Mark Ron: General Debate 
Mark Ron: General Debate 
[Volume:633;Page:5220] 
RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 Today I raised a question in the House about stab-resistant body armour. I raised that question in the House because of reports in the Christchurch  
Press 
 and the  
Dominion Post  
recently that the body armour that was promised has not been issued. I take the House back to 8 June 2005 when the Commissioner of Police was brought before the Finance and Expenditure Committee. I raised with him the issue that it had been some 5 years and we were still waiting for stab-resistant body armour. 
Why did we raise that question? New Zealand First believes that our policemen and policewomen who put on the blue uniform and go into the community to protect us our communities and our properties are people whom we value. They are people who do a very dangerous job and they should be looked after by the Government and by this House. We raised the question particularly because on 8 June when I pressed the commissioner he gave a commitment that the armour would be issued in one year. I said to him: “If it’s not issued will you resign?” and he said yes. 
So we raised the question today and I showed the House the photographs I am holding up. Interesting are they not? These are photographs of a wounded American police officer. Was not Nick Smith’s response interesting? Dr Nick Smith the nationally renowned erratic MP objected and stopped New Zealand First tabling some of these photos. The question is why did we table those photos. We tabled those photos to make a couple of points. Firstly the National Party itself agrees with New Zealand First that crime is up. It agrees that violent crime is up. It agrees that youth crime is escalating out of control and that the level of violence from youth crime is at historic levels. 
 A policewoman has been critically injured and hospitalised and when New Zealand First tries to draw attention to it National objects. National members say that the photographs are of a police officer from the United States. Well I say to them: here is a photograph of a New Zealand police officer in hospital with his baby beside him. Now the National members are laughing—I want this in  
Hansard 
. David Carter is laughing about wounded police officers. David Carter and the National members rave on about how they support the police but here in the House they heap scorn mirth and derision when we try to raise the issue of police safety. This shows how little the National Party understands about policing. 
Internationally within the police the profession of policing is considered a family affair. A police officer knows that the crimes we see in the United States today will be visited upon the community here in New Zealand tomorrow. The warnings are there clear for everybody to see. In 5 years the police have not seen the stab-resistant body armour issued. Now it has taken another year beyond the year in which the Government said it would deliver. We bring this issue to the House because we do not want to see a photo of a New Zealand police officer bearing wounds such as these from a knife-wielding assailant. When we do—God hope we do not but it is obvious that it is going to take another year to get this body armour out into the hands of the troops who need it—then New Zealand First will come back to National which considers it a laughing matter; we will come back to the Government which has been slow and tardy in making things happen; and we will come back to the Commissioner of Police and ask him what he will do to put right the crime inflicted against the family of that police officer. 
Is it not amazing? We all want so much out of the police. There are gangs running rampant yet when New Zealand First proposes legislation to this House to outlaw gangs—to make it illegal to be a member of a gang and to make it an offence just as we did with terrorist organisations—people like National members laugh. They say it is not possible. The Minister of Police herself says that she thinks we are dreaming. We do have a dream in New Zealand First. We have a dream that the New Zealand police will be effectively staffed and resourced; we have a dream that the public will support the police; we have a dream that National might one day take the police seriously; and we have a dream to make it into Government one day so that we can see the serious resourcing of the police force through—something that David Carter who is heading for another 3 years in Opposition should be having nightmares about.