Mark Ron: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Mark Ron: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:643;Page:12992] 
11.  
RON MARK (NZ First) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: Does she have confidence in the Police’s ability to act against illegal activity? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister for Economic Development) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Police 
: Yes. 
Ron Mark 
: Would the Minister of Police be concerned if police were unable or unwilling to act against a group whose members had made comments such as “I’m declaring war on New Zealand.” and “It’s good to kill a Pakeha.”; if not why not? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Noting that the member has deliberately—and I think quite properly—posed the question hypothetically the answer is quite clearly that there would be serious dismay in this House and in this country if the police were unwilling or unable to take action. And it is very good of the member to put the counter-factual in front of us: what would have happened had the police not responded? 
Ron Mark 
: Would she be concerned if police were unable or unwilling to act against a group that had undertaken military-style training camp activity using both the IRA and al-Qaeda training manuals had considered a bombing campaign and had suggested assassinating a senior politician; if not why not? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Same answer—and same hypothetically framed question I need to stress. It is important for us to face the counter-factual—that in circumstances like this we must have a police force that is able and willing to respond. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: Tena koe Madam Speaker; tena tatou katoa. What did the Minister of Police mean on  
Native Affairs 
 on Sunday night when talking about the impact of police actions on Tuhoe she described the people of Tuhoe as “collateral damage”? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I am afraid I cannot give the member a direct answer to that question but I can say that this side of the House does not draw a direct Maori connection with these events or indeed a direct Tuhoe connection with these events. Here are the facts: 16 people have been charged; six of them are Maori and of those six three are Tuhoe. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The question was in reference to what the Minister said about the Tuhoe people. 
Hon Member 
: He didn’t finish his answer. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Would the Minister please complete his answer then we will be able to assess. But I think he had already addressed the question at the beginning. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I repeat the first few words of my answer: I am afraid I cannot give the member an answer to that question. However it is fair to say that this side of the House does not draw a link between those events and Maoridom or those events and Tuhoe. It is true that the alleged training camps were in the Tuhoe rohe but had they been in the Southern Alps we would not have drawn a link with Ngai Tahu. The fact of the matter is that three of the 16 people are Tuhoe and 13 are not. Nearly every member of Tuhoe is not involved in this. 
Ron Mark 
: Has the Minister seen any reports that would indicate that killing Pakeha waging war on our nation sourcing an al-Qaeda manual discussing a bombing campaign and suggesting the assassination of a senior politician would constitute the average New Zealander’s definition of “peaceful intentions”? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I have seen no such reports. I have however seen two poll results: one from UMR Insight in which 13 percent of New Zealanders did not support the police and the remainder either did not have a view or did support the police; and the other a phone-in poll from last Friday in which the figure had dropped to 12 percent of New Zealanders who did not support the police and 88 percent who did. 
Dr Pita Sharples 
: What response does the Minister of Police have to Maori lawyer Moana Jackson who last week resigned as patron of a wing of police recruits in protest at the raids and who said that the police actions in the Urewera were not “a racially neutral act.”? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I did not see that quote I am sorry and I have no comment to make on the gentleman’s decision. I will say however on behalf of the Minister of Police that the Commissioner of Police will be amongst Tuhoe in due course. He will put his head his mind and his body in front of those people. He will take from them whatever it is they have to say to them and he will make to them whatever explanations he feels may be of use. That I think is the sort of thing one would expect from a Commissioner of Police and I wish him well. 
Ron Mark 
: I seek leave to table the results of several opinion polls that show an overwhelming majority of support for the police— 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.