Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Police got $107.7 million less than they did in the previous Budget. When we go line by line and see what they did get they got a couple of Ladas and a boat. What they didn't get was less money in crime prevention; less money in youth services; job cuts to all those who support police—200 job cuts; critical IT projects to enable the front line have been put on ice; and all of that on top of that police are so stretched in their resources they are stepping away from attending family violence call-outs. This is because this Government has made the wrong choices for New Zealanders. While New Zealanders may have voted for change they did not vote for this change. What this Government has done for police is they've made the shop front look good but it's a shambles behind the scenes.Crime prevention—for all of the talk for crime prevention this Budget delivered less money for police to prevent crime. Included in that is youth services—for all of the talk about preventing youth offending our front-line youth aid officers are funded less in this Budget than they were in previous Budgets. For all of those support staff that enable police to get back out on the front line faster 200 job cuts for non-sworn staff who support the front line to get out there and do their job. So more police are going to be doing paperwork under this Budget. Critical IT projects like ReFrame—which ironically were cut as back-office waste—would have enabled our front line to be more effective and to use technology to respond quicker and smarter in the future of New Zealand policing. When the Minister of Police was asked about ReFrame at the scrutiny week his response was that it's airy-fairy". Well I doubt that he even actually comprehends the benefits that a project like ReFrame could actually deliver for front-line effectiveness and good services for Kiwis.But most scary to me is the fact that police have now advised the Minister of Police that they are so stretched on resources that they will no longer be attending family violence call-outs even though partner agencies are not prepared to take up that slack and that there is a risk associated with this change in direction that may result in loss of life if risk isn't adequately calculated. Now that is because police have not been resourced to be able to do all of the things that this Government has expected of them. More foot-patrols are great and it encourages safety in our CBDs—that's excellent—but is that the price we should be paying for someone who requires a family violence call-out to no longer receive that service?The additional police officers put into the Auckland CBD came from Counties Manukau and they came from North Shore—they were taken off other duties to go on foot-patrols. In the Wellington CBD the additional 17 beat-patrol officers half of those were destined for the Hutt Valley—my area. They were taken out of where they should have been going in order to make the shop front look good and make it look like they're tough on crime. My concern is that with 124 fewer police since this Government came into power all that is happening is taking police from one area to another to make the shop front look good but the reality is that behind the scenes it's an utter shambles. In the long term who are going to pay for this are the victims of crime in New Zealand—and having communities that are less safe. We know that because the latest poll from TV ONE shows that there are a whole lot of New Zealanders feeling less safe than they used do under this Government.Let's finish up with police pay because that was in the Budget. Not enough to keep police here in New Zealand: 322 police officers have left to go to Australia. Do you expect that would happen when the Prime Minister himself doesn't even know what a front-line new police officer earns? I'll give you a hint: it's not $90000 a year. We have 124 fewer police officers doing this work. So when you set up a gang unit and it's meant to be operating by 1 July and it's not and it's only got five staff in it—not even necessarily police officers—that's because the 500 promised to New Zealanders will not be delivered in two years. There is no way that that is going to happen. I'd just like to just wrap up by saying that this is a Government that has let Kiwis down—they've talked a big game on crime but they've cut funding for police and made our communities less safe."