Mitchell MarkHon MARK MITCHELL (National—Whangaparāoa): Thank you Mr Chair. I just wanted to pick up on the Minister's comment in terms of acknowledging our New Zealand Police service and I'm glad that he did that. But I'd remind the Minister that it's not just on events like we see today with protests out in front of Parliament. Our New Zealand police officers are out there doing an outstanding job every day and every night protecting and looking after their communities and I'd like to see the Minister—and he made a very good point. He said that the police aren't responsible for the ram raids and they're absolutely not. They're not responsible for the ram raids. In fact I'll tell you what: the police are not responsible for most of the social issues that this country faces. However more often than not the blame is laid at their feet and I'd like to see the Minister—even in the last week when our police service was accused of being racist—actually come out and defend them and say No." We have one of the best police services in the world. They don't get to choose what they deal with. They just have to deal with what's put in front of them and I think Minister that you've hit the nail on the head yourself by saying that they don't get to choose who's actually doing the ram raids. They don't get to choose who's joining the gangs. They don't get to choose who's perpetrating domestic violence. They don't get to choose what groups decide to do that in numbers. What they do do is they have to pick up the pieces and respond to it and do the best that they can to actually keep our communities safe. So it would be very nice for the Minister to come out and be very clear and refute and push back on criticisms of our police service. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be regulated—they are. We have the Independent Police Conduct Authority and in my experience any rotten apples in the police are identified and drummed out very quickly because most members of the police understand that they're joining a massive legacy of the people that served before them and they want to protect that and they want to maintain the highest possible standards and serve our country without fear or favour. I want to come back to the police numbers and I do want to seek clarity from the Minister on this because actually numbers do matter in a service like the police. The front line have become a bit fatigued with the debate around this and the moving of the goalposts. In the pre-Budget announcement the Government announced that they would deliver the 1800 police target by December 2022. That was the new number we were given. The Minister came to the House and was very clear about the fact that the numbers—the 1800 net new police officers—would be on the street serving their communities by the end of this year. But then the incoming Minister Chris Hipkins in answer to a written question said that "Actually the target is going to be June 2023." and now he's stood in the House and he's given an even more confused sort of answer: "Oh we're not too sure. You know it might be the beginning of the year maybe the middle of the year—you know I really don't know." It doesn't give a high level of confidence Minister that you're across your portfolio on something as critically important as the numbers. Well the other members across the House think it's funny. I can tell you right now—I can tell you right now—that the officers that are out there working night shift don't think it's funny. They'd actually like to see some numbers. They'd actually like to see some additional support. The other question that I have for you Minister that I'd like you to answer is that in Budget 2018 the targets for the median response to emergency traffic events were: urban seven to eight minutes; and rural 11 to 13 minutes. In Budget 2021-22 the targets have been increased: for urban 10 to 11 minutes; and rural 15 to 16 minutes. You're increasing the response time. In my view a modern police service should be decreasing response times. Response times should be getting better not worse. So I'd like the Minister to stand and actually respond to both those issues that have been raised. Thank you."