11. Question No. 11—PoliceSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 11—Police11. SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of Police: Will Budget 2021 help reduce gang membership and violence; if so how? Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): Fa'afetai lau Afioga le Fofoga Fetalai. This Government inherited annual Police funding of $1.5 billion in 2017. We've increased that to over $2 billion—an increase of roughly 30 percent. Budget 2021—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Order! Do the members want to have an answer to this—Hon Member: Yes we do. SPEAKER: —and the supplementaries? Well there's at least three members there almost preventing it. Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Kia ora. Budget 2021 continues funding for the Striving Towards 1800 New Police programme including 700 police to be focused on organised crime as well as increasing funding for preventing family and sexual violence continuing action to improve social inclusion and an expansion to Te Pae Oranga Iwi Community Panels which have shown a reduction in harm from reoffending by 22 percent by participants. Simeon Brown: How will the $90 million cut to the Police budget in Budget 2021 help reduce the record number of people joining gangs under this Government? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I reject the premise of that question. The Police budget is 30 percent higher than it was when National left office. I am confident—[Interruption] I stand by statements that I have made around that there is no decrease in budget as the member claims. They are a result of ongoing negotiations for road policing funding which is around $63 million—expect news on this shortly—and one-off funding such as the Whanganui police hub shovel-ready projects. Simeon Brown: How will the Police finish recruiting the promised 700 police officers dedicated to combatting gangs and organised crime given the Police budget has been cut by $90 million? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I repeat: the budget has not been cut by $90 million. The Police are in negotiations with regards to costs for road policing. That announcement will be made shortly. There was approximately $25 million which was a one-off for the Whanganui police hub shovel-ready project; there was an amount of $4.5 million which the members claim was cut from the budget but this is actually funding for reimbursements for Police from the proceeds of crime fund not the budget; and $5.5 million for primary response which was funding for COVID-19 procurement of personal protective equipment and a cancellation of annual leave which is no longer required. Simeon Brown: Why has no new funding been given to the Gang Intelligence Centre in Budget 2021 when there has been a 50 percent increase in gang membership under this Government? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I've clearly explained that. I find it quite ironic that since we've come into Government we've increased the Police budget by 30 percent and I stand by this Government's record on this. That National Party when they were in Government froze the budget and they cut police numbers. I stand on our record every day. I do not stand on theirs. Simeon Brown: Point of order. The question was around funding for the Gang Intelligence Centre in light of the increase in gang membership. Hon Meka Whaitiri: She addressed it.Simeon Brown: That wasn't—I mean that's an interesting comment but the point was around—SPEAKER: Who made the comment? The member will stand withdraw and apologise. Hon Meka Whaitiri: I apologise. SPEAKER: Mr Brown will have two additional supplementaries. You can use one of them to try that question again. Simeon Brown: So the question was: why has no new funding been given to the Gang Intelligence Centre in Budget 2021 given the 50 percent increase in gang membership under this Government? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I want to just refer to an operation that's live at the moment—Operation Tauwhiro—in terms of the police response to gangs and this has seized 522 firearms seized $2.6 million in cash arrested 476 people seized methamphetamine and conducted 361 search warrants. The police are doing a fantastic job at dealing with gangs and I stand on that record. Simeon Brown: Point of order Mr Speaker. The question was around the Gang Intelligence Centre—SPEAKER: No I think it's fair to say that the general question on the relationship between funding and gangs and the police response was addressed. Simeon Brown—a further supplementary. Simeon Brown: Does the Gang Intelligence Centre not need any additional funding given the 50 percent increase in gang membership? SPEAKER: I'm going to just remind the member just to keep his questions to questions without the additional comments afterwards. Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I reject the premise of that question. Simeon Brown: How will the $90 million cut to the Police budget boost officer morale given the record increase in gang violence in New Zealand? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I've already addressed that question. SPEAKER: The member's still got another one. Simeon Brown: OK thank you. When will the Police complete recruitment of the promised 700 police officers dedicated to combat gangs and organised crime? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: As I've said repeatedly in this House we are on target to meeting the 2023—Hon Members: When? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: —2023—target as stated in this House repeatedly over and over and over again.