Jones Dail: Ministerial Statements — Taser Guns—Introduction 
Jones Dail: Ministerial Statements — Taser Guns—Introduction 
[Volume:649;Page:17975] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 This is a very important and serious issue. The National Party person who spoke who is not the spokesperson on this issue—Mr Borrows is the spokesperson on this issue—did not tell us whether the National Party supports the use of Tasers. He gave us a harangue for 5 or 10 minutes but the National Party clearly has no policy on this issue. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The member asked whether the National Party supports this release. Let me make it very clear that we do support it and it has nothing to do with whom the Taser might be trained on. 
Hon Dr Michael Cullen 
: Given the events of the last few weeks can we have confirmation from Mr Key that that is in fact the position of the National Party? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I can see that it is members’ day. Those were not points of order but I will ask Dail Jones— 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Noting that comment from Dr Cullen perhaps it would be helpful when the Minister takes her reply for her to indicate whether the Labour Party supports this particular initiative because its website at the moment has no policy on it whatsoever. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I just point out to members that in this particular debate each member gets 5 minutes to express his or her view and it is not done through subsequent points of order. I also ask members to have the courtesy to allow those members who are on their feet and speaking to be heard. 
DAIL JONES 
: I hit a nerve there because Mr Brownlee realised he had rambled on for 5 minutes and had not told the House what his party’s policy was. He had to interrupt my speech to make the point. The other aspect of Mr Brownlee’s speech of course was that it showed he does not really like the police force does he? He came to the House and attacked the Commissioner of Police and by definition the entire police force. That is the new National Party policy on the police for us. 
New Zealand First regards this matter as being very serious and very important. It is very serious and very important because New Zealand has a tradition of not arming its police force and here we are taking a slight step in that direction. Therefore it is of vital importance that this issue be considered by the House. I appreciate very much the Commissioner of Police adopting this approach so that we can express our view as political parties. 
New Zealand First is a strong supporter of issuing Tasers to front-line police and it believes this should have happened a long time ago. It is a pity the National Party could not make a statement like that in the 5 minutes it has just had. We support Tasers because they are a tool that enables police on the beat to do their job safely and effectively for the whole of the people of New Zealand. They are an excellent mid-range response to incidents involving violence which is something that is currently lacking in the police tool kit. Currently officers have the option of using either a baton or lethal force when responding to incidents involving violence. There is too great a jump between those response actions. Tasers provide a level of force that fits between the two options and they will both save offenders’ lives and most important as well protect officers. They will also help to protect members of the community especially the many people in domestic violence cases where if prompt action is taken the lives and bodies of all parties can be saved. 
The result of the year-long Taser trial was concluded in September last year and it spoke for itself. The conclusion was reached that officers were judicious in their use of a Taser with Tasers being presented 120 times during the trial and discharged on only 20 of those occasions. It is a pity Gerry Brownlee did not concentrate on important information of that kind having been given so much notice of this debate already. 
It is also worth noting that there is a good argument that Tasers actually save lives in many jurisdictions as Tasers have replaced the use of firearms in many circumstances. That is particularly relevant for example in the United States. 
We welcome the announcement; we note the Commissioner of Police’s first step in this direction. The Commissioner of Police wants to know our view and New Zealand First says to him: “You’ve got it. New Zealand First supports the Taser; go for it!”.