Goff Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Goff Phil: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:640;Page:10420] 
Hon PHIL GOFF (Minister of Defence) 
: 
 Chester Borrows came into this Chamber and said he wanted to talk about the current state of policing. Well I will tell him something about the current state of policing in New Zealand: it has never been better. It is much better than when that member was a policeman in the dying days of the National Government when the police numbers were not increased; contrary to the promise of 500 additional cops National cut them. That is what it did; it cut them. 
The then Treasurer a guy by the name of Bill English—we have heard his name mentioned before—put in place a police review that was to cut 285 non-sworn members and 95 senior sworn positions. This is the man who is still the spokesperson on finance in the National Party. Members should judge him on what he did. Not only did he cut superannuation for the old folk but also he cut their protection by cutting cop numbers. Chester Borrows knows that. He knows that that is a fact. He knows that police numbers in 1999 were less than the establishment level in 1994—5 years in Government and National cut police numbers. He knows that the then Commissioner of Police said to the select committee that police morale had never been lower and that the police force in those days under the National Government was the most inexperienced police force since the Second World War. 
So what a double standard it is that Chester Borrows comes back into this Chamber now and dumps on his mates in the police force for a bit of cheap political capital. I will tell Chester Borrows what the score is. The score is that last year we recruited 688 additional police officers. 
Charles Chauvel 
: How many? 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: We recruited 688 additional police officers. What is the morale like? The morale is so good that the attrition rate for the police—[ 
Interruption 
] Mr Borrows can yell all he likes; he knows that he was talking rubbish. The attrition rate in the New Zealand Police force today is the lowest it has been in 10 years. The recruitment rate is the highest and the attrition rate is the lowest at 3.7 percent when the average for the public sector is 21 percent. So Mr Borrows should not come into this Chamber and say that the state of the police force is bad because the facts contradict him. He is a supporter of a National Government that slashed police numbers. We in this Labour Government have committed ourselves along with New Zealand First to providing 1250 additional police officers and we are on track. We are on track because we are recruiting them and we are on track because the attrition rate is lower. I say to Mr Borrows that the result of that is that people in his electorate are safer because more police are out on the road. Labour does not talk tough and do the opposite which is what National did when it was in Government. That was the hypocrisy of that National Government. 
Then we can come to the INCIS computer system under the National Government. The sum of $132 million was spent for what? Absolutely nothing. It was 3 years late at double the cost and I say to Mr Borrows that the result of that expenditure of $132 million was that the police had a dog that—as a police officer said at the time—was a dog all right but it did not even bark. The dog did not bark. That was the result of the absolute incompetence of the National Government in regard to policing. It slashed police numbers after promising to raise them. Bill English was the Minister who was in charge of those cuts. 
The investment in the INCIS computer system was the most idiotic investment ever in a computer system—$132 million was flushed down the toilet—and Mr Borrows has the cheek to come into this Chamber and criticise a Government that is putting 1250 extra police behind desks and out on the road doing the job we require of them. Well I will let the public judge where the hypocrisy is coming from in this Chamber but it is obvious to me. 
I want to say in particular that I welcome the fact that in my home city of Auckland we got 185 extra cops last year and we will probably get another couple of hundred cops this year to make our country safer for its people. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon PHIL GOFF 
: I shall sum up. Before the break Chester Borrows was on his feet as a member of a party that when in Government had a police review that slashed police numbers by nearly 400 and wasted $132 million on a failed computer system but is now saying that 1250 new police officers is not a good idea and that it is not great that we have the lowest attrition rate for the police in 10 years and the biggest increase in police on the beat and in support for police on the beat that this country has ever seen in its history. I am very proud of what the Minister of Police has achieved in this area.