Nash StuartBUDGET DEBATEDebate resumed from 23 May.Hon STUART NASH (Minister of Police): I just want to say what an absolute privilege and pleasure it is to be a Minister in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Government. The changes we are making the innovation we are driving as outlined in finance Minister Grant Robertson's first Budget—the first of many that set the foundation for a future with a radical vision that is actually delivering on the issues that the people of New Zealand have told us are important to them. We're talking about education and we're talking about housing health mental health business innovation jobs and of course law and order.Let me talk about law and order—more specifically policing. I just want to say again it is an absolute privilege to be the Minister of Police and especially so at a time of radical change. But first of all I want to give credit to my good mates and colleagues in New Zealand First because when it comes to policing Mr Ron Mark and I worked incredibly closely together in Opposition to push really hard for funding for the New Zealand Police. Now why did we do this—why did we do this? Because the 2017 police workplace survey showed that 60 percent of the men and women in the New Zealand police service said that they suffered from an undue level of workplace stress and only 40 percent of those respondents said that they were delivering on the promises that they were making to their communities. But quite interestingly well over 80 percent of the men and women in the service said that they were passionate about the New Zealand police service and passionate and committed to the communities that they serve. So we have a fantastic organisation of men and women who are completely committed to our communities who know what needs to be done to fight crime to keep us safe but they just did not have the resources that they know they needed to keep us safe.So what did Ron Mark and I do? What did New Zealand First and Labour do? We came together and said that this has got to change—this has got to change. Let me outline the extent of the problem we were facing. On 30 June 2012 there were 8850 front-line police officers. On 30 June 2017 there were 8778 police officers. Over those five years there were 72 less police officers—Hon Ruth Dyson: Fewer.Hon STUART NASH: —fewer police officers—in 2017 than there were in 2012. In the meantime methamphetamine had become a plague. Organised crime had flourished. Less than 10 percent of burglaries were being solved. Less than 40 percent of crimes against the person were being solved and what we saw was that serious crime had increased police were fighting fires and the trust and confidence in the New Zealand police service by the people of New Zealand had dropped and this was totally unacceptable to Mr Mark New Zealand First and myself in Labour. So it's no wonder that so many police said that they were suffering an undue level of workplace stress.The interesting thing—the interesting thing—is that there was someone in the Government at the time who got this and that was Judith Collins. Judith Collins took a proposal to Cabinet to significantly increase the police numbers. Do you know what happened to her? She got fired—she got fired. Judith Collins—when she presented something to the Minister of Finance she got fired. It's interesting. Judith knew it because Judith is probably the only police Minister in the past Government who understood the pressure they were under. Well Mr Mark and I did—Mr Mark and I did—and that is why this New Zealand First - Labour coalition Government is delivering the largest increase in police numbers in the history of the New Zealand police service: 1800 front-line service officers. That is 1800 officers into our communities to fight organised crime to increase trust and confidence and not just 1800 front-line officers but also 485 back-office staff who play just as important a role to back up those 1800 officers.I will be honest. In the coalition agreement which is our Bible it says we will strive to deliver 1800 police over three years. Now the reason it says strive" and I'll be honest here is because we know we have to train 1000 police a year—1000 police a year. One thing that Mr Mark and I have been absolutely adamant about is we are not going to drop the quality of men and women in the New Zealand police service. The commissioner tells us we can do this. I have been to every single police graduation except one since I have been the Minister of Police and I can assure everyone in this House and those watching that the quality of the men and women who are passing through the police graduation is exceptional—exceptional. So I believe we can do this. The commissioner believes that we can deliver 1000 a year; we've just got to make sure we can.We're trialling something innovative. We understand that for some people coming down to police college for 16 weeks is tricky. We understand that imposes a level of commitment on family that perhaps may be a little difficult for people who would make fantastic officers. So what we have done is we have actually instigated the first training regime in Auckland—the first one since the 1970s.Dr Duncan Webb: Revolutionary.Hon STUART NASH: It is about time I agree Dr Webb. It is about time. This is what we're doing.Hon Member: Creative thinking.Hon STUART NASH: It is. It's creative thinking. So how can we get into the service these fantastic men and women who want to serve? They're passionate about our communities and they also want a job where they can really make a difference. So we're being innovative in the way we do this because we want to get there. The other thing that the coalition agreement talks about is fighting organised crime and drugs. Now I don't think there'll be a person in this House who doesn't believe we do not have a problem with meth because we absolutely do. We have a problem with meth in our big cities and we have a problem with meth in our small rural communities. We have to go hard on this. I talk about cutting the head of the snake of organised crime.Madam Deputy Speaker in the police region that I'm in and I know that you are in as well—I didn't mean to bring you into the debate but in our electorates we have four members of the organised crime squad. This is servicing from Hicks Bay—so for Gisborne Wairoa Napier Hastings and southern Hawke's Bay we have four people. How are the police supposed to go hard against organised crime when there are four members in the eastern district's organised crime squad? Now imagine if there were 24 or 34. Imagine if there were men and women who were going hard who just had the ability to go after organised crime—these nasty buggers who are pushing misery into our community—and we are going to after them and we're going to resource the police in a way that allows them to use 21st century crime-fighting tools.It's not enough any more just to have men and women on the street. We also need to have men and women following the money. We need to have them chasing cyber-crime. We need forensic accountants. This is what 21st century policing is about. Like I said it's about cutting the head off the snake of organised crime and we make no apology—we make no apology—for going after those in organised crime who are peddling this misery into our communities.What we are delivering is a fundamental change in the way we police. Now from the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister down we all buy into the police's operational model of prevention first. It's what we need to do. It is why well over a thousand of these new men and women entering the service are going to be in community roles. We're going to put them out there so they can keep our communities safe—so that they're working proactively so they know what is going on in our communities. It is absolutely what Mr Mark and I heard on the election trail in the last three to six years. Mr Ron Mark was a mayor of a small provincial town and no doubt he heard it every single day. People were saying "Well what's happened to our community policing? Where are they?"Well I can assure this House that what New Zealand is going to see over the next three years is a fundamental change in the way we police and the reason they're going to see that is because 1800—1800—new front-line officers are going to be out there keeping us safe and putting the really bad guys behind bars. I am very very proud and privileged to be the Minister of Police. Thank you very much."