Mark Ron: Urgent Debates — Solomon Islands—Deployment of Police and Military Forces  
Mark Ron: Urgent Debates — Solomon Islands—Deployment of Police and Military Forces  
[Volume:609;Page:6698] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I have one thing only to say to the Government which is that if there is any substance to such a press release it should deal with such a matter the same way we would: “Can we fix it? Yes we can.”—and we are doing it every day. 
I come now to the debate on the Solomons. I do not think there is anyone in any party in the House who will deny that there is a need for New Zealand to be involved in the Solomons given that the Solomons is a part of our Pacific backyard and given the problems that face the people of the Solomons. I do not know whether any members of this House have friends who have tried to live and work or do business in the Solomons but it is no secret that the rule of law was lost there many years ago. The only thing I ask is that if the Government is so concerned about human rights why has it taken it so long to do something positive in the Solomons? 
But there is a greater question that the Government cannot be allowed to duck and dive away from and that is this. We agree with the purpose of that deployment; we now know that the Government is committing 30 to 40 police to the Solomons and some 100 to 200 Defence Force personnel in the role of protecting those police. We also know from history and from knowing our Defence Force personnel and our police very well that first there will be no shortage of volunteers to go and second that when they get there they will do a superb job. But there is a price and cost to New Zealand for that deployment and one cannot ignore it. Looking at that price and cost one has to ask oneself where this Government’s priorities are. The cost to the House is the rule of law here in New Zealand. We already know from the documents presented to us that the Minister of Police has told this Government that he does not have enough police to do the work he is trying to do. We know that he specifically asked for more police to deal with counter-terrorist issues and that this Government’s response to his request for 169 police officers was to cut the Minister back to 55 over 4 years and tell him to get on with the job. Hello! 
On top of that we found out over the weekend that the Government now wants the commissioner to take some of his best most experienced police—who should be back here guiding steering and mentoring the young rookies on the beat—and send them off to the Solomon Islands. We have heard the public complain ad nauseam about their frustration at their inability to get police to attend crime scenes—it is in every paper every day. This Government blithely ignores that and once again commits the stretched overworked stressed-out policemen and women on our beats to another task. 
It is the same with the Defence Force. Despite assurances that there were no such papers—and we will deal with that in another arena—we have papers here that say that the Army Navy and Air Force have black holes in their organisations. But do we listen to that? No. In search of political kudos and a good issue that will take the Government off the front pages in areas where it is doing appallingly we get ourselves involved in another deployment. We are sending off another 100 to 200 Defence Force personnel ignoring the fact that the Chief of Defence Force has told his Minister that he is understaffed and overstretched that people are being employed in roles above their level of ability and responsibility and that they are suffering stress and burnout. Is that not ironic coming from this Government? This Government is going to legislate to deal with bad employers who stress out and overwork their staff. It has been proud of its occupational safety and health legislation talking about overuse and burnout yet it continually ignores the advice of its own officials and heads of department who say that the very same thing is happening in the police force and the Defence Force. 
If we want to commit ourselves to our own backyard in the Pacific and deal with the law and order and security issues that face us then given the current shortages of Defence Force and police personnel surely the Government should be reassessing its priorities and commitments elsewhere. It should be asking itself whether we serve a purpose that is any longer worth serving in the Sinai. Can we afford to send 60 engineers to Iraq? Can we afford to be involved in peacekeeping activities beyond the Pacific when we cannot even meet our needs back home? It is not the rule of law in the Solomons that people in west Auckland Manukau and the Rotorua shopping centre are worried about; it is the rule of law and order here in New Zealand. 
That rule of law has fallen down around our ears because this Government will not accept two simple facts. Fact one: it has a huge surplus which it boasts is the biggest in the history of this nation. Fact two: we are understaffed in police and defence. New Zealand First has made it very clear that it believes it is necessary to double the size of the police force to meet current workloads and the internal security needs of New Zealand but this Government will not even give the Commissioner of Police another 169 officers. This Government will be responsible for doing to its own employees the very thing its socialist Ministers say that private enterprise is doing to its employees. There is a word for that; we are not allowed to use it in the House but it is relevant all the same. 
The sad tragedy of it is that our defence and police forces will go out there bind things together and do the very best they can. They will perform admirably while their families back home get broken up. Here in New Zealand the families of staff who are required to pick up the extra workload because this Government will not give the Defence Force and the police force the extra personnel they need will get broken up and this Government just does not want to know. How many more official papers do we have to read from the Defence Force and the police asking for more staff and an increase in baselines before this Government actually does something? 
New Zealand First reminds the Government that in the  
Inquiry into Defence Beyond 2000 
 it signed up to four full-strength rifle companies per battalion. Has it moved to meet that? No. Currently our army would be lucky to scrape up one and a half to two rifle companies on a very good day and the Minister knows that. It is all very well to trumpet  
Inquiry into Defence Beyond 2000  
when it suits him but on staffing levels he blithely ignores it. 
I give the Government marks for doing something in the Solomons but it should have done something months ago. It should admit that there is a need to restore law and order on its own streets— 
Hon Phil Goff 
: The member has never yet asked a question on it in the House. 
RON MARK 
: There goes the Minister of Justice—the man who gives us home detention detainees like that cretin I talked about. Do members remember that that Minister used to call all crims “scumbags”? Well there is a new term which is “scunter” and the people he is letting out on home detention are an absolute abomination on the State. He should think about his faulty and flawed sentencing and parole legislation. 
The Minister does not care about the work the Defence Force does. He does not care about the stress and overwork that exists now inside the police force; he just wants to look good on the international stage saying: “New Zealand will be in there—we will give more police and we don’t care what Robbie Robinson says.” 
Hon Phil Goff 
: Is the member against that? 
RON MARK 
: Come on Minister! Does the Chair want to give me an extension of time? She should tell him to sit down and shut up. 
The Minister should look after his police force and Defence Force. He should not go out in the international community seeking photo opportunities and feel-good moments for himself at the expense of the good men and women who are here to provide security back at home. He should give them the staffing they need. Right now this Government is stretching the personnel rubber band so thinly that when it breaks there will be repercussions inside the Defence Force. The Minister has the papers here that say that the Defence Force is suffering stress and burnout—[ 
Interruption 
] I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. From the running barrages I know it is hurting the Minister but running barrages are not permitted. 
This Minister—along with the Minister of Defence the Minister of Police but primarily the Prime Minister—is big on representing the rights of workers but where are those rights for the police force? Government Ministers do not give a rat’s about the police force. The Commissioner of Police simply asked for 169 extra officers over 3 years—that is all he asked for. I think he totally undershot it but as he has publicly said there is no sense in asking for what one really needs because one knows one is not going to get it; one has to ask for something that is realistic. He should have added “in the eyes of the Government” because that is what he meant. Fine commit but tell me now—how long can we sustain that commitment given the current problems inside our forces?