Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:624;Page:19044] 
9.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay Of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: When does he expect to receive a copy of any report by the commissioner’s external panel reviewing police communications centres and when will it be made public? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I am advised that the Commissioner of Police is expecting to get the report by the end of this month. After consideration of the report the findings will be made available to the public by the commissioner. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Has the Minister made available to the panel the unsuccessful Budget bid by the police in 2004 for additional communications centre staff that the Government is suppressing under the Official Information Act; if not why not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Commissioner of Police is putting forward all the information that he wants looked at so that his report can be thorough. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The question was quite clear: has the Minister made available the unsuccessful 2004 Budget bid? He did not address that question. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would the Minister wish to address the question? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The commissioner has all the information available and it is his review and he is making any information that he has available to the public. It is not my report. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: What is the guilty secret contained in the documents that the Government wants to hide this information? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: None. 
Stephen Franks 
: Will the Minister give a categorical assurance to New Zealanders who want to trust the police that irrespective of the report 111 operators have been told they must not deliberately or carelessly mislead callers; if not why should they trust the Minister or the police? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I am waiting for the commissioner’s release after the review has been completed. I am not getting into those areas because it is the commissioner’s review not mine. 
Marc Alexander 
: Can the Minister confirm that some of the problems experienced by the police communications centres are due to the fact that they have had to recruit inexperienced staff who have been referred from Work and Income; if he cannot confirm it as he stated in response to my written question why does he not have access to that kind of information? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I tell the House again that it is the commissioner’s review; it is not my review and the commissioner has all the information that he needs available to him. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: If there is no guilty secret will the Minister now release the 2004 Budget bid currently being suppressed by his Government? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: No. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. This Minister is trifling with the House and indeed I believe he is trifling with the Chair. He has been asked on a number of occasions about his responsibility. The Budget bid is a Budget bid that he takes control of as Minister of Police and he deals with the Minister of Finance and Treasury as a consequence of that. He is therefore responsible for it and he should not be allowed to get away with that sort of evasive obfuscatory answer that does not relate to his responsibilities in the way that he should be asked to be accountable for them. He is responsible for the bid and he takes charge of it. He should be prepared to disclose it to this House. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I think the Minister was very clear. He advised that a copy of the bid is held by the commissioner and if the commissioner thinks that it is relevant for that material to be made available to the inquiry then the commissioner will take that decision. He can take that decision. He is a very capable commissioner and the slur on his integrity in the House today is very offensive. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: My ruling on the point of order is that the Minister addressed the question. 
Stephen Franks 
: I ask again why should any New Zealander who wants to trust the police trust them when the Minister of Police cannot give a straightforward answer to the question asking whether 111 operators irrespective of any report will be told not to deliberately or carelessly mislead callers? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Obviously the people in the centres give the best answers they can to callers. They are well trained and the review will look at that issue completely. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Does the Minister stand by his statement to the House that the police have the resources they need; if so how does he rationalise that with his earlier statement that if the commissioner needs more resources the Government will make sure he gets them. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The New Zealand Police are well funded. If the review shows there is any need for additional funds that will be a part of the review recommendations and will be favourably looked at by this Government.