Nash StuartHon STUART NASH (Minister of Police): Thank you very much Madam Assistant Speaker. I'm going to try and outline what we're delivering in all my portfolios in the time I've got but first of all I just want to say that it is fantastic being in a Government led by a Prime Minister who is leading in a genuine way both at home and internationally. The Prime Minister and her partner and little baby came down to Napier over the weekend to the art deco festival and her natural style and unique way of connecting with ordinary Kiwis made her a real hit with everyone. The thing about Jacinda—the thing about our Prime Minister—is that she has time and a kind line for everyone. The reason people love her—they respect her but it's moved from respect I reckon to love—is because people know that she has their best interests at heart. She's leading a Government that's doing things differently that is not afraid to make the hard choices which is absolutely fantastic. Let me start with my police portfolio. This is a portfolio where I work incredibly closely with my New Zealand First colleagues. In fact I say when I go around all the meetings that the last election was one of the first elections where you didn't have the major political parties talking about who could be the hardest on crime; you actually had them talking about who could deliver more police into our communities. You had the National Party say they wanted to deliver 880 police over four years. Labour came out and said 1000 police over three years and thanks to New Zealand First and the coalition Government we're striving to deliver 1800 police over three years into our communities. That is going to make a significant difference and someone like Matt King who is a former police officer himself will know the difference that getting these resources into our communities will make. Between 2012 and 2017 police numbers in our communities dropped by 70—they decreased by 70. This is at a time when methamphetamine was out of control the gangs were becoming incredibly organised burglary numbers were going up and resolution numbers were dropping and the Government was saying to police You've got to do more with less."—you've got to do more with less. And it just didn't work. Ron Mark and I had a look at the police survey in 2017 and what it said is that 60 percent of officers—60 percent—said that they weren't meeting the promises they were making to our communities. Sixty percent also said they had an undue level of workplace stress. But the interesting thing is that over 80 percent said they were committed to the communities they served in the New Zealand Police service. So what you had was a group of men and woman who were completely committed and knew what needed to be done to meet the promises they were making; they just didn't have the resources to do it. So Ron and I New Zealand First and Labour said "We've got to do something about this." ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Remember just—Hon STUART NASH: Ron Mark and I—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Thank you.Hon STUART NASH: —and New Zealand First and the Labour Party said "We've got to do something about it." and we have delivered in a way that is phenomenal so far—there's a lot more to come. Since we have been in Government there have been 1190 new men and women that have entered the New Zealand Police service. I have been to every single graduation except one and I can tell you that the quality and the calibre of the recruits is absolutely fantastic. People tend to think that new police are you know these young kids who are coming out of school. The average age of the recruits is high-20s early-30s—there's always one over 40; one or two over 40. These are men and women who are experienced they bring life experiences into the service and it is awesome. It really is. The thing that we're doing though is we're going after organised crime and gangs. We have had enough of gangs who are peddling misery and death into our communities in the form of methamphetamine in the form of synthetic cannabis and we have an organised crime programme and a gang programme that is going to see us deliver 720 men and women to fight organised crime and gangs in a way that has never been done before. So my message to those who are peddling this misery into our communities: we're coming after you. We're coming after you in a way that's never been done. With the 1080 other officers they're going into community roles to support our communities and our neighbourhoods because it's about prevention first. If you haven't got the officers on the ground then you're continually fighting fires whereas for us it's about preventing crime—it's about understanding the dynamics of our communities and our neighbourhoods and making sure that we can prevent harm. There are things like our iwi and community panels. This is where officers have the discretion—and again Matt King would know about this—to not necessarily just put people in front of a judge but to say "Hey you know what? There are some people out there who are good people but they just have made bad choices or they found themselves in a really bad situation and putting them in jail doesn't only take away their freedom; it takes away their future." So we've said to police that there must be a better way and police have come up with the iwi and community panels and we're delivering. It is