Newman Muriel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Newman Muriel: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:610;Page:7292] 
1. Dr MURIEL NEWMAN (ACT NZ) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: By what percentage did the number of methamphetamine laboratories found by police in the year 2002 exceed the number found in the year 1999? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 Police have done a superb job in increasing the number of seizures of methamphetamine laboratories to 147 in the year 2002 from five seizures in 1999 which is an increase of 2840 percent. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: With the Minister’s own figures suggesting a methamphetamine epidemic under his watch with the Commissioner of Police linking the 30 percent jump in murders to methamphetamine and with 50 methamphetamine crimes committed this month alone why do we have to wait until next year to re-establish the dedicated police teams to deal with this problem when the Minister organised the police deployment to the Solomons in a week? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: There are already teams of police dealing with methamphetamine hence the very good percentage of detection of more laboratories. We use crime squads and drug squads and the police are doing a very good job with the help of the public. Methamphetamine is a curse on this land and it takes the public to combat that. Of course it takes some time to train scientists to be able to deal with the evidence. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Could the Minister outline what specific action the Government has taken to combat the use of methamphetamine? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Government has reclassified methamphetamine as a class A drug meaning imprisonment for importing manufacturing and supplying methamphetamine. It has allocated $6.6 million over 4 years in this year’s Budget for the clandestine laboratory clean-up teams and increased the number of such teams. It has given police greater search and seizure powers without warrant where there is reasonable suspicion that the drug is present and enabled police to work with the Customs Service to stop its import. The Government has also given the Customs Service more powers. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: When will the Government amend the Proceeds of Crime Act so that drug-dealing gangs will have to prove that their assets were gained legally or face confiscation of those assets? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Government is currently working on that. 
Ron Mark 
: Does the Minister remember the police request for an extra three—not two—full-time clandestine laboratory response units as opposed to the two that this Government gave the police and on what basis given the 2450 percent increase in laboratories discovered over the last 3 years does he and his Government believe they know better than the police and that this country needs only two such teams as opposed to the three that the police asked for? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Government looked at the evidence and as with all Government departments they always ask for more than they think they will get. They received two and I think they have done very very well. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: With regard to the control of methamphetamines—something everyone in this House is concerned about—is the Minister aware of the very clear evidence from the Netherlands that its policy of separating the market for hard drugs from the market for cannabis by way of sensible cannabis law reform has led to it having one of the lowest rates of hard drug addiction in the Western World and a rate far lower than that in the United States of America? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The New Zealand Police liaison officer in London has established a formal relationship with the Dutch synthetic drugs unit so they are working closely as they are with other police throughout the world. 
Ron Mark 
: Noting that the House has already heard from the Minister that the two clean-up teams will be established in January next year can the Minister confirm that the people who are currently doing that work today are members of the special tactics group and how does his recent decision to send a special tactics group off to the Solomons now impact on the overall ability of the police to deal with methamphetamine laboratory clean-ups? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I cannot confirm that to the member. I believe that most of the people going to the Solomon Islands will not be front-line police but they will be replaced. I can tell the House that the next intake of police at the college will have 100 members rather than the 80 planned. 
Dr Muriel Newman 
: How can anyone have confidence in a police Minister who has allowed a $400 million gang-controlled methamphetamine industry to develop under his nose with dealers now using children as young as 11 to sell the drug to feed their addictions when police have been telling him all along that they have not the resources to be able to deal with this problem? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I heard an interjection. That is the only warning. No interjections while questions are being asked. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I do not think anyone thinks the Minister of Police is responsible for the growth of methamphetamine. Just as the gangs have always dealt with cannabis etc.—it has been an ongoing problem—it is organised crime but the police are cracking down on it and doing a good job. It is a pity that that member does not recognise the good job the police are doing. 
Ron Mark 
: I thank the Minister—organised crime! Can the Minister then please tell the House why when the police were asking in their Budget proposals for this year for an extra 34 full-time officers to develop a unit dedicated to addressing counter-terrorism and organised crime—a unit that would boost the police’s investigative and intelligence capability in order to deal with organised crime—his Government said “No”? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The police have run a surplus over the last 12 months. It is very simple. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I ask you to reflect on the answer that the Minister gave. It did not address the question. The question was very clear about why the Government did not fund it and the Minister gave an answer that in no way could be interpreted as addressing the question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: On this occasion I agree with the member. Will the Minister please expand on the answer. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Because the Government had a surplus of money it could put money into that itself. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Perhaps the Minister might like to repeat his answer. What he actually told the House was that because the Government has a surplus of money it could put some money in. We agree with that. However the question he was asked was why the Government did not put in any money. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I thought what the Minister might have meant was: because the police had a surplus but I am not here to judge the quality of the answer. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: The Government put the money in and the police ended up not spending all the money that they were given by a very good Government.