Collins Judith: Appropriation (2009/10 Supplementary Estimates) Bill Imprest Supply (First for 2010/11) Bill — Second Readings 
Collins Judith: Appropriation (2009/10 Supplementary Estimates) Bill Imprest Supply (First for 2010/11) Bill — Second Readings 
[Volume:664;Page:11916] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 It is a great privilege to take a reasonably short call on the particularly good Appropriation (2009/10 Supplementary Estimates) Bill and Imprest Supply (First for 2010/11) Bill. This Budget has done something that I did not think was possible and that was to be even better than last year’s Budget. It is a fantastic Budget. It is starting to put in place very clearly and succinctly a road map for economic growth and it is also dealing with the issues that really matter to people. 
It was interesting listening to the previous speaker Jacinda Ardern. I am sure she was very genuine in what she said and what she thought but never at any stage did I hear any acknowledgment that the money that is paying for all these services comes from the taxpayer. There is no such thing as Government money; it all comes from the taxpayer. When we give to one person it means we have to take from someone else unfortunately. The Labour Party has forgotten that a lot of the people it says it represents are the people who pay the bills. They are the people who have to get up every day and try to go to work and pay their taxes. When they see their money being wasted on every single little nanny State scheme that has nothing to do with their reality they get very upset. 
We all know that we want early childhood education which is why so much money is going into it. We want good education for our children and we want to know that when children get into trouble there is someone there to help them and someone to help their parents find their way through. But we also want to know that the real basics are being dealt with. 
For instance let us look at the law and order issue. Under National we have seen about 380 extra police from when we took Government in November 2008. That is a fantastic turn-round. In Counties-Manukau we promised 300 extra police and we will have that by the end of this year and we will have 600 extra police in New Zealand by the end of next year. That is the sort of milestone that this Parliament should be celebrating. We should also be celebrating the fact that we now have a Government that backs the police. Under the previous Government there was trial after trial about Tasers for instance. It did not want to have Tasers rolled out because it could hurt someone’s human rights! We have given out 720 Tasers to our New Zealand police. We are backing them to use them wisely and they are doing a fantastic job at it. We are seeing people’s lives being saved because we are backing the police to do the right thing. 
We are also putting victims first. We have established a victims’ fund to try to help improve the services for victims. We have given new powers to the police for on-the-spot protection orders so that they can deal with the victims of domestic violence and crime very quickly and in the interest of victims. We put $72.4 million into Fresh Start for young offenders. All of this money is continuing on from what we did last year. 
In addition to the 11 new laws that we have passed in terms of law and order a great deal of extra money has gone into defence into transport and into issues that help the economy as well. 
The other thing we can say now is that we are making it worthwhile for ordinary Kiwis—the people who pay the bills—to work and to stay here in New Zealand and to contribute to the New Zealand economy. These are the people we need to have in New Zealand—the people who go to work every day work their hardest pay their taxes and bring up their children. These people are not constantly in our prisons; they are good law-abiding New Zealanders. We know these are the people who pay the bills. That is something Labour forgot after 9 long years of power. National has not forgotten it and we will not.