Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:653;Page:2139] 
6.  
Hon CLAYTON COSGROVE (Labour—Waimakariri) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: Does she stand by her comment that “the focus of this Government is on public safety.”? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 Yes. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How does her promise to New Zealanders that the Government focus is on public safety have any credibility when Lower Hutt police admitted leaving in the hands of Mongrel Mob members a sensitive police manual that contained confidential call signs the names and ranks of police officers and details of a woman who was later forced to flee her home? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: The New Zealand Police has acknowledged that that action was completely unacceptable. The police have changed their procedures accordingly. I remind that member that the only people cheering his constant attacks on the police are criminals. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance. I asked a specific question which was how her promise can have any credibility when this example of failure has happened. She never went anywhere near addressing the credibility of her statement. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think the Minister replied that the situation that the member had described was totally unacceptable to the Government. So she was acknowledging that it was totally unacceptable. I invite the member to ask further supplementary questions. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How does her promise to New Zealanders that the Government’s focus is on public safety have any credibility when the police left a digital camera containing crime scene images at a crime scene following a drug raid in Lower Hutt and among those images were photos of dead and decaying bodies and domestic violence victims? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Again that was a completely unacceptable situation and the police have changed their procedures. They are now making sure that all photographs are deleted from digital cameras so that that situation does not happen again. The Commissioner of Police is taking this very seriously as am I. 
Melissa Lee 
: What is the Government doing to demonstrate its commitment to public safety? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: This Government is committed to significant increases in front-line police numbers as promised before the election. Those increases are well on the way to being implemented under this Government. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How does the Minister’s promise to New Zealanders that the Government’s focus is on public safety have any credibility when an alleged rapist was initially bailed to a location just 300 metres from the alleged 15-year-old victim following police failure to properly check the appropriateness of the bail address and further a failure to convey that information to the judge; and why did it take a  
Dominion Post 
 story and a question from the Opposition to generate any sort of action from that Minister? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: No action was taken as a result of the letter from the Opposition. Rather the New Zealand Police has said that the incident is deeply regrettable. I would like to read to the member a comment that was sent to me—and I read it with permission—by the mother of the complainant: “I have absolutely no desire to criticise our police who all in all do a fantastic job often in difficult circumstances and acted quickly and effectively to remedy the problem when they realised a mistake had been made.” I suggest to that member of the House that he take a little bit from that lady and try to accept that the police do the very best job they can. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Hon Clayton Cosgrove. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Always attacking the police. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: No I back the victims. When is the Minister herself going to do something practical to deal with failures like these which discredit every day the good work of our police rather than simply having a do-nothing attitude and responding with “I will have a chat with the commissioner.”? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I have made sure that the commissioner has changed policies and procedures to get things fixed. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Oh you directed him? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Yes actually. That is significantly more than what that member has ever done. The commissioner has taken action accordingly. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: You directed the commissioner? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: No no the commissioner has made sure that things have been done because I have spoken to him about it. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. We have a difficulty. In response to my first interjection which asked whether the Minister had directed the commissioner she answered— 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Point of order— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Excuse me I am— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am listening to the Hon Clayton Cosgrove. The Minister must resume her seat but I do want to hear a point of order. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Thank you Mr Speaker. In response to my interjection in the middle of that question when I asked whether the Minister had directed the commissioner or words to that effect—and if one does not believe me one can look at the  
Hansard 
—the response I believe was “Yes”. Then towards the end of that question when I interjected— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Could the member please make clear the issue of order he is seeking remedy for. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I am if I could just finish the sentence— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I hear no issue of order. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: In response to a second interjection the Minister contradicted herself and said she— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will take his seat. He knows that is not a point of order. It has nothing to do with the order of the House. If he interjects he can expect to get all sorts of responses. That is not a point of order; let us be very clear about that. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Point of order Mr Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member will resume his seat. If the Minister wants to raise a point of order I will hear it. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I heard the member saying: “Did you speak to the commissioner?”— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Members must not use the point of order process for matters that have nothing to do with the procedures of this House. If the Hon Clayton Cosgrove wishes to raise another point of order I will listen to him but I have ruled on the matter and I am very clear on it. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek your advice as to what the procedure is if a Minister or a member in the course of answering a question gives a contradictory answer and therefore inadvertently or deliberately misleads the House. I seek your advice. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Speaking to the point of order— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: No I do not to need to hear any more on this. The Hon Clayton Cosgrove has been a member of this Parliament for a long time. He knows that the point of order process is not how that matter is dealt with. There are other proper procedures for dealing with it. If he is concerned that a member has deliberately misled the House there are proper procedures for dealing with that. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I do not think there was any suggestion from Mr Cosgrove that the Minister had deliberately misled the House. I think the problem was almost certainly that she did so inadvertently. It was my experience that when Ministers did that it invited disorder and sometimes inviting people to clarify their answers is a good way of stopping that from happening. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member knows that there is no such procedure for that. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Speakers have done that for years. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I suggest the member reads the Standing Orders.