Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa): Thank you Madam Speaker. Well that says it all doesn't it? You've got the Minister of Police in the House who stands and can barely squeeze out a four-minute speech in relation to a bill that actually will go a long way to supporting the staff that she purports to stand in this House and support every day. And I want to acknowledge the member Nicole McKee; this is a good bill. We've had a 40 percent increase in gang numbers in this country over the last four years. We've had a 21 percent increase in violent crime. We've got gang members—Anna Lorck: Who put a freeze on police?Hon MARK MITCHELL: What's the member saying?Anna Lorck: Who put a freeze on police numbers?Hon MARK MITCHELL: Who put a freeze on police numbers? Well maybe the member could stand and take a call on this and explain to us why you're not going to give the Police a power that they need to start taking weapons out of the gangs' hands because I've got very very bad news for that member: under her Government under this Labour Government New Zealanders are seeing a proliferation of gang members they're seeing a proliferation of firearms—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! I do beg your pardon. It is well known in this House that interjections are to be rare and reasonable and a barrage of shouting is not acceptable.Hon MARK MITCHELL: And just in response to that member tomorrow I have Diane Hunt arriving in our capital city. She's the mother of Matthew Hunt who was shot and killed in broad daylight in the streets of West Auckland by a gang member with a high-powered military rifle—an illegal rifle. His partner David Goldfinch a father of two barely escaped with his life and will have serious injuries that will follow him through the rest of it. So I don't need to be harped at and lectured by the Labour Party when a member brings a bill to this House that would actually give the Police the powers that they need to be able to take the type of weapons that Eli Epiha was carrying on the street that day when he shot and killed Matthew Hunt and shot and wounded David Goldfinch.This is a serious bill and I don't appreciate the Labour Ministers treating it as if it isn't. It's a bill that actually gives our police officers the ability to go to an address to search it and if there's an illegal firearm there they can start seizing assets. And I'll tell you what: if you want to make a real difference the feedback that I've had from serving officers—from detective inspectors through to detectives on the frontlines the people that are actually doing the work the people that are out there in the middle of the night having to kick doors in and trying to police and trying to make our communities safer—is this is a good bill because what gives them the real power to start to deal with these gangs—and by the way the Labour Party think they can cuddle up to the gangs. Let me tell you something: the gangs think that you're a joke. They're not listening to anything that you say.Soft on crime—to actually call this Government soft on crime almost feels too nice. It shouldn't be soft"; it should be "mushy" or something else because under this Government we've seen a massive growth in gang numbers we've seen a massive increase in assaults on police we've seen terrible assaults on members of the public in broad daylight by gangs that are emboldened and think that they can operate with impunity and we see firearm incidents every day—and I'm sorry but tonight there was an incident with a gang that shot into a family home where a child was almost hit. That's happening daily. And the Minister comes to this House and she makes some innocuous points that aren't relevant to the bill at all the Speaker has to draw her back to the bill and then she goes "Oh well I've really got nothing more to add." and leaves—ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! The member is not to bring the Speaker into the debate.Hon MARK MITCHELL: —yeah thank you Madam Speaker—and then leaves the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): Order! The member does know and has realised that he does not refer to a member's absence. I don't want to have to get to my feet every two minutes.Hon MARK MITCHELL: The Labour Party is going to vote this bill down tonight. They probably won't support the petition of Diane Hunt tomorrow either for her son Matthew. They're trying to scrap the three strikes legislation. At some time they're going to have to wake up and they're going to have to realise—stop with all the nice platitudes—the Police actually need some genuine support. They're trying to do their job with one hand tied behind their back. The Minister referred to the firearms prohibition order—it's a toothless tiger. It's got no warrantless search power in it. So how are the Police supposed to take the guns out of gangs' hands when they can't stop them and search them? Wake up. On the select committee we had two senior officers from the Police National Headquarters turn up and they couldn't agree with each other on whether or not section 18 was going to give the powers that it needed. This Government actually needs to wake up and needs to actually start doing something real and tangible to deal with the gang situation in this country."