Hipkins Chris: Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill — Second Reading 
Hipkins Chris: Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill — Second Reading 
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CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 For the people at home who listened to that last speech I tell them that that was the Hon Dr Richard Worth the new Minister of Internal Affairs filibustering on one of the Government’s own bills because the Government is so desperate not to get to the next bill on the Order Paper which is the Oaths Modernisation Bill. Which Minister is in charge of the Oaths Modernisation Bill? Could that be Dr Worth himself? I am staggered that Dr Worth does not want to get to the Oaths Modernisation Bill. Perhaps that could be because of some of the comments he made on that bill last time it came before the House. 
I am happy to take this call on the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill which was introduced by the previous Labour Government. The bill is based on the principle that crime must not pay and Labour believes that this legislation will uphold that precious principle. It will allow us to tackle gang leaders who do not get their own hands dirty but who enjoy the benefits of their fellow gang members’ illegal activity. 
I noticed Chester Borrows speaking earlier about the recent raids that took place last week in Pomare which is a State housing estate in my electorate. I want to know how the National Government thinks that stripping policing resources out of Upper Hutt to send them to South Auckland will help the police with situations like that in Pomare. 
Paul Quinn 
: Rubbish! Rubbish! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Paul Quinn thinks that is rubbish yet his Government wants to take police away from Upper Hutt by merging the Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt policing districts. The Government wants to take police out of Upper Hutt. It wants to remove police without telling the community about it. The community found out about that only because somebody in the police leaked it. Otherwise we would never have found out about it. Is it not an outrage that this Government which promised to increase police numbers wants to take police away from Upper Hutt? Chester Borrows did not mention that in his speech when he talked about the gang raids in Pomare. He did not mention that at all because the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill requires the New Zealand Police to be the recovery body. How will the Police be able to be the recovery body if resources are taken away from it? 
I can tell members on behalf of the community of Upper Hutt that that community is very concerned about this National Government’s proposal to strip away its policing and to strip away its level of community safety as part of the Government’s 100-day action plan. That proposal was certainly not on the 100-day action plan that National put to people before the election. This is a whole new thing that the National Government has introduced—to take police out of Upper Hutt and move them to South Auckland. So much for democracy! 
We know a little bit about law and order in Upper Hutt as it is the home of Rimutaka Prison. Is it not interesting that National wants to lock up more people in Rimutaka Prison and strip the policing resources out of Upper Hutt at the same time? I can tell the House that the people of Upper Hutt will not stand for that. The people of Upper Hutt will not stand by while the National Government steals their police resources to send police to other parts of the country in order to meet the Government’s manifesto commitments which it did not cost properly and which it has no idea how to pay for. Now the Government is raiding police resources in Upper Hutt so that it can meet those commitments and I tell members that we will not stand for that. 
I come back to the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill. Labour believes that this bill finds an appropriate balance between targeting the proceeds of crime and protecting personal property rights. Australia Ireland and the United Kingdom have passed similar laws— 
Paul Quinn 
: It’s your bill. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: That is right and it is a good bill too. I will keep my contribution to this short though because I am looking forward to the debate on the Oaths Modernisation Bill as part of the Government’s 100-day action plan agenda. So I will end with that. I commend this bill to the House. It is a good bill. It was introduced by the previous Labour Government but it is being pushed through by the National Government because it does not have any bills of its own.