Tolley Anne: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tolley Anne: Adjournment — Sittings of the House 
[Sitting date: 12 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7489. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I am proud to stand here as a member of the New Zealand National Party caucus and a Minister in a National-led Government. Why? Because this Government delivers. Despite some of the most difficult economic times since the 1930s the New Zealand economy is in better shape now than it was in 2008 when we took over from that lot over there. Why? Firstly because we have a fantastic leader who by the way can write his own speeches and we have a united caucus. 
Hon Simon Bridges 
: We’ve got a fantastic finance Minister as well. 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY 
: I was just going to say we have got a fantastic finance Minister. He can add up and he can subtract and multiply which is more than we can say for them over there. Will you stop taking my lines Mr Bridges. 
We have got strong clear plans to strengthen our economy. We are supporting Christchurch and the rebuild of Christchurch. We have supported the elderly and some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable through these tough times. We are focused on delivering Better Public Services. In other words we are working hard for New Zealanders but we are working smarter and better. 
What a great year our New Zealand Police have had. There is a 5.9 percent drop in the crime rate and that is on top of a 7 percent drop in the crime rate last year. What a fantastic job they are doing rolling out Policing Excellence which includes things like Prevention First which is getting out and working in the communities. There are 33 neighbourhood policing teams working in some of our most hard-hit crime areas working with communities to stop crime from happening. The better use of technology sees our officers not having to go back into the station so much and that is how we are delivering more front-line policing hours than ever before and that is making a real difference in our communities. I would like to thank all of our police staff sworn and non-sworn up and down the country. They are brave people. They are extremely patient people. They are ultimate professionals. I wish them all a very merry Christmas. 
What about the Department of Corrections? Well it has seen a 5 percent drop in reoffending rates. What does that mean? That actually means this year we have seen 3700 fewer victims of crime and about 925 fewer offenders. I think that has made a big difference in some of our communities. We have rolled out more education more training and skills and more alcohol and drug rehabilitation to more prisoners than ever before. Even in these tough economic times we have been putting education in front of remand prisoners which has never been done before. We are making a real difference to turning round the lives of some of these prisoners. I think our prison officers and our corrections staff have done a magnificent job this year. I want to put on record our thanks to them and wish them a merry Christmas too. 
In addition we have the Serious Fraud Office. Its job is to bring those white-collar criminals to justice. It also has had a fantastic year with prosecutions and cases before the courts. Serious Fraud Office staff are the ones who are getting those guys into court and making them take ownership and be responsible for all those people out in New Zealand whom they have scammed out of their life-savings. They have got those white-collar criminals brought to justice. I want to thank all of those staff who work in Auckland in particular and wish them a merry Christmas. 
While we are wishing everyone a merry Christmas can I wish Mr Speaker the Deputy Speaker and the Assistant Speakers a merry Christmas. Thank you for your presiding over this House throughout the year. Can I add my thanks to all the staff who work in the precincts of Parliament the Clerks the Hansard people the messengers the cleaners the security people and the people who work in Bellamy’s and down here in the cafeteria. Can I thank my fabulous staff. Can I wish to all the members of this House safe journeys safe celebrations safe swimming and boating and enjoy a New Zealand summer. Kia ora.