Hipkins ChrisHon CHRIS HIPKINS (Minister of Police): Thank you Mr Chair. Look I welcome the opportunity to respond to a number of the issues. Mark Mitchell asked me to be more specific about the number of extra police on the beat so I will: As at 31 July 1526 of the extra 1800 police have been delivered. I can tell the member for contrast that that's 1526 more police—extra—than were delivered under last National Government who of course delivered no extra police. To put that into a very real context as at June 2017 when the National Party was last in Government there was one full-time equivalent constable for 545 New Zealanders. As of 15 August this year there was one constable full-time equivalent for 495 New Zealanders and that number continues to improve. In fact in this year's Budget we made sure that that number won't go up again by making sure that the Police's funding will increase in line with the population so that they can continue with at least that ratio unlike under the National Government where the police were run down. So I want to acknowledge the police for the sterling work that they did despite the fact that they previously had a Government that wasn't willing to back their tough talk with extra resources for the front-line police. If the National Party really does value the front-line police to the extent that they say they do when they're in Opposition perhaps when they were in Government they might have backed that up with some actual cash and some extra resource rather than leaving them out there on their own without it.To run through a few other points that members have raised I believe in the notion that justice should be blind in the sense that it shouldn't matter what your gender is or what your ethnicity is—you should all be treated as equal before the law. I absolutely support the work that the police are doing to make sure that there isn't any bias in any of their systems and processes and I think that all New Zealanders should welcome that effort. That doesn't mean that anyone is saying that the police are racist; it does mean that as with every other institution in the country we should be looking to make sure that the systems and processes that are in place are not biased against one group of people or another or do not privilege one group of people or another. Unlike the member opposite Mark Mitchell I don't think that talking about the increased diversity in the New Zealand Police force undermines confidence in them one bit which is the claim that he has previously made. I think it is fantastic that a quarter of our cops are now women. In fact I look forward to the police making further progress in that regard and I welcome the fact that our police are more ethnically diverse now than they have ever been in the past. I can look forward to that trend continuing and unlike Mark Mitchell I don't think that saying that publicly is in any way undermining confidence in the New Zealand Police.In terms of the other issues that were raised Nicole McKee raised the issue around whether gangs should be mentioned more in the Budget documentation and I'd have a couple of points with regards to that. First of all the gang activity work often falls under the heading of organised crime". The word "gang" might not be used but the words "organised crime" certainly are used quite a lot and there is quite a lot in the Budget that's focused specifically on organised crime. So it's just a question of terminology in the Budget documents but I would point out to her that all offending matters whether it's done by a gang member or anyone else. Actually the police have got a difficult job to do and we are backing them to do that very difficult job that they have.Mark Mitchell raised some good points about the issues around mental health. Police are often on the front line of having to respond to mental health. They are often the first responders and under our Government we have been supporting the police in a co-response model which is producing some very very welcome results. We know that where there is a co-response where the police are working alongside trained mental-health professionals to respond to those types of call-out actually it's better for the health system because fewer people end up in the emergency department and fewer people end up needing more intensive support and so I welcome the fact that some of our previous district health boards supported that but I note that some were not. I think it's a fantastic thing that we now have a national health service so that we can get a bit more consistency in the way that the health system is working with police in order to reduce some of the pressure that they currently face because I do think the health system could play a bigger role as first responders when it comes to mental health and that will help to ease some of the pressure on police.In terms of the questions around burglaries I do acknowledge concern around burglaries. It's very unpleasant for anyone who is involved. It can lead to people feeling unsafe. I do note that in most settings the rate of burglary is continuing to decline. There is a challenge in retail where we've seen those numbers going up quite modestly but actually for home burglaries for example the trend number is down. Schools education areas—the trend line continues to go down. That is a welcome thing and I really support the police's proactive work in that area."