Collins Judith: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Collins Judith: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
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Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I will just take a moment to acknowledge the contribution of Jeanette Fitzsimons. Mrs Fitzsimons will soon be making her valedictory speech. Although I do not think we have ever agreed on anything other than possibly the need for insulation in people’s homes I have to say that in the almost 8 years I have been here Jeanette Fitzsimons has always been a remarkably well-mannered member who has brought a degree of sanity to debates particularly on issues on which we do not always agree. She has always been a very responsible member of Parliament. I think we should all be very pleased for Jeanette that she has been able to find a way to come to retirement but also that she will be replaced as that is what happens in political parties. 
The Prime Minister’s statement which he spoke on yesterday was reasonably unusual for Prime Minister’s statements in that it talked about issues that were controversial and important. It took all the headlines both today and yesterday and probably will for some time. That is in stark contrast to the contribution from the Leader of the Opposition whose great remedy for the economy is to cap the salaries of 16 of our top public servants. He seems to have forgotten that a Labour Government signed off on a formal policy in 2005 to increase salaries for chief executive officers by 5 percent a year for 5 years. The National Government on taking office cancelled that. It seems that he has had a little memory lapse. But we are not here to talk about the Leader of the Opposition because frankly why would we? I am here to talk about the speech that the Prime Minister gave from the Throne—in Parliament here—and about the need to talk about some of the big issues. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: From the Throne! He’s “King John” now. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Ms Dalziel suggests “King John”. Well there have been sillier names and I am glad she agrees that he is a fantastic Prime Minister. 
Let us look at law and order. When we came into Government we took over from a Government that did not accept that methamphetamine—P—was a major issue in New Zealand. We have had to clamp down on gangs and P. We have taken action on violent crime introduced tougher sentences for crimes against children given police extra powers in respect of DNA boosted police funding by almost $200 million and we are well on the way towards the extra 600 police that we promised by the next election. We have passed anti - boy-racing laws which include the ability to crush the cars of repeat street racing offenders and we have approved the roll-out of 720 Tasers to our front-line police which will get under way in the next month or so. We have passed laws that put victims first with on-the-spot protection orders and a victims’ levy. We have a Fresh Start programme for young offenders with initiatives and programmes to steer young people away from a life of crime. Those are some of the things we have already done in just one year. One would have to say that generally last year was a very big year for law and order in this country—and it is about time. 
This year we have some great things happening. The police have been trialling some very good new initiatives particularly in Counties-Manukau and that has led to quite a dramatic decrease in crime. We always like to be a little bit careful about making statements like that but it does seem to have been working certainly for the last few months since it has been trialled. If we can stop people committing crime it means we will have fewer victims which means ultimately we will have fewer people in our jails and fewer dysfunctional families and that is a fantastic thing. 
When we took over as Government I took over a corrections portfolio that was in some disarray after the “fine” work that had been done by Mr Goff as the former Minister. We took over a prison system that was at crisis point. We were fast approaching the situation of not having enough beds for our prisoners. The probation service had had huge amounts of work put on to it but without extra funding for staff. It was appalling to find that in September 2008 just before the election the Department of Corrections had put in an emergency bid for extra funding for its probation and parole staff. The department knew that it was in dire trouble. That request was not even replied to by the then Minister. Frankly we inherited a real mess. In 1 year—and I pay tribute to the great work of Department of Corrections staff—we have had a huge turn-round. That has been made with the assistance and support of our colleagues in Cabinet the Prime Minister and our caucus to give the Department of Corrections the help and funding it needed but also the support it needed to do the right thing. 
Part of that right thing was not just housing prisoners because we do that already—and by the way we are going very well with our double-bunking and container cells so we have enough beds for quite some time yet. But in terms of rehabilitation of prisoners we are doubling the amount of positions available for rehabilitation of our prisoners and that is extraordinarily important particularly when it comes to drug and alcohol addictions. There is one thing that seems to flow right through our prisons and that is drug and alcohol addictions. That seems to be one thing that most prisoners have in common with each other. Of course those addictions affect not only our prisoners but also most important their victims and their families. Every time that we send someone to jail a family is deeply affected. In many cases a victim is also deeply affected and the victim’s family too—and by the way those families and victims never get out on parole. 
One of the things we are doing this year is bringing back to Parliament the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill. It will be very interesting to see how parties line up on that. I acknowledge the work of the ACT Party which has worked long and hard with National over the last year to get that bill into a form that we believe is reasonable fair and balanced. At the same time the bill sends a very strong message of our support for victims and our condemnation of repeat violent offenders who do not care about the rest of society. 
Of course none of this is possible without some money to pay for it. That is why it is very important to get this economy going. I am one of those people who believe very strongly that a strong justice system helps an economy. Frankly if we look at some of the countries around the world that are very violent and not law abiding their economies very seldom work very well. That is partly because of corruption fear and the fact that a lot of very talented people will not go to work or live there. So it is important that we deal with the economy. The Prime Minister has suggested that there could be an increase in GST. He suggested as well that anything like that would be accompanied by a great deal of support given to our lowest-income earners so that they are not unduly stressed financially. I think it is important to acknowledge that we are in a competition in this country; we are in a competition with other countries for the best and most talented people for people who want to come and set up businesses here and who want to live here and be part of our Kiwi way of life. We have to understand that. We do not agree that we should give up just because Australia has more minerals that are closer to the surface than we do. We actually have lots of minerals in this country. We have water as well. We have an agricultural industry that is frankly second to none in the world. 
We have people who are highly educated and who are doing very well but we also know that about 20 percent of our New Zealand children are not achieving anywhere near the level they need should they wish to join a modern economy. That is simply not good enough. I do not agree with people who say to me that the parents of those children do not care. That has been put to me just recently and frankly I think it is a disgrace. I have seen in my electorate of Papakura in some of the schools where there has been a real effort to engage with parents particularly of very troubled children that the more parents are engaged with by the school the more they are brought in the more they are told about how their child is progressing or not progressing—what they are doing well at what they are having trouble with—the more that parents are empowered and the better the outcome for children. I do not believe for a moment that we should ever write off children because of the poverty their parents may live in. We should never ever do that. To do so is actually to write off people from before the time they are born. I am not prepared to do that nor is the Prime Minister and nor is this Government. We believe very very strongly that every child has the right to the best education. We also believe in parents because frankly if our parents do not love us who will? We see parents who are empowered and who will take this very seriously. I am very proud to stand in the House and support the Prime Minister’s statement.