8. Question No. 8—PoliceHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa) to the Minister of PoliceQuestion No. 8—Police8. Hon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa) to the Minister of Police: Does she stand by her statement The reality is that this Government has never been more active in targeting the gangs and criminal leaders and getting them off the streets"; and if so how does she reconcile that statement with the over 40 percent increase in gang membership since October 2017?Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister of Police): Yes this Government is committed to combating the harm caused by gangs and organised crime through a variety of measures including amending the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act to hit the gangs in their pockets introducing firearms prohibition orders to give police more tools to tackle gun crime and continuing to invest record amounts into our police to provide them with the resources they need to do their job—including 700 additional organised crime staff by June next year. In answer to the second question the member is referring to the National Gang List an intelligence tool designed to give police a high-level understanding of the gang environment. It was never designed to be an accurate State statistical count of gang membership in New Zealand. This Government will continue to support police in their work to disrupt organised crime and gang membership.Hon Mark Mitchell: Are Kiwis right to be more worried about gangs and gang violence today than they were when Labour came to office?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: There is no question that we must continue to disrupt gangs and organised crime networks. This Government will continue to support police in their efforts to crack down on gangs through operations such as Tauwhiro legislation introducing firearms prohibition orders and by funding the largest ever police workforce. We're putting a record number of police on the beat with a specific focus on gangs and organised crime and we've ramped up our efforts to hit gangs where it hurts: in their pockets seizing $500 million in cash and assets from gangs and criminals in the last four years.Hon Mark Mitchell: Is gang-related violence increasing or decreasing under her watch?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: There's no doubt that this Government has worked hard to support the police in their efforts to put pressure on gangs. And if I can point to some operations: Operation Tauwhiro a thousand arrests and 52 kilograms of meth—Hon Mark Mitchell: Point of order Mr Speaker.SPEAKER: A point of order the Hon Mark—I hope the member's not going to be disagreeing with an answer because you know that's not a point of order don't you?Hon Mark Mitchell: Well what I'm raising Mr Speaker is the fact that that was a very clear short concise question.SPEAKER: It was and we'll let the Minister try and answer it or at least address it. We haven't got there yet; I think we all accept that.Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Thank you Mr Speaker. Operation Trout: five arrests and 10 kilograms of meth stopped at the border; Operation Selena: 24 arrests and two properties and five vehicles seized; Operation Weirton: six arrests and over 600 kilograms of meth seized. The charging—SPEAKER: Order! Order! Order! I don't want to reiterate what Mr Mitchell has said but the member has now gone on for a very long time and she hasn't addressed what was a pretty simple question.Hon POTO WILLIAMS: The charging rate—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Who said that? Who interjected then?Simeon Brown: I think it was me.SPEAKER: You think it was you? You will stand withdraw and apologise and sit on a last warning.Simeon Brown: I withdraw and apologise.SPEAKER: That seat's infectious!Hon POTO WILLIAMS: The charging rate against identified gang members is 92 percent in the year to date which has gone up under our watch. We will continue to support police in their efforts to put pressure on gangs.Nicole McKee: Thank you Mr Speaker. Minister how many 501s which the Government likes to blame for gang violence are actually on the National Gang List? And do 501s still make up just 1.7 percent of that list?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: If that member would care to put that question in writing given it is one that is not on notice I'd be happy to respond to her.Hon Mark Mitchell: Why have the people of Kaikohe been subjected to open gang warfare and violence in their streets?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: Police have responded to recent gang tensions by deploying more staff to Kaikohe. Police have also made a number of arrests in relation to recent gang tensions and will continue to deploy more staff into these areas if required.Hon Michael Woodhouse: Point of order. Mr Speaker that answer was to the Police's response. The question was about cause and none of the answer referred to cause.SPEAKER: Can the member just repeat the question to me—I've lost what it was.Hon Mark Mitchell: Yes Mr Speaker. Why have the people of Kaikohe been subjected to open gang warfare and violence in their streets?SPEAKER: No well I think that the response did address—at least attempt to intervene in—that issue.Hon Mark Mitchell: Why is the brazen violent behaviour such as we saw on the Waikato Expressway where gang members brutally assaulted a motorist becoming more common under her watch?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: As I've already said to that member: under this Government we've put more resource into the Police and put more cops on the beat to ensure that their response is as adequate as it can be. And I would point to that National Government when they were in office freezing resources and dropping police numbers. You cannot do more with less Mr Mitchell; you have to have sufficient cops and sufficient resources to deal with the issue and this Government stands behind our police every single day of the year.SPEAKER: Right I'm just—sorry before I call David Seymour I am going to say to the Hon Mr Goldsmith he will not interject for the rest of question time. I think we haven't got a single supplementary answer without at least one interjection from him and—[Interruption] I think there's some people who don't really want to stay here."