Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa): Thank you Mr Speaker. I first met Kiri in 2017 when we were both asked to participate in a press gallery debate to raise funds for a charity—I can't remember what it was now. We both participated in that and then later on sitting out the back of The Backbencher we had a drink together and we talked about an area that we both love and that is the East Coast of the North Island—Gisborne from Ruatōria down to Wairoa where obviously Kiri's family is from and my family is from also. I spent a good chunk of my adult life living over there. I transferred there in the police as soon as I had the opportunity and spent most of my time over there as a police dog handler operating out of Gisborne. I just have to say that it certainly gives me a sense of comfort to know that Kiri is now back in Gisborne a very very strong community there with her family and they will be wrapping the support that she needs around her now.I want to talk to two parts of this. The first part is the human side. I do want to address some of the comments that my friend and colleague from the Green Party Golriz Ghahraman made because in this country we are still fighting to overcome stigma. We are still fighting to allow mental health and depression to be spoken about openly as if it's any other ailment whether it be a broken arm or a broken leg or a bronchial infection. It's just quite simply a chemical imbalance in the brain. No one wakes up in the morning asking to have mental health issues. No one wakes up in the morning wanting to be depressed. And we've still got quite a long way to go. I'll just say to the Green member that she spoke about a psychological report as if it was a bad thing. It's not a bad thing. A psychological report is quite simply a report on someone from an expert in that field—that is passionate and trains and has the ability to care for and provide a diagnosis and a support plan going forward just like it would be the same if it was a broken arm and you had an orthopaedic specialist or an orthopaedic surgeon—Ingrid Leary: Are you saying to mandate it?Hon MARK MITCHELL: What I'm saying quite simply is this: if we want to get rid of stigmas let's not continue to talk about them as if there is a stigma as if there is an issue attached to those types of things. There's not. There quite simply isn't.The human side of this—and I've been very clear about this. I consider myself and I like to think of myself as a friend of Kiri. I know that when she was facing the terrible challenge around cancer which she took on bravely—and by the way still remained very committed to her role as a Minister as much as she could and I think she deserves our admiration for that—I certainly on a personal level tried to support her as well as I could through that cancer battle. We stayed in regular contact and when she put her hand up again bravely a few weeks ago and said I have got some mental health issues. There are some personal things happening in my life."—and the tough thing about this job here is that it's a huge privilege but the reality of it is that you live in a fishbowl; you look out and everyone else looks in. We just have to accept that. That is the nature of this role. We serve the people that send us here. They expect us to be able to do that role and they'll hold us to account. That's how the system operates and that's how it should be. But it is very hard when you're dealing with deeply personal issues and those have been played out in public.When she put her hand up and she said "I'm going to have to step back and take some time off because there are some personal issues and it has impacted and affected my mental health" I did send her a message. I sent her a message of support and I said "Good on you for being brave enough to put your hand up because maybe that will just help others to put their hand up and say that they need help as well." But my issue with what has happened with Kiri and I've been very clear about it and some people don't like it is that she should have been—and I don't know whether she did have because we don't know the details about her return to work. I want to acknowledge the Hon Willie Jackson who is in the House. It appears that he has definitely been trying to provide her with support behind the scenes. But my point is quite simply this: she is in a much worse situation now personally where she's got some big mountains to try and climb. That in my view didn't need to happen. If someone is supported properly and if there is a proper process to allow them to come back and re-engage in the workplace whether it be light duties or whatever the plan may be as long as they're properly supported you've got a very high chance of success of actually getting them back into the workplace. I'll just say this: often when people are depressed or they're suffering from mental health they are not in the best position to judge whether or not they are ready to go back to work. They need people around them that are able to step back and have some perspective whether that includes professional advice or advice from a counsellor—whoever is providing that support and that treatment—to be able to actually step in and make those decisions. I think what we've seen played out in the last 24 hours in my view was avoidable.Now I want to come to the important part too and that is the fact that—we all wish Kiri a speedy recovery and we all want to see that happening but the reality of this is that our country at the moment is experiencing a massive crime wave. We've got a cost of living crisis. We've got interest rates going up. We've got Kiwis now trying to borrow money just to get themselves through week to week. They're having to prioritise and it is tough. And one thing they expect us to be able to do is come to this place and take that seriously and think about them and make the decisions and do the things that we have to do to make this a better country and an easier country to live in and raise your family. I think that when you've got the justice Minister—[Speaker gestures to member] Yes thank you Mr Speaker. When you've got the justice Minister—and this is the justice Minister; this is one of the highest law officers that we have in our country—in a position where they're failing allegedly—and I must say "allegedly" because we do understand that this is an ongoing police investigation and case—not complying with our front-line police that is about as bad as it gets.I just want to say one thing: in the last six years our front-line police have had to deal with a lot. But one of the things that has been very tough for me to watch is that there's been a loss of respect in the way that gang members youth and juvenile offenders treat our police officers. They are not paid enough to be spat at. They're not paid enough to be assaulted—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Mitchell I've asked you to keep this narrow. Keep it narrow or you will be sitting down.Hon MARK MITCHELL: And therefore Mr Speaker we should be sending a signal from this Parliament from this House of Representatives that we should be complying and respecting our front-line police officers. We had the person that held the highest position in our Parliament in terms of the Minister of Justice that completely failed on that level. And we have to take steps as a Parliament all of us and especially as a Government to restate the fact that our police officers deserve to be shown that respect.Just very quickly: when I was in Gisborne recently I was very lucky that at the police station there they had a ceremony for me where they presented me with my old armed offenders squad cap which was 20-plus years old. I hadn't worn that for over 20 years and somehow they still had it in the station. During that meeting they recognised the fact that they respected Kiritapu Allan. They respected her as their local MP. What's really important now is that this House and this Government gets up and very clearly says we respect the role of our police officers. Thank you very much Mr Speaker."