te Heuheu Georgina: Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
te Heuheu Georgina: Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill — Second Reading Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:612;Page:9462] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
: 
 I think it is important—so that the public of New Zealand knows just how serious or not the Government and the Minister are about violent crime—that we mention again two or three of those areas the Government was not prepared to address for fear of upsetting those who came to the select committee and whose primary angle was the issue of civil liberties and protection of individual rights. My colleague and I have said enough times already that we certainly understand the need to balance the issue of civil liberties and the rights of the individual against the need to properly equip the police. As I said earlier to the Minister he should tell it to the public. Tell the public that the Government is serious about violent crime because the public all know—they see it daily and weekly on their television sets—that violent crime is up. Tell them and the victims that the Government is serious about addressing violent crime. Tell them because in the end—while the Minister might stand and answer our queries and maybe make light of them if he wants to—the public of New Zealand have the right to expect that members of this Parliament will discharge their responsibilities in an honourable way and take all possible steps to make sure that public security and safety are being properly addressed. 
Including offences punishable by 3 years imprisonment was recommended by the Police Association. The select committee and Government members considered that these offences were not serious enough to warrant such an intrusion on personal liberties. Government members on the committee considered that it was inappropriate to include other suggested offences which included peeping and peering—they were not considered serious enough. Government members did not believe there was sufficient evidence to support the belief that peeping and peering would advance to more serious sexual offences. 
Where do they get off? Where are they coming from? I tell them to get into the real world. It is known that such offences are often precursors to serious sexual offending. Who wants peepers and peerers standing outside bedrooms peeping and peering? I certainly do not and neither does any reasonable law-abiding citizen out there in good old New Zealand. 
The other issue was that of DNA sampling. It was not recommended that all offenders be DNA-sampled on arrest. The Government members on the committee considered that to be outside the scope of the bill. That is a cop-out. If we are serious in this Chamber about looking after the safety and security of law-abiding New Zealanders then we should be serious about considering what in my view in the current environment are serious submissions. That is not to be. The reality is as we have already said that violent crime is up. The Minister can take statistics and make them sound as if the Government is doing all it can to address the issue of violent crime—well it is not. The figures show that violent crime is up. 
I say to the Maori members on the other side of the Chamber that it would be great if they could take a call and tell us why they agree with every single thing their Government does even when a lot of it does not make sense. A lot of it is just too modest for words and does not really address the issue that a lot of victims of violent crime are our people—Maori people. I say to Minister Tamihere—who is great at coming to the Chamber and rarely taking a call—that rather than wittering away over there—