Jones Dail: General Debates 
Jones Dail: General Debates 
[Volume:617;Page:13327] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 Tomorrow the Government has an opportunity to do something meaningful for the people of New Zealand. There are many aspects to the Budget that need attention but New Zealand First wants to focus on just one: the scandalous and insidious decline in law and order in this country. We have heard from my colleague Ron Mark this afternoon about the dreadful state of our prisons today under this minority Labour Government. New Zealand First makes this promise to the House and to the country: if this minority Government—and it is a minority Government which needs Opposition support from time to time and I am looking across at United Future—uses the Budget tomorrow to double the police force New Zealand First will support that part of the Budget. If the Government proposes real measures to address the war on drugs and gangs not just limp-wristed token gestures we will vote for them. When the Government is serious about real Parole Board reform it should come to talk to New Zealand First. We will do something about it. We said we would do something about it at the last election and I can assure the minority Labour Government that “Yes we can.” If the Government wants to ensure the Land Transport Safety Authority and the police redefine their roles to focus the work of the police on solving crime then New Zealand First’s door is always open. And they can laugh— 
Jill Pettis 
: He doesn’t get out much. 
DAIL JONES 
: What is that member trying to yell out across the House? I could not hear a word. Those members are making so much noise. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: She’s asking you for a date. 
DAIL JONES 
: She would be lucky! New Zealand First promised to fix the lawless state of our society at the last election. We were serious then and we are serious now. We have seen immigration numbers come down dramatically as we promised. We have attended to Treaty of Waitangi issues and we even have the National Party on board. I was hoping that the “great debater” would support us on this issue today but— 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Where is he? 
DAIL JONES 
: Exactly—where? Not one National Party person is willing to speak out about the state of lawlessness in our society today. We are determined to do something about it. The security and welfare of our citizens depend on it. 
Policing sadly has become little more than a revenue-raising exercise. What happens today? People who are driving down the road and getting up in speed to around 110 to 111 kilometres an hour are being stopped by the police and bang they get a fine of about $100. In the meantime their house could be getting burgled their grandmother could be being murdered and their brothers and sisters could be getting beaten up. There are all sorts of problems—children in hospital are getting assaulted—and what do the police do? They give out tickets on the State highway. That is policing today. 
That is not what the police and the courts themselves want. They want to be solving crime. They want the resources to address the P epidemic and the growing drug culture. They want to take the fight to the gangs. They want to tackle youth offending. Some police have been distracted by various allegations but most are committed. They are all committed to their reasons for joining the police. We know that the public wants tougher law and order in this country because over 90 percent of people said so in the 1999 referendum on tougher penalties for violent crime. What has this Government done? In the Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) it made sexual misconduct even more available to young New Zealanders. What an appalling state of affairs! That is the sort of thing that this minority Labour Government is focusing on. 
The police and the public want action. What is stopping them from taking it? It is only this minority Labour Government that is stopping them because if it were willing to work in concert with New Zealand First on this issue we would be making sure that the nation’s citizens could feel safe in their homes and could walk the streets and the foreshore safely. Today walking the streets is a risky activity and more are likely to be fined for traffic offences than for other matters. 
The nation is very very concerned about law and order. Our newspapers and our television screens are raging with tales of doom because of the lawlessness in our society. [ 
Interruption 
] With rabble like that across the floor of the House in the person of the Labour member of Parliament for Whanganui it is hardly surprising that there are domestic violence cases and suchlike. That is no example to set for the young people of our society. Here in Parliament we should be setting an example of debating issues properly not screaming across the House like a fishwife or something like that. We in New Zealand First intend to fix the law and order issue. We will support a doubling of the police force tomorrow—and any time.