Nash StuartSTUART NASH (Labour—Napier): I would like to talk about the New Zealand Police and the review we did of the New Zealand Police. That last speaker Sarah Dowie said that the National Government is the law and order party and that it is visionary for New Zealand. Well the New Zealand Police review actually put that to bed because that is not true in any way shape or form. In fact what we saw is an organisation bereft of the funding needed to really make a difference in our community.What we heard from the commissioner—and I think he must have heard me incorrectly when I did ask him how many police he asked the Minister for because he said he asked the Minister for 880. He did not. Actually Police asked this Government for 1165 more police. The interesting thing about that is that the paper the Hon Judith Collins took to Cabinet actually also asked for 1165 more police. That was the number of sworn officers the commissioner originally said he needed to get on top of crime. That was the number he said he needed to get on top of crime and he was given 880.What is worse is that the budget he was given was $96 million less than Police said it would need for 820 more police. So yet again we are seeing a Government that is not listening to Police and is not listening to our communities. I am really worried that it is going to underfund.Let us take a step back. The Minister signed off a document in May that said there would be no more police for at least 4 more years. Then what happened is that Andrew Little and Jacinda Ardern but mainly Andrew Little showed some leadership. Andrew Little showed that he was listening to the people of New Zealand. Andrew came out and said We've heard. We're going to give you 1000 more police over 3 years."—1000 more police over 3 years. And lo and behold the National Government followed and said: "We'll give you 880 over 4 years." Andrew showed leadership and National followed.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! The member has been here for some time. He knows how to name members. You do not do it by first names.STUART NASH: Mr Little the leader of the—Jono Naylor: Show respect for your leader.STUART NASH: I have immense respect for Andrew Little.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! Who was the member then who commented on my ruling? Did someone comment on my ruling?Jono Naylor: No I interjected on his comment.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): The comments that were made before I ruled?Jono Naylor: I guess so.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Can I just say to members that having assistance—it is a bit like refereeing. It is not very helpful. Mr Naylor you are warned not to help me again please.STUART NASH: All I want to just outline here is that in fact crime is increasing. We were told by Police that there was "a small increase in total crime rates since 2015." In fact the statistics show that burglaries increased by 10288. That is an increase of nearly 200 burglaries a week.The former Minister of Police over there the Hon Judith Collins she understood that. She knew what was needed. That Minister took a paper to Cabinet that said we need 1165 more police. At some point—and I am not too sure why—she was overruled and the Government came out with 880 more police. It is simply not good enough. The reason I say that is that crime is actually out of control and our communities expect us as parliamentarians to do something about that and to address that. There is absolutely no evidence that the Government over there has heard (a) what the police are saying and (b) what the community is saying.There are a couple of other interesting points that need to be made with regard to this report. First of all we heard that 23 shopfronts or kiosks have been closed due to health and safety concerns. They were done well over 14 months ago. It does not take 14 months to address health and safety concerns for community-based kiosks. If there is one thing I have learnt in this portfolio it is that community policing must be at the heart of safe healthy communities. If there is one thing I can tell this Committee it is that Labour will instigate a policy that takes us back to the principle of community policing. The overall police strategy is about prevention first—I completely buy into that. I think it is the right strategy but until we get community policing working it will not be able to be delivered. Thank you."