Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa): This is a Government that hates the term soft on crime". But the reality of it is that it's not just us that's calling them soft on crime; it's 68 percent of people polled in the country that call them soft on crime. It's not just those 68 percent; it's 54 percent of Labour voters that call them soft on crime. There's been a 40 percent increase in gang numbers; a 21 percent increase in violent crime; a 31 percent increase in violent retail crime; and a tsunami of ram raids youth and juvenile offending. This Government's record in the last four or five years has been nothing but soft on crime.Let me give you some examples. Let's put it on the record. Let's have a look at this bill that was introduced by Chris Bishop. Chris Bishop brought this bill to the House on 3 May 2018 four years ago. It was the Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill. What this bill did was it provided new powers for police to search persons vehicles and premises of specified serious and violent gang members for firearms at any time—four years ago. What happened to it? It was voted down by Labour. Soft on crime—soft on crime. Let's have a look what's the next bill here? Simeon Brown's bill introduced on 13 February 2020 was voted down by Labour. It was the Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2). The purpose of the bill: to prevent the most dangerous gang members from accessing firearms. Second strike—voted down by Labour. What are Labour? Soft on crime. Here's one from me Mark Mitchell introduced on 17 May 2018. It was the Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill. Guess what this bill did! It created a new offence for injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent which was a mandatory minimum sentence of six months imprisonment. It included emergency and health and fire service staff in the offence of assault on police prison or traffic officers currently provided for on the Summary Offences Act.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Great bill. What happened to it?Hon MARK MITCHELL: We put this in place—what happened to it? Tell me what you think happened to it Mr Brownlee.Hon Gerry Brownlee: Labour voted it down.Hon MARK MITCHELL: They voted it down—Labour voted it down. Soft on crime. And by the way the real crime of this is that I met with our ambulance staff our incredible St John Ambulance paramedics two weeks ago. Something that's really disturbing that they're having to deal with now is young female officers being assaulted—and some of them sexually assaulted on the job. They asked me specifically why this bill wasn't passed in this Parliament. Do you know why it wasn't passed in this Parliament? Soft on crime. Look at them all with their heads down.Another very good Simeon Brown bill introduced 14 February 2018 was the Psychoactive Substances (Increasing Penalty for Supply and Distribution) Amendment Bill. Guess who voted this down! Labour. Soft on crime.Let's have a look at this one from Erica Stanford.Hon Member: Not another one!Hon MARK MITCHELL: Another one. Erica Stanford introduced a very good bill on 25 March 2021. This was the Crimes (Robbery) Amendment Bill. The reason why she brought this into the House was because the police asked for it. Quite simply what it did is it dealt with a vehicle that's taken by force—the offender may commit other offences which are relatively minor. There needs to be a stronger remedy for when a car is taken by force. That's why she brought this bill to the House. Guess who voted it down! Labour. Maureen Pugh: "Soft on crime Labour".Hon MARK MITCHELL: Soft on crime; well done Maureen Pugh.On 23 September 2021 Simeon Brown introduced the Public Finance—get a load of this one—(Prohibition on Providing Public Funds to Gangs) Amendment Bill. The sum of $2.7 million went to Harry Tam and his stooges up in the Hawke's Bay to run some sort of weird meth programme that never had any results. I met with the police up there a month ago. They were disgusted by what happened. Terrible use of taxpayers' funds. These guys are still defending it. Guess what they did with that bill! They voted it down. Soft on crime.There's too many of these. I'm not going to have time to get through all of these. Nicole McKee introduced the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) (Definition of Significant Criminal Activity) Amendment Bill. This is the one that was just brought into the House a couple of weeks ago. It actually went after the gangs and it meant that if there was a firearm found they could seize some additional assets as well. It was a good bill. Even the Prime Minister came out and said "Oh yeah that sounds like a good bill." Why did you vote it down? Labour voted it down two weeks ago. What are they? Soft on crime.Here comes the Ginzu knives right—if you had any doubts at all. Kris Faafoi the Minister of Justice and what is their priority? Repeal the three-strikes legislation the only bit of decent legislation that actually puts some rigour around sentencing. The three-strikes law was intended to deter repeat offenders with the threat of progressively longer mandatory prison terms and to incapacitate those who continue to reoffend despite the additional penalties. Guess what this Government is doing! They're repealing this; about the only tough piece of legislation we've got in our books.Quite simply this is a Government that is soft on crime."