Mark Ron: Policing Bill — Third Reading 
Mark Ron: Policing Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18102] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise to take a New Zealand First call and again to continue our support for this Policing Bill through its third and final stage. As the chairman of the Law and Order Committee I also wish to take this opportunity to say it is a privilege to serve on the Law and Order Committee. It is in some ways a little disappointing that we have only three parties of all the parties in the House represented on that committee. It is made up of three Labour members and three National members with the New Zealand First member being the seventh member. 
Sometimes with legislation that is as important as this bill going across the committee’s table it gives me cause for concern that some of the other parties—particularly some whose members can be so vocal on law and order issues on occasions like the ACT party—do not have a representative on that committee and choose not to attend at least some of the hearings of that select committee. I have noted on numerous occasions— 
Pita Paraone 
: They’re too busy dancing or with the Territorials! 
RON MARK 
: They are probably dancing and probably looking very fine in yellow too I say to Pita. I note that members of other parties in the House have come before the Law and Order Committee and have sat on the committee as ad hoc members. Nandor Tanczos was frequently at the Law and Order Committee to hear submissions on bills that the Green Party clearly had an interest in. Over the years we became quite attuned and used to seeing members like Nandor appear and participate. Likewise Sue Bradford attended the select committee when the committee was dealing with matters she had a strong interest in. I would have thought that in some ways this Policing Bill being such significant legislation might have attracted the interest of some of the other parties but that is the way it goes. 
I said before that it is a privilege to serve on this committee alongside these people and I truly mean that. It has been a very constructive committee although we might have our political philosophical and ideological differences views and opinions and it would be nice if that constructiveness was reported by the media which seem to revel in telling all and sundry through the television screen and over the radio airwaves what a pathetic bunch of puerile people MPs are and in saying that they can never agree on anything. It would be nice actually if for once the media were to get off their high damn horse to come and sit through an entire session of a committee such as the Law and Order Committee and to see how well members across the party divide work together when it is necessary. In this case the result has been a truly good result and the report back and the legislation show that. 
We grappled with a number of issues that challenged us—for example the reference to a “Henry VIII” clause which I had never heard of in my entire life. I am not a lawyer and at the first mention of a “Henry VIII” clause I wondered who would have their heads cut off under this legislation. But it certainly had nothing to do with that. However we had clause 27 amended to ensure that the confirmation of an Order in Council by an Act of Parliament was required. It caused a lot of debate. I think if I am correct that we asked for a referral to the Regulations Review Committee. People can see that our select committee worked with another select committee and with members of other parties through that committee just to assure ourselves that our view of this “Henry VIII” clause was the right view and that we were dealing with it in the right way. I have a strong sneaking suspicion that Dr Richard Worth might also have supplied commentary to assist us. We worked through that little tangle and we came out in the end. We have a result. 
Policing is not just about standing up in this House and condemning what other MPs or other parties are doing or not doing and making promises on the election trail as to what one’s party will do for the police. Politically one’s support for the police and the value of that support can be assessed only where the rubber is hitting the road. This legislation which has been discussed for years as being necessary is essential. It is essential that the review be initiated and completed and that the Act be drafted. I am just astounded really by how quickly after taking the office of the Minister of Police the Minister and the new Commissioner of Police Howard Broad got this legislation together with such a thorough and purposeful consultative process. Again the Minister Police Commissioner Broad and the police review team need to be congratulated on that work. I also congratulate the rest of the members in this House on helping the Government to get this bill through Parliament. 
But now comes the next part. For a modern police force to be effective it must be resourced. This legislation is one part of the resourcing. The next part is money—money to pay the men and women in blue to equip them to ensure that they are on the road in the right places in the right numbers and at the right times to be able to tend the right aid and the right assistance to citizens in need at that time of need. The only measure as to whether we are delivering on that is feedback from the public and how different that feedback is already. The public is seeing the impact of an extra 1250 police arriving on their doorstep with the increase of staff numbers at various police stations and police districts around the country. We are already starting to see the result. 
The Policing Bill deals with the interoperability of the police with other agencies notably Maori wardens. New Zealand First members have always been strong supporters of Maori wardens and have specifically pushed the Government to put funding in there. We can look at the result already. The commissioner took this provision on board months and months ago and now we see that the police are formally helping the Maori wardens by training them aiding them equipping them and preparing them and by getting them out on to the street under their own steam their own command and their own auspices under the statutory rules that govern them. 
We are seeing the result of that already. There has been a 29 percent reduction in crime in the central business district in Rotorua. I was told today of other areas around Manurewa that have already seen a massive reduction in Maori-related crime as a direct result of this improved operation between the police and the Maori wardens. That is to be commended and it will only get better. 
To those who want to run out of here in a few weeks’ time and start making promises I say that the only thing that actually matters is what they do and what they have done. They will be assessed on what they will do by what they have actually done. This Government and New Zealand First have done a tremendous amount—in fact a historic amount—for the police. This legislation is part of that. 
I will conclude by mentioning clause 97. A lot of rhetoric has been expended on the airwaves on the television and through the media over the last couple of days and some of it borders on being vitriolic. No police officer who is a councillor today will not be a councillor tomorrow and every councillor who is a police officer—who stood in the last election and was successful—may stand in the next one and if successful may stand in the next one. This change replaces only what existed under section 31 of the 1958 Police Act. It was put there by our forebears our forefathers for very sensible conventional and constitutional reasons. We all know that and we know it to be the right and proper thing. 
So let us not have any more vitriol directed personally at the Minister or at me because some of the people who have been expressing such harsh words might want to come back and talk to us in a few weeks’ time. They might like to find the door open might they not?