King Annette: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
King Annette: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:4175] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I thank the three members who have contributed to the estimates debate on Vote Police but I have to say I am extremely disappointed that not one of them said one word of support for the New Zealand Police. Did we hear from members opposite that our police who go out on the streets 24/7 have done and do a good job? There was not one word. We heard snivelling whingeing and groaning from people who want to make political points but who were not prepared to say they were proud of the New Zealand Police. Well I am—I am very proud of the New Zealand Police and I am particularly proud to be their Minister. They are out there working on behalf of New Zealanders. They go into situations most of us cannot even imagine and they do that on our behalf. 
I would like to say to those listening tonight that they ought to be proud of the New Zealand Police for the work they do but they ought to be very disappointed in National’s law and order spokesperson because he did not have a good word to say about the police. In fact the hallmark of his press statements has been to criticise everything that the police do. The police cannot open the door of their car or go out on the streets without the member putting out a press statement to criticise the work that they do. 
I would like to go through some of the issues that were raised by members in their speeches and I would like to start with Kate Wilkinson. She criticised the police because some of them—in fact at this stage it is not the sworn police but some of the non-sworn police—have gone on KiwiHost courses. I just happened to find in my file that in 1996 the National Party in Government were urging New Zealanders and departments to take up the KiwiHost option. It is not about silver service or whether one uses a serviette it is the way one actually deals with the public. So it was OK to have KiwiHost in 1996 but it is a terrible idea 10 years later. I would like to say to members opposite that whatever happens in terms of the police having a good relationship with the public whether it is the people who answer the phone or whatever their job is I think that that is a good thing. I think that is a very good thing because they are a public service. 
Darren Hughes 
: Stick to that line. 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I will stick to that line. I was also interested in the member’s views on road policing. One does not get a ticket in New Zealand unless one breaks the law. If one breaks the law one gets a ticket. That is how it ought to be. The very member who raised the issue of a median strip asked me the same question and I replied: “Yes tickets have been issued.” What she did not tell this Committee which she liked to miss out was that the public had complained about the people who were driving over that median strip. So I take from that that the member could not care a hoot what the public feel about road policing. She does not want people to get tickets when they break the law even if New Zealanders complain. I am pleased that the police listen to the public when they lay complaints and ask them to look at particular spots. I am pleased that they do that. 
I want to tell the member that I think she ought to take a close look at road policing because road policing is a very important part of policing in New Zealand. It is not just about speeding tickets not wearing one’s seat belt trying to save people’s lives trying to stop hospitalisations or trying to stop the knock in the middle of the night from the officer who tells a person that his or her family member has just been killed on the road. Road policing is also about stopping crooks who are in cars. It is also about picking up the people who are stopped at a roadblock and who have a P lab in the boot of their car or have a gun or may well have been part of a burglary. I can provide members if they are interested with the sorts of people who are picked up at roadblocks through road policing. Policing on the roads is not just about traffic tickets. 
I would like to respond to Chester Borrows a former police officer. He started off by saying that a policeman’s lot is not a happy one. He did not feel that when he was in the police but he must be feeling that an ex-policeman’s lot is not a very happy one now. I would not be surprised if the people of Wairoa at this very moment are not revving up their cars or loading up the buses and heading for Wanganui to picket outside his office. This member was silly enough to say that any policeman who would like to go to Wairoa must have read a “bloody good brochure”. Well I have to tell Chester Borrows that he has really upset the people of Wairoa. The Mayor of Wairoa is in Wellington this very night. 
Darren Hughes 
: It’s a wonder the member was silent. Tolley was silent! 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Mrs Tolley did not put out a statement saying that Wairoa would need to have a “bloody good brochure” to get people there. I do not know why she has not put a statement out saying that she does not agree with Chester Borrows because the people on this side of the Chamber do not agree with him. Wairoa is a great little place. I am delighted that four British police officers are very happy to be going are in Wairoa and chose to go to Wairoa. So I tell Chester to put on his hard helmet. They are heading his way to say that rural towns such as Wairoa are great places to live particularly under a Labour-led Government that is prepared to put extra police officers into towns. 
I would like to conclude my contribution by dealing with some of the issues raised by Simon Power. He started off by saying—and I thought it was very generous of him to make some comments to my colleague Phil Goff and to Jim Sutton—that Phil Goff was now able to actively seek the role he wanted. Well I tell Simon Power that he is obviously actively seeking the role he wants. When I arrived at the select committee for the estimates examination the cameras were there. It was action. We were starting to roll for Mr Power’s leadership bid. There they were wanting to catch him on tape so he could be just a few steps ahead of Bill English—or was it John Key? I think the real dark horse is my friend Maurice Williamson. Whatever! There was Mr Power—it is all about how one looks what one is saying and how often one can get on television. He said that he was going to ask some serious questions. He asked what work we had done to know what the impact of 1000 extra police would be. Well I would like to tell this Committee that if National Party members could have their bottoms on these green seats on this side of the Chamber they would have promised 2000 cops to New Zealand First 3000 to ACT or whatever party would embrace them so they could get themselves off the Opposition benches and over here to the Government benches. It would not have mattered what it took they would have done it. I tell the member to watch this space because a lot of work has been done by the justice Ministers— 
Simon Power 
: Oh after the decision’s been made! 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: I tell Mr Power that quite often policy decisions are made. I bet that not every policy that the National Party went to the people on was costed. The National Party never costed the impact of the tax cuts it was going to give New Zealanders. It never costed the impact on the police of New Zealand on the health service of New Zealand or on its ability to put money into roads. It never costed the impact on education or on the old people. None of that was costed. It was all about “Give them a few dollars and then they might vote for us.” Well I tell the member to watch this spot. There is certainly plenty of work to show the member very soon. 
I am very pleased that this Government in conjunction with New Zealand First will recruit 1000 extra sworn police over the next three Budgets. We are determined to do that. I tell Mr Power that he was about 3 weeks early with one of his press statements—the ones that are always criticising the police. 
Simon Power 
: No just you! 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Oh no it is not me; it is the police that the member is criticising. At the end of the day he put out a press statement saying that the police were 300 short on the target. Well unfortunately for him 3 weeks later the figures came out and they were two over what was expected. 
Simon Power 
: Come on! 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: That member wants to say that the police who came from the UK who were trained and who are now out on the street are not police officers. Have members ever heard the likes of it? I need to tell the member that we are pretty pleased with what is happening in police. We are pretty pleased with our ability to go out and recruit those police. I am very pleased that Ron Mark who takes a constructive approach to most things was prepared to work with this Government in helping to recruit those police.