Mark Ron: Estimates Debate — In Committee Procedure 
Mark Ron: Estimates Debate — In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:618;Page:14417] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I intend to carry on in a similar vein about what a horrible mess we have. I recall being very proud as a member of the Labour Party of some of the speeches delivered by the Hon Phil Goff and George Hawkins on what they would do about crime and law and order under the leadership of the Rt Hon Mike Moore. I believed that those people meant what they said and would do what they said. Years went by things changed and I ended up in a coalition Government with National listening to the screaming and the ranting from that side of the House. On some occasions I feared for the very life of Phil Goff. I feared that the vein in his forehead would pop as he went ballistic about parole bail and the things that were happening in the streets with violent crime. I fully expecteded that when those two men got to the Government benches they would get rid of gangs smash the methamphetamine rings smash organised crime and make our streets safer because those were the things they promised whilst they were in Opposition. 
After 5 long years of governance on the back of 9 years of preparation we look at this rubbish. That Minister is not smashing organised crime or the methamphetamine industry. He is policing it. The last time I heard the word “policing” being used was by the United Nations. I think it was in Uganda. I think it might well have been in Bosnia where they stood by and through their policing action watched 8000 people being slaughtered. That is what is happening on the streets of this country. I am tired and the citizens of New Zealand are tired of hearing this Government and that Minister say that the police have adequate resources. I get messages from a gentleman who sent a personal plea— 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: Another source? 
RON MARK 
: This is a letter to the Minister from another man stating: “Just when are you going to stop trying to pull the wool over New Zealanders that there are sufficient police in New Zealand? Over the weekend I attended a family function in a large New Zealand city of 60000-plus. During the evening I had contact with the constabulary who advised us that he was one of two patrol cars on duty that night and there was only one person—that is himself—in his car.” Crime is down? What an absolute load of rubbish! Members should look at the police statement of intent and at the graphs. The graphs of recorded crime are going up and have consistently gone up since this Government came to power—and that is according to a Government document. The worst thing about it is that it is recorded crime. The national survey on victimisation states that unreported crime is two to three times greater than recorded crime. 
The Minister of Police and the Minister of Maori Affairs have the audacity to tell us that crime is going down. Their own documents and answers to written questions show quite clearly that they are telling porkies to people. Crime is going up. 
If members want evidence they should go to the Bay of Plenty where people are struggling because they do not have insurance to cover their homes. A tragedy is in front of the Minister’s eyes in relation to his other portfolio and why do those people not have insurance? It is because they cannot afford it. The net result is that when people get burgled they do not report it. How many burglaries go unreported and give us a false impression of real crime? The reality is: two times as many more burglaries as are recorded. 
The only way this crime wave can be dealt with and the only way people can be made safer in their homes is to have more police on the beat as we have consistently been asking for. The number of police should be doubled. If people do not believe that they should see the over-stressed over-worked and over-pressured bobbies on the beat or get in a car to go around with them at night. Maybe they should spend a whole weekend or sit in a communications centre for 24 hours and see for themselves the pressure those people are under.