Sio Hon Aupito WilliamAUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Labour—Māngere): That contribution was a disgrace. I just want to say to the member Sarah Dowie that here is a paper written by the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference—bishops from Auckland Dunedin Hamilton Wellington Christchurch and Palmerston North—that describes our justice system in these words: It is a national disgrace." And they are deeply disturbed by the growing prison population in New Zealand.Our justice sector is a critical sector—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I am going to get the member to sit down so that I can explain to the member Sarah Dowie again that as chair of the Justice and Electoral Committee she gets an extra call that does not count against her party's calls. It is meant to be as far as possible neutral and non-partisan. And then later on if she wants to make a call that is broader on justice issues she is able to do that. I will thank her not to give me further guidance.Kris Faafoi: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I just noticed that during your ruling the clock was still continuing.The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I will make an adjustment for that. I did not make an adjustment in the previous speech. But as I do it at some stage fairly soon it would be good if the speaker on his feet could also tie what he is saying—it will not be that hard—into the Estimates. Thank you.AUPITO WILLIAM SIO: Thank you for the intervention. I am a little bit calmed down now. Our justice sector is a critical sector alongside housing health and education. It is a sector that New Zealanders rely upon when things get worse. But I want to say at the outset that National has utterly failed to properly resource our Justice Sector.These are not just my words. They are the words that are also described in the number of reports with Corrections and with the prisons that our select committee underwent. Once upon a time it used to be that if you got into an accident—if somebody got hit by a car or crashed—when you called for the police to be present you could rely that they would be there. Today the feedback that I constantly get and no doubt many members of this House get is that when you call the police they will not be able to turn up. If there is a burglary they will not be able to turn up.We have had a spate of dairy break-ins and robberies in South Auckland and one of the biggest complaints from dairy owners is that when they call for police they do not turn up. We automatically as a community blame the police. But I want to make it absolutely clear—and these are not just my words; they are the words of the committee—that the reason why our police are unable to cope with the amount of call-ins from the general public is the severe underfunding by this Government. It is a direct consequence of the budget cuts that the Government introduced when it first came into power and it will continue to be this way. It is not confined just to the police. There has been ample evidence provided through the select committees and through the reports that have been tabled in this House that there has been underfunding right through the main core elements of society including the justice sector.Let me point out a few things that this report on the Police says. On page 239 it states: "Some of us are concerned that if the Police do not have the resources they need they will not be able to get on top of crime that saw 11000 more victimisations last year than the previous year mental health to the fore and methamphetamine out of control." That is a direct quote of what was discussed at the select committee.When this Opposition party raised with the Government that we need more police on the ground it was the recommendation by the police themselves that they needed 1165 sworn officers. What did this Government do? It provided 880—880 which is 285 fewer than requested by the police.To this date we in South Auckland continue to ask where our number of sworn officers is out of the 880 who were promised. That is still not forthcoming. In the meantime total victimisations have risen 3 percent assaults have risen 4 percent sexual assaults have risen 3 percent robberies have risen 23 percent and burglaries have risen 10 percent including a 29 percent increase in the eastern districts.It is a shambles and it is a national disgrace as the bishops conference of New Zealand has deemed our deep concern about what is happening in our justice sector but this Government fails to recognise it. The manifestation of the Government's failure to recognise that we are in crisis mode is its continuing to underfund these things. That will have rippling effects in the years ahead.I want to finish off by saying with Corrections that housing is a big issue for those who are released and who have public protection orders against them. We saw that when the people of Māngere put a petition through to this Government. I am disappointed. Whilst I have deep respect for the chair of the Justice and Electoral Committee I am disappointed that the members of that committee did not want to hear those submitters personally."