Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Ryall Tony: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:627;Page:21757] 
12.  
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay Of Plenty) 
 to the  
Minister of Police 
: When did he first find out that almost 180000 calls to the police communications centres in the past 12 months were abandoned and how did the commissioner explain this to him? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Labour) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Police 
: 
 I am advised that the Commissioner of Police informed the Minister of Police of the May 2004 - May 2005 figures in early June. I am also advised that the issue of the number of abandoned general calls has been a concern to the commissioner and that he sought independent advice on the performance of the communications centres the results of which have recently been provided to the Government. The Government has allocated an additional $45 million to address the issues raised in the report. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Why did it take the disappearance of Iraena Asher and the bashing of Peter Bentley in Te Puke for the Government and the commissioner even to look at the reliability of our emergency services considering that almost 200000 calls had been abandoned in the 12 months before Ms Asher disappeared? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: It is important to point out that 111 calls are not part of the abandoned calls which are part of the general calls. But it is important to say that the commissioner was not happy about some of the performance of the communications centres and introduced an independent report. As a result the Government has put $45 million extra into communication services to improve their performance. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Can the Minister restate to this House what precisely the Government has done to boost resources in the police communications centres? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: As I have said the Government has allocated an extra $45 million over 4 years over and above the normal police budget to improve police communication services. The extra $45 million will be used among other things to increase significantly the number of staff in— 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: When? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: —well about $11 million this year and $10 million over the next little while—police communications centres. That compares with the cut of $24 million to the police budget that was announced by the previous National Government in 1999. The member needs to tell the House what cuts would be made to the police budget in order to fund National’s tax cuts. 
Stephen Franks 
: Can the Minister tell me how often in the past 12 months the Minister of Police has been delayed in getting through to the Commissioner of Police and is the delay usually due to the commissioner’s mysterious overseas absences or is the Minister just a victim of hopeless communication—along with 179999 other New Zealanders? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I am not sure and no. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Does the Government not realise that New Zealanders whose calls the police do not answer are just the tip of the iceberg of victims as victims have given up reporting crimes because the police do have enough staff even to answer the phone? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I have been trying to explain to the member that the number of abandoned calls are not 111 calls; 111 calls are prioritised and if in the end they are not answered they are followed up later because the phone numbers are available via Telecom. The important point that the member is trying to raise is the fact that there does need to be extra staff and $45 million has been budgeted. I would have thought the member would congratulate the Government on that rather than continue to whinge and whine as he normally does. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: I seek leave to table the Mi-Quality report on the police communications centres which confirms that many of the calls being abandoned would have been emergencies. 
Document not tabled.