light armoured vehicle project would blow out to $700 million? Yes I was right. The Minister cannot be right all the time but there is one distinct characteristic that comes before a fall and I will bring members back to nana again. Apart from saying there were lies damned lies and statistics she also said that pride comes before a fall. Arrogance tends to be a commensurate requirement in order for pride to be allowed to get out of control and I am seeing plenty of that now. 
Vote agreed to.