Nash Stuart: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeNash Stuart: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 02 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8471. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]11.STUART NASH (Labour—Napier) to the Minister of Police: Does he think that a 47.6 percent resolution rate for reported sexual assault crimes is acceptable; if so why?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Police): I would not use the term “acceptable” for any unresolved sexual offence. This is a priority area for the Government and we are taking it very seriously. Part of addressing the issue of sexual violence is encouraging a culture where people have trust and confidence in police to come forward and report offences. Reported offences have increased markedly in recent years. As a Government we are working to improve the safety of victims to improve services and to change longstanding behaviours and attitudes.Stuart Nash: If the Minister is taking this seriously how can the public have any faith in his Government’s approach to resolving sexual offences when the resolution rate for sexual crime has dropped under National from 64.1 percent in 2008 to 47.6 percent and what message is this sending to victims?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: At the risk of relitigating a question asked a fortnight ago—Hon Annette King: Just answer it then.Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Well I will. Although there were 230000 unresolved offences in 2008 there are only 205000 now. In other words there are 11 percent fewer unresolved crimes this year—Stuart Nash: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I was very clear—it was around sexual offences as opposed to general offences. It is a very clear category—Mr SPEAKER: The question as I recall it was: how can the Minister be taken seriously? He is allowed to give an explanation to that. He is obviously saying that it is not a matter of percentages; it is more a matter of numbers. That addresses the question that was asked. If the member then wants to take it further he can do so with his supplementary questions. Does the Minister wish to complete his answer?Stuart Nash: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. My point was not the percentage; it was actually the category which is sexual offences which is a specific category in police crime figures.Mr SPEAKER: The way forward is I will give the member an additional supplementary question. I suspect he is a bit lucky to get it but we will move forward.Stuart Nash: Does he think that the 5472 Kiwis who reported a sexual assault over the past 3 years but had no resolution can have confidence in the police to deliver on their promise of safer communities together?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: Absolutely because that is what the community is saying to us. What I believe that data is telling us is that people are having more confidence to speak up and report sexual offending. But what we also know is that many of those are of long standing—recent reports of crimes committed many many years ago. That makes them much harder to resolve but police are determined to do so.Poto Williams: Does he believe that the low rate of resolution of sexual assault complaints is in any way responsible for the nine out of 10 victims of sexual assault being unwilling to report the assault to police?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: No. There are many reasons why that may be the case and we need to deal with them as a community but I do not think that is one of them.Stuart Nash: Has the resolution of sexual assault crime under National dropped from 64.1 percent in 2008 to 47.6 percent in 2014?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: I have no reason to doubt that the member has got the data from reported crime statistics but I remind the House that under this Government not only are you less likely to be a victim of crime you are less likely to be the victim of an unresolved crime.Stuart Nash: Does he think that it is an appropriate use of police resources to fly two police officers from Auckland to Wellington to search a journalist’s house for a simple handwriting sample while sexual assault burglary property and car theft resolution rates are in free fall?Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE: That is a judgment call but it is a call that police make not politicians. And the member who aspires to be the Minister of Police should be very aware that under the Policing Act 2008 the Commissioner of Police is not responsible to and must act independently of any Minister of the Crown. I am obliged to follow the law. No one is above the law—no MP no truck driver no journalist.