SpeechCHRIS BAILLIE (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on behalf of ACT to speak to the Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill. At the first reading ACT will support this bill and we're just so rapt that this Government has finally accepted that there is a crime problem. It's especially concerning that it's not just a crime problem; it's mainly a youth crime problem going on at the moment. The bill has four main parts: there's a new offence created targeting ram-raiding specifically; you can enable bodily samples to be taken including from 12- to 13-year-olds; digital streaming can be a factor in sentencing as well as other aggravating factors; and the change to enable 12- and 13-year-olds alleged to have committed the new offence to be charged in the Youth Court. It all sounds pretty sensible but a long time coming.On 9 August last year at question time I asked the then Minister of Police: Is there a specific offence code for ram raids; if not will he commit to creating one so that the Government's progress on this issue can be measured over time?" The response was: "How [police] code offences for their purposes is a matter for the police—it's an operational matter." Anyone would think there's an election coming up! The statistics for ram raids are really quite shocking: 1953 ram raids in the last four years which is an average of 40 a month. In 2017 there were 119; 55 of those no offender identified. Five years on—2022—899 ram raids; 429 no offender identified. So far this year: 412 ram raid and 193 offenders have not yet been identified. The number of victims created the people directly affected by these ram raids really amounts to the tens of thousands. It's a shocking statistic.The police are doing a great job but the reality is that they shouldn't have to be dealing with this crime explosion. It's the result of soft-on-crime policies that just don't work. The Government has constantly been told by people with more experience and knowledge than them that this would be the result. Six years on the blind ideology has proven even more damaging than anyone thought would happen. Fog cannons were never the answer and the dairy owners' group said that a couple of years ago. Bollards are a sad indictment on this Government's ability to keep New Zealanders safe and it's certainly not the New Zealand I grew up in.The rhetoric we've listened to over the last three years—that harsher penalties don't work and we need a wraparound approach and that all ACT wants to do is lock them up—seems to be forgotten with this bill. Again is there an election coming up? I realise how difficult this bill must be for Labour the party of no consequences or accountability and the public should always remember that this Government's allies are even worse. The Greens want to defund the police. They refer to police dogs as "attack dogs". And the Māori Party are openly hostile to police with one leader stating that more police on the street means more dead Māori. The other one stated that young people can't commit crime they don't understand what they're doing. They're despicable and naive comments and they're good reasons they should never be in power.This bill is a great example of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted but things should never have got this bad. There will be some interesting debates regarding this with the Attorney-General chiming in today on technicalities that are going to need sorting but it's a start. The irony of this Government being comfortable with these changes after being so critical of any suggestion of harsher sentences and ensuring accountability is not lost. ACT looks forwards to really stopping the crime wave and lawlessness that unfortunately has become all too familiar in New Zealand. Until that happens on 14 October we will support this bill."