Goudie Sandra: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Goudie Sandra: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 30 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:10200. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
4. 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: What reports has she received on the key factors that influenced the 2009 crime statistics? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 The crime statistics today show that New Zealand has a serious violent element that has no respect for people the community or the law. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Surprise surprise! 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: It might well be a surprise to Clayton Cosgrove but it is not a surprise to members on this side of the House. Two big factors in our crime statistics are reported family violence and an increase in alcohol and drug arrests due to an increased focus on these crimes by police. Despite this— 
Hon Rodney Hide 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am sorry to interrupt the Minister while she is on her feet but I am sitting very close to her and I cannot hear a word. A constant barrage is coming from the Opposition benches. The Opposition might not like to hear the answer but I certainly would and I am sure that other members would too. 
Hon Darren Hughes 
: Speaking to the point of order Mr Speaker— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I do not think I need further assistance on this one. I ask members to be a little more reasonable but I do not blame this situation totally on the Opposition at all because the Minister in answering the question included a provocative comment directed across the House which obviously brought more interjection back. The remedy is partly in the Minister’s hands: to not be unnecessarily or gratuitously provocative. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Well I will continue. Despite this and despite the— 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. You had barely called the Minister to answer the question when the barrage of noise began again. I am sitting marginally closer to her than Mr Hide was but I could not hear a word of what was being said. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I thank the honourable member. On this occasion the Minister had barely opened her mouth so the Opposition front-benchers did not have the excuse that she had been provocative yet there was an immediate barrage. I now ask seriously for members to show a little more respect for the House. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Despite this the police have achieved an outstanding result in solving 47.8 percent of all reported crime—the highest level since electronic records began in 1978. In fact just today the police completed a major organised crime operation in the Bay of Plenty with 115 arrests the destruction of thousands of cannabis plants and the seizing of methamphetamine cash and stolen property—yet another great result from the police. 
Sandra Goudie 
: What other steps has this Government taken to address the issues raised by the crime statistics? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: We have taken action to toughen sentences parole and bail for violent offenders; we have improved police powers and cracked down on gangs and P; and most important we have supported the victims of crime. We have given the police new tools to go after criminals including 720 new Tasers and a new power to take DNA samples from offenders arrested for imprisonable offences. We are putting 300 extra police on the front line and 200 police officers are already deployed in South Auckland. This means that the police will catch more criminals which will be reflected in the statistics. The more police we have the more rocks they can look under and that is exactly what is happening. 
Sandra Goudie 
: What steps has the Government taken to help the police cope with family violence? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: Actually the police have an incredibly difficult job. They are called in to clean up after the most horrendous cases of violence and domestic violence putting their own safety on the line in most of these cases. In addition to the raft of laws effective from 1 December 2009 from July this year the police will be able to issue on-the-spot protections orders. That means they will be able to remove immediately any alleged violent person from a home for a period of up to 5 days without having to wait in some cases for quite a long time for a court date. It is very important that this Government is backing the police giving them 600 extra staff and 720 Tasers and is backing the police when they have to take tough decisions about their safety and the safety of others. 
Hon Annette King 
: What evidence does she have—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Any member of this House is entitled to ask a question. 
Hon Annette King 
: What evidence does she have to back up her claim that welfare dependants—in other words beneficiaries—are responsible for the explosion of violent crime in New Zealand which is at the highest rate we have seen in a decade in terms of murders; and is not that claim just a continuation of the despicable attack on beneficiaries aimed at driving a wedge between those the Government believes are battlers and those it writes off as bludgers? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: If that member is going to start to quote me she should quote the entire piece. I said that intergenerational welfare dependency is actually a driver of crime. If members want to consider that they should just think about the Harris Brothers gang about whom the Minister for Social Development and Employment alerted the public just a few days ago—gang members on benefits and too sick to work according to that member. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: To the Minister— 
Hon Members 
: Oh oh! 
Mr SPEAKER 
: As I said a moment ago any member of this House has a right to ask a supplementary question. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: So is the Minister saying that when statistics show more crime under Labour that means there was more crime but when the statistics show there is more crime under National this means the Minister is doing a good job? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: I say to that member that not once as the Minister of Police will I ever blame the sun and the moon for a rise in crime as Annette King did—not once. 
Hon Annette King 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I take exception to that comment. A retraction of those comments was put in the  
New Zealand Herald 
—[ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I ask the member to resume her seat for a moment. I say to the Government benches on this occasion that a point is being heard and it will be heard in silence although I point out to the honourable member that if she wishes to make a personal explanation she should seek leave to do that. 
Hon Annette King 
: I seek leave to make a personal explanation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to make a personal explanation. Is there any objection? There is none. 
Hon Annette King 
: It was reported in 2007 that I had said that the moon and the weather were responsible for a rise in crime. In fact what I said was misreported. I was reporting something that was said to me; it was not something that I said. I have corrected that in the House before and I expect my word to be taken. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I thank the honourable member and that will be the case. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I contest the answer given by the Minister. It did not address the question at all. It talked about an extraneous quote which we now know is not true; it did not address the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think that if the member reflects he will see that when asking the type of question he asked he will get an answer that he hardly expects. I think that is what he got and we have had a personal explanation to deal with that answer. I cannot expect a more precise answer to that kind of question.