7. Question No. 7—PoliceBRETT HUDSON (National) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 7—Police7. BRETT HUDSON (National) to the Minister of Police: Was the Prime Minister correct when she said last week that there were 9723 sworn police officers in New Zealand and if so by what number has this increased since the Government took office?Hon STUART NASH (Minister of Police): To the first part of the question yes. To the second part of the question if it may assist the House I will actually be at a police graduation tomorrow so I won't be here to answer the same question. However 59 new officers will graduate tomorrow so there'll be 9779 fulltime-equivalents. That's a growth of 940 new officers from the start of the 2017-18 financial year—quite a few more in two years than that previous Government promised to deliver in four years. Brett Hudson: Does he agree with the comments of Winston Peters who said We'll get 1800 more front-line police quickly as we have promised. So we keep our promises on law and order." Hon STUART NASH: I absolutely do agree with the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. We are delivering 1800 new police quickly and what I would say is that under the last term of the previous Government police numbers fell by about 100. Brett Hudson: Is it still the Government's goal to add 1800 net new sworn police officers over three years? Hon STUART NASH: I don't know how many times I have to do this. There are two figures—I have always reported on two figures. I have been very transparent. Under the coalition agreement it says "1800 new Police [in] three years". We'll deliver that in just over two years. However we have funded 1800 more police. That is nearly 1000 more police than the previous Government promised to deliver thank you very much to New Zealand First and Labour. Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can I ask the Minister in response to these questions on that issue what's complicated about the expression "1800 new Police"? SPEAKER: Order! Order! I can understand that but there are some matters for which Mr Nash has responsibility and there are some matters for which he doesn't. Brett Hudson: Will he commit to adding 1800 net new sworn police by the end of this parliamentary term? Hon STUART NASH: I will commit to meeting the coalition promise in just over two years. I will also commit to adding 1800 new police because this is funded. The other thing I'd say is I do believe that that member's policing district will get around about 100 new police under our proposal which is about 50 more than he would have got under the previous National Government's funding.Brett Hudson: When was the most previous time before last week when the Minister categorically stated publicly that there were two different targets with respect to 1800 more cops? Hon STUART NASH: Mr Speaker if you—SPEAKER: Well—[Interruption] Yeah. Hon STUART NASH: Mr Speaker—SPEAKER: Well I'm assuming we don't need to do a translation although it was certainly quite a long way from the grammar that I was taught at school. Hon STUART NASH: If you consider a press release delivered to everyone in the press gallery—and that member is very welcome to read it—it was 26 September when I stated that there are 1685 police new police that we've graduated and I highlighted at that point there are 893 new police—so about three weeks ago."