10. Question No. 10—PoliceGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 10—Police10. GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour—Hutt South) to the Minister of Police: What reports has she seen regarding diversity in the New Zealand Police workforce?Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. I've seen a report that shows diversity amongst front-line New Zealand Police staff is increasing at a rate never seen before. Since we've come to office in 2017 there has been a record number of graduates from Police College who have been women Māori and Pasifika. These reports show that in time nearly four out of every 10 graduates from Police College have been women with Māori Pasifika and Asian recruits making up 37 percent of all new police since 2017. Police recognise the value that different perspectives and experiences bring to making our community safer. Our recent graduates bring with them an invaluable range of skills backgrounds and experiences that will serve our communities for decades to come.Ginny Andersen: What do upcoming police graduation wings mean for growing diversity in police?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Tomorrow I am attending the graduation of wing 352 at the Royal New Zealand Police College which is a significant milestone for police and for this Government as it marks the graduation of our 3000th recruit since October 2017. Each individual police graduation has its own story to tell about the growing diversity in police and wing 355 set to graduate later this year is made up of 75 recruits of which 31 are Māori and 23 are wāhine Māori. Since we began our drive to grow the police workforce we have seen the number of wāhine Māori police officers grow by two-thirds. The graduation of this wāhine Māori wing will be a historic milestone for police and for New Zealand.Ginny Andersen: What does the growing diversity of our police workforce mean for our regions?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Growing the diversity of our front-line police means that they are more likely to represent the communities in which they serve. Since 2017 we have grown the police footprint across the country. In Northland 88 additional cops; in Waikato 97 more cops; and in Canterbury 99 more cops. This Government will continue to support our police to do their job while also growing the diversity of the workforce so that they can represent the people they protect.Melissa Lee: Why is the Minister confident that the New Zealand Police workforce has acceptable diversity when the leading multicultural organisations in Nelson-Tasman wrote to the Police Commissioner protesting the absence of an ethnic liaison officer and—and I quote—funding for an ELO was evidently allocated but not utilised by the regional command"; where has the money gone?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: While I can't speak to the allocation of funding—that is a matter for the Police—what I can speak to is the increasing diversity including Asian police officers in New Zealand. And if I just go back to the answer that I gave we are increasing Māori Pasifika and Asian recruits up to 37 percent of all new police since 2017.Melissa Lee: Point of order. I seek leave to table a status report from the Ministry for Ethnic Communities that I received via the Official Information Act detailing this particular issue.DEPUTY SPEAKER: Leave is sought for that purpose. Is there any objection? There is none. It may be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House."