Borrows Chester: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Borrows Chester: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:17475] 
CHESTER BORROWS (National—Whanganui) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call in respect of the work of the law and order Minister—Minister Collins the Minister of Corrections and the Minister of Police. It is very interesting to note that nobody from the other side of the Chamber decided to jump up and seek a call after the Minister completed her speech. The reason for that is that the National Government has taken the heat out of the law and order debate. The issues that were going on within the police portfolio and within the corrections portfolio up until December 2008 have dissipated away because the Government has taken some initiative. 
This Government has built on work that was done under the previous Government around police numbers. At the end of 2008 it was obvious that if the Government did not take some action in South Auckland or Counties-Manukau in respect of where the state of affairs had got to around law and order issues and policing in South Auckland there would be some big trouble. The National Government committed to putting 300 new staff into South Auckland. What did that do? It put 25 two-manned incident cars their supervisors and their relievers on the front line 24 hours a day. What did that do? It drove down crime in Counties-Manukau. It took the number of murders down in the year after Labour left Government by 57.1 percent. 
People in this Chamber will recall no doubt as those listening on radio or television will recall the early stages of 2008 when we had a horrific number of aggravated robberies and murders in the South Auckland area. People will remember for instance the murder of Navtej Singh and a number of others and that the terrible situation there was put down by the then Prime Minister to the effect of the “mother of all Budgets” and by the police Minister to the effect of the position of the sun and the moon. Well the National Government has worked hard in this area and has had some stunning results. 
As a result of law and order policy implemented as part of the 100 days of action programme we saw the completion of the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act and we have seen $36.5 million of assets seized in the first years of operations in that particular area. The P busts had a street value of $30.4 million in 2010 up by one-third over the take seized in 2009. Police safety orders were another initiative of this Government and 2773 orders were issued as at the end of January. A number of people said those orders would just be breached in any event. Actually there have been only 186 breaches. This is all good news. Do members remember the street racing crime that was prevalent under the previous Government and caused all sorts of headaches? There has been a reduction of 18 percent just in that particular area of crime. The people of Christchurch have noticed that particularly and are relieved about that. The number of confiscation orders was 49; that has shut it down completely. 
I congratulate not only the Minister in the chair but the members of the police operating under her administration and direction on the huge successes they have had. Just recently I visited the child and sexual abuse centre on Auckland’s Great South Road and was shown around there by Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Pizzini. He ran through the work that they do there and how the various agencies work together in a very collaborative way to deal with sexual offences and child abuse offenses. I was incredibly impressed with the level of professionalism that has come into this area of police investigations. It was noticeably different from my experience in the time when I was in the police. 
In respect of prison capacity and in respect of prison rehabilitation I commend the Minister for her work in these areas. I commend her for the reduced level of recidivism we have seen the enhanced number of mental health opportunities available to deal with the 65 percent of prisoners who do have mental health problems and the drug and alcohol beds that are available for the 83 percent of prisoners who have drug and alcohol issues and dependency issues. The work we have done in 2 years in Government in respect of that has resulted in a doubling of the number of beds that are available for those prisoners. 
It is great to see the level of confidence in the police has been completely enhanced— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but the bell is not working and his time is about to expire. 
CHESTER BORROWS 
: —and the attrition rate in the police which was very high under the previous Government is now less than 1 percent. I congratulate the Minister. 
Report noted.