Sio WilliamSu'a WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): What I have noticed is that this Government has a pattern of partially funding natural increases through immigration and population growth and calling it more funding. That creates a problem when we come to this particular sector. I want to mention three things. The first is the law centres. The second thing I want to talk about is the police Estimates and then the Department of Corrections. I will try to keep it very brief. The first thing about the law centres is the $10.9 million. I am told in the report I have in front of me that is the same as last year. That causes a problem because it does not take into consideration the natural increases required for the workers in law centres. Lawyers like everybody else have to eat. Lawyers like everybody else in community law centres are working under contracts and they are entitled to wage increases. By having this funding remain the same I suspect a significant proportion then goes to meeting those natural increases and does not actually provide support for the services that our communities sorely need. Law centres are having to meet the unmet needs of many of our communities right across this country of ours. The second thing when it comes to the police is that I understand there is $46 million a year allocated. The other thing that this Government does is when it announces the Budget it announces it in 4-year periods. It makes it sound big but when you break it down it is $46 million a year. The problem with this is that in real terms the police budget has been cut by 11 percent up to 2020. For police investigation it has been cut by 15 percent. For road safety it has been cut by 8 percent. So of the $46 million a year that we get 94 percent of that is actually required for wage increases that the overworked staff require. The result of that is when people need the police they call up 111. If there is a burglar in the house and somebody calls up 111 the first thing that the person on the other side of the phone asks is Is the burglar still in the house?" because they will not come. I have received word from other cases when the burglar is in the house running away and the police say "We'll send somebody." but they cannot. What is happening is that we have had these consistent cuts since 2010 for this particular Budget and 90 percent of all burglaries remain unresolved 70 percent of sexual assaults remain unsolved burglaries have increased by 11 percent and assaults have increased by 6 percent. We are not going to be able to stop crime and keep our community safe if this pattern of continued underfunding continues. You might be able to underfund maintenance for buildings but when it comes to services that our communities need—whether it be education health our police force—we need to fund them appropriately in order to stop crime save lives and ensure justice for victims. The other night in a meeting with members of the Māngere Bridge community this was a major concern because they have now lost the kiosk—the office—where volunteers used to provide a service for our community. The Minister of Police may not feel that that is important but we needed that police office there—they may call it a kiosk—and over a hundred have been closed right up the length and breadth of this country. We needed that to give some sense of confidence. The fact that we have got reduced funding also means that we know many of our communities no longer have the close relationship that we once had with our community constables who knew what was happening in our community who cared for what happened to the young people around the shopping centres etc. The final point Mr Chairperson—and I hope you will give me your finger when I am close to—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I will give the member a bell in 22 seconds.Su'a WILLIAM SIO: In 22 seconds. Corrections—here is the issue I have with the Department of Corrections. It has placed a serious violent child sex offender—a guy who was top of the pyramid—in our community and it is not safe."