Tirikatene Rino: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to MembersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members[Sitting date: 10 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8843. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]11.RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga) to the Minister of Customs: Does she agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “We will confront the P problem using the full force of the Government’s arsenal”; if so why does an experienced Customs officer say that only one in 10 illicit drug imports is being seized at the border?Hon NICKY WAGNER (Minister of Customs): Yes I absolutely support the Prime Minister and we have the objective data to prove it. Fact one increased tools and intelligence by Customs has allowed it to seize a record number of drugs at the border for the last 3 years and 2015 was the highest. Fact two the number of meth users has decreased significantly from 2.2 percent to less than 1 percent. The best news is that they are getting older rather than younger. Fact three the price of meth has remained high and stable. In fact in Australia the price is one of the highest in the world. An increased supply would have seen it plummet.Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. That was a question on notice there being two parts to it and the second part has not been answered.Mr SPEAKER: I agree. Could the Minister address the second part of the question.Hon NICKY WAGNER: There is simply no evidence to support that anonymous claim. As I have said data in terms of the number of interceptions in terms of the number of users and the price of meth refute his rather fanciful ideas.Rino Tirikatene: What proportion of drugs is Customs intercepting at the border?Hon NICKY WAGNER: We are intercepting a larger and increased amount at the border. As I have said we have got increased intelligence and an increase in the tools to do that. Over the last year in terms of—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Would the Minister please resume her seat when I get to my feet. There is a point of order?Rino Tirikatene: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked a very specific question of the Minister and she has not addressed my specific question regarding what proportion of drugs Customs is intercepting at the border.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I invite the member to think carefully about his question. How would any Minister of Customs possibly answer that question accurately? I will allow the Minister to address the question as she was.Rino Tirikatene: Point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have spoken. The member will resume his seat and allow the Minister to complete her answer.Hon NICKY WAGNER: That question is impossible to answer but all the evidence that we have points to increased numbers of interceptions and less use in society and the stable price. If we were not—Rino Tirikatene: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker.Mr SPEAKER: I hope this is a fresh point of order and is not in any way questioning a ruling I have already given. I will hear from Mr Tirikatene.Rino Tirikatene: The Minister alluded in her answer to the primary question that the numbers in the primary question were wrong.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will resume his seat. He is now starting to try my patience. The answer was given very clearly by the Minister. If the member had not been jumping to his feet to raise a point of order he may have heard it more clearly. Does the member have a further supplementary question?Rino Tirikatene: How can the Minister be satisfied that the Customs Service is minimising the smuggling of drugs and precursors into New Zealand when there are only 800 front-line officers engaged in border protection despite having a budget for 1000 officers?Hon NICKY WAGNER: I have absolute confidence in what Customs is doing at our border. What we are finding is that we are putting increased resources into new tools and into new intelligence and actually the use of SmartGate which allows the auto-processing of routine customers and allows our officers to deal with at-risk passengers. We have increased vigilance at the border. Let me reassure you that nothing is left to go past and anything we have found is recorded for future intelligence.Rino Tirikatene: Can she rule out any link between the performance of the Customs Service in intercepting drug precursors at the border and there being no decrease since 2008 in the availability of P?Hon NICKY WAGNER: Yes there is a link. It means that the Customs Service is doing a good job. As I have already said interception numbers have increased. The year 2015 was a record year. The number of P users has dropped and the price has remained stable and high. Those are the best indicators that Customs is doing a good job.