a wonderful initiative to ensure that people face a jury of their peers so to speak but they don't end up with a criminal record; they get a second chance to actually reintegrate and make the right choices. It's awesome. The Serious Fraud Office which is one of my portfolios—there is an anti-corruption work programme which is under way at the moment. It's about again being proactive and taking an educational response so the State sector knows how to spot corruption and how to prevent it before it becomes a real problem. There are estimates that there could be billions of dollars in corruption—there could be—but we're looking at ways to deal with this. Let's look at tax. In the coalition agreement we said that we're going to go after those who aren't paying their fair share. So we passed the BEPS bill—that's the Taxation (Neutralising Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Bill. That is about going after multinationals that have what we call in tax a permanent establishment in this country—that's bricks and mortar in this country. So we've closed down the ability to avoid paying your fair share of tax or closed down the ability to use really aggressive tax planning to ensure they don't pay their fair share. What we announced yesterday is in fact the digital services tax. So we've gone after those with bricks and mortar; now we're going to go after those that haven't got a permanent establishment. We're covering the whole spectrum of multinationals because we want them to pay their fair share. New Zealand companies are paying their fair share; New Zealand taxpayers are paying their fair share—so why shouldn't multinationals? It is about bringing fairness back into the tax system. We set up the tax working group and they're going to report back on Thursday. We said to them "We want you to look at the balance the fairness and the integrity of the tax system." I go back to this fairness argument: it is just not fair if every single Kiwi is working really hard and paying their taxes but there are those who aren't. So this is what we want to do: we want to make sure the tax system is fair and has integrity and balance. Of course we're bringing in the R & D tax credit. So what we're saying to small to medium enterprises—in fact to all New Zealand companies—is that we're not going to pick winners but what we are going to do is we're going to let you take control of your own destiny. We're going to give you the ability to go hard on R & D. You're going to get a tax credit because we want R & D to thrive. We want to become an economy that is known for research and development and innovation. I've set up the Small Business Council on small business. Hon Member: Yeah you scrapped the other one.Hon STUART NASH: Now they're going after the big issues—we're not scratching around at all. This is about going after the big issues. There was a Small Business Development Group that was actually put into abeyance by the last Minister but it really didn't have a mandate to do much. So we said "Nah we need a council that is going to look at the macro picture and say 'Hey what do we need around access to finance around skills and training about the future of work about regulation?' " So they're doing some fantastic work and I can't wait to get their final report in July.Let me talk about fisheries because the Opposition spokesperson talked about fisheries. This is again an area where I'm working very closely with my New Zealand First colleagues and also the Greens. I mean Eugenie Sage and I work closely together and Shane Jones and I work very closely together. He is a man of immense experience in this area. But I'll tell you one thing that really annoys me that really gets my goat is when I get outside commentators saying that Fisheries New Zealand is captured by the commercial sector or that they're corrupt. They're not corrupt in any way shape or form. In fact Fisheries New Zealand has some amazing people who are doing a very good job protecting our fisheries and ensuring sustainability. They really are.We released a discussion document a couple of weeks ago that talked about the policies around the quota management system. This has the potential for massive change—for massive change—Hon Dr Nick Smith: Where's the independent inquiry you promised?ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Poto Williams): Order! I didn't make any promises about an independent inquiry Dr Smith.Hon STUART NASH: —where we're talking about what has to be landed what has to be discounted and what has to be brought back to shore. I urge anyone that has an interest in fisheries to put their submission in. This is stage two of a three-stage change programme. It's about doing what's right in the fisheries sector but also engaging with those key stakeholders in the sector.I just want to sum up by saying this is a Government that is delivering. It is a Government that's not afraid to make the hard choices or tackle the really difficult issues. It's a Government that does what's right for Kiwis and that is out there actually doing the right things—doing the right things. We inherited an economy that just needed to change. In every single one of my portfolios there are opportunities to make a real difference and we really are. Under Jacinda Ardern's prime ministership and under this Labour - New Zealand First - Green Government it is brilliant. It's a privilege and a pleasure."