Mark Ron: Crimes and Misconduct (Overseas Operations) Bill — First Reading 
Mark Ron: Crimes and Misconduct (Overseas Operations) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:610;Page:7572] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I indicate New Zealand First will support the passage of this bill through to the select committee for further analysis but I do have to ask a couple of questions. The first one that comes to mind is this: if we need this law now in order to cater for our non-uniformed and uniformed members of the Defence Force and the police force who are deploying to the Solomons what have we been operating under for the last year or 18 months or however long it has been since we have had 10 New Zealand police officers serving in the Solomons—what has the situation been? Is this Government so slack so lax and so incompetent that it has not actually considered that issue before today? It would appear so. 
I want to come to the issue of why our forces are there what it is that we intend to do and the realities of the situation that New Zealand faces right now. I say to the honourable Wayne Mapp that it was good to hear the speech he delivered today. The last time that we discussed the Solomons in this House I rose for New Zealand First and gave our party’s very strong position on the realities of the deployment and what it means and on the appalling state of affairs that we have within our Defence Force and our police force. I was labelled as churlish and petulant by the all-knowing Minister of Defence Mr Mark Burton who then proceeded to compliment Wayne Mapp on his wonderfully generous speech to the Government. I note with pleasure Mr Mapp’s speech today which once again focused on the realities that New Zealand First brought to this House. 
Richard Worth 
: Damascus! 
RON MARK 
: He has had a road to Damascus experience says Mr Worth. 
We need to be honest in the House today when talking about the Solomons and the mission that we are giving our Defence Force and police personnel to carry out on our behalf in our name. The truth of the matter is that this Government is in no position to be sending New Zealanders on such a mission without first revisiting its commitments in other parts of the world. We all know that this Government has committed Defence Force personnel to Afghanistan and to Iraq but there are questions that should have been asked before it made that decision which was clearly motivated by Helen Clark’s desire to shore up flagging relationships in the US as a result of her bad-mouthing the President of the United States. Helen Clark made that decision without any advice or indeed if she did get advice without any recognition of the problems that were pending in the South Pacific—specifically the problems that still persist in Papua New Guinea and the problems that we have known to exist in the Solomons for years. 
 Indeed since this Government has been on the Treasury benches it has known full well from representations made by Fletcher’s and many other businesses that operate in the Solomons of the appalling state of lawlessness that has existed there. And what has it done in response to that? It has done absolutely nothing. I have a friend who worked in the Solomons and who had also soldiered in the Middle East and in Oman with me. He has been telling us of the appalling state of affairs in the Solomons for years and of the difficulties faced by New Zealanders there. How can we have a situation whereby a business manager in the Solomons—a New Zealand national; a citizen of this nation—was murdered the police knew who did it and the police were driving around in stolen cars? That happened 18 months to 2 years ago and this Government did nothing—not a thing. 
Stephen Franks 
: A New Zealand diplomat died in the Solomons. 
RON MARK 
: A New Zealand diplomat was murdered in the Solomons yet this Government has only just registered now the need to send some people there to help. 
This Government is absolutely pathetically useless when it comes to security issues. This Government takes great credit for buying 105 LAVIIIs that we do not need. That is $750 million down the lav. The Government has bought those for itself against the advice of the Secretary of Defence against the advice of the Chief of Defence Force and most notably against my advice which I tendered to the Government privately long before it signed up to the deal. It went ahead and bought them on the basis of a private discussion between itself and Major General Dodson. Curiously enough we all know who was advising this Labour Government behind the scenes on its defence policy do we not? We do not talk about it but we know it. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Who? 
RON MARK 
: Well the Government certainly spent a lot of time talking to people like Piers Reid and Major General Dodson did it not? So we have ended up in a situation whereby the Government pats itself on the back for having bought all those wonderful vehicles while totally ignoring the stresses and strains that it brings on its personnel in terms of receiving them and bringing them into service. 
Therein lies the problem. This Government in deploying these people to the Solomons—police and Defence Force personnel—has absolutely no understanding of the stretch that it is putting our defence forces to. Yes we will get a little kudos around the world and maybe that will go some way towards helping Helen Clark when she finishes leading the Labour Party to become Kofi Annan’s successor. I think that is what she has her eye on and she may well get a good reputation in the United Nations for having stretched our Defence Force personnel in order to pander to her political needs. But the reality is that we should take a good cold hard look at the staffing levels of our Defence Force. 
I ask this Labour Government how many of its members would be prepared to pack up their bags leave their families behind go overseas and serve in the Solomons come back from there and then 3 months later pack their bags and go to Afghanistan? They do not need an answer to that question because the truth is that not one of the members of that Government has ever worn a uniform—not one. Government members have no understanding— 
Hon Annette King 
: I did. I had my dental nurses uniform. 
RON MARK 
: I am sorry. The Minister was a dental nurse and she looked good in that uniform too. I hear that down in Courtenay Place they all want to see her in her nurses uniform again. But that is by the by. The point is— 
Hon Annette King 
: So what’s wrong with dental nurses? 
RON MARK 
: The Minister was a lovely dental nurse and she should go back to being one. That is how Labour members treat the issue of the defence forces: with frivolity and humour and by diverting attention from the issue. The point is that our defence forces are stretched and not only are they stretched totally— 
Jill Pettis 
: And that is how patronising that member is towards women. 
RON MARK 
: Here we go. Jill Pettis is really on her bike at the moment is she not? She should read her own papers—the papers given to the Government by the Defence Force—that state that Defence Force personnel are suffering from stress. People are being subjected to burnout and people are being elevated to levels they have not been trained for. Do I not recall this Government making big about its employment relations about how it looks after staff and about how it is worried about people who are subject to stress—except it would seem when they are in uniform? 
 This Government does not give a toss. It hands out medals that may have cost $10 or $15 and attends parades all over the world in exotic places like Paris Gallipoli Turkey and Cassino. But when it came to the hard-core business of putting up the pay of defence personnel in 1 year it took this Government 4 years to do so. In the 4-year period that it took this Government to do that the drift out into civvy street was substantial. This Government is not in a position to recover from that. It has got rid of the air combat capability and watched people leave the Air Force in droves. That is not over. As more disgruntled Air Force people hit the 20-year superannuation mark they will march too and the problem will be compounded. 
I have not even talked about our overstretched overworked under-resourced police force that this Government has just totally ignored even though the Police has more money and more personnel. Given the level of crime in this country and the soft mealy-mouthed policies of this Government our police are more overworked than ever. To slice off the most experienced and valuable people and send them to the Solomons without making commensurate adjustments is totally irresponsible. 
This Government has a lot more to answer for. Many many more articles such as those that have appeared in the  
New Zealand Herald 
 in recent weeks will appear about our forces all over the world and those articles will eventually bring this Government to account for its failure to recognise the needs of our Defence Force and our police force. I ask members to mark my words on that.