Ryall Tony: Budget Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Ryall Tony: Budget Debate 
[Sitting date: 16 June 2004. Volume:618;Page:13667. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) 
: 
 I think that that speech indicates why that Minister who cannot even take himself seriously during this important debate on the Budget is not taken seriously even by his own colleagues. When Ministers of the Crown give speeches surrounded by friends chortling away the Minister must finally realise that no one takes him seriously. He is considered a fool. 
That is the Minister who told the people of New Zealand that a third of the foreshore was privately owned when for a month he had had a report that said a very small proportion of 1 percent was privately owned and even the Prime Minister refused to defend that Minister’s deception in the House during question time. He did not say one word on that; nor did he comment on any of the portfolio responsibilities he has in this House but he gave a humorous speech that had his colleagues chortling away thus giving him the regard with which this side of the House views him. 
The investment in law and order in this Budget owes more to the National Opposition than it does to the Labour Government because the only reason this Government has moved on any of the pressing issues facing crime in this country today is the relentless campaign the National Opposition has waged since the last Budget to identify the running down of our justice system by the Government. I will look at a couple of areas in this Budget where the National Opposition is responsible for this Government facing up to its responsibilities. 
The first is the scourge of the drug methamphetamine. We have been highlighting week after week the massive and unchecked increase of that drug its grasp on communities and people up and down the country and the fact that this Government has not been doing enough. Over a year ago we highlighted the delays being faced by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research in the testing of methamphetamine samples. We focused this Parliament’s attention on the fact that the institute had been pleading with the Government to give it additional financial resources and we focused this House’s attention on the fact that the Commissioner of Police told Parliament’s Law and Order Committee this time last year that there would be a delay of over 1 year before those tests would be analysed by the institute. 
The Government’s response was that it had given the institute enough money. Then earlier this year we released information that showed that there is now a 2-year delay in getting the testing of methamphetamine samples before the institute. Only then through our campaign coupled with the criticism of some of the most senior judges in New Zealand could we get the Government to act. It was this Opposition last year and the year before that talked about the unchecked involvement of criminal gangs in methamphetamine. We talked about the underfunding of police intelligence systems and undercover operations and the fact that the proceeds of crimes legislation was failing to meet the needs of the community in smashing drug-dealing gangs. 
So what did the Government do in the Budget? It took every single suggestion that the National Party had made in the last year and finally financed them in the Budget. We are seeing an investment in clandestine laboratory teams. At last the Government is investing in a national intelligence centre to focus on targeting drug-dealing gangs and on the use of interception technology in relation to them. At last the Government is investing more in the Institute of Environmental Science and Research the institute that tests methamphetamine drugs. The Government is doing exactly what National told it to do a year ago. Finally after 4 years of National asking the Minister of Justice he has promised that amendments to the proceeds of crime legislation will be passed by Christmas. The only reason we have action on methamphetamine in this country today is the National Opposition. 
Last year National raised the issue of the massive delays in the justice system in terms of our courts. We warned the Government that delays before the courts would see convicted drug dealers and other dangerous criminals walk free simply because the Government was not sufficiently resourcing the criminal justice system to ensure the convictions of those before the courts. We raised the issue of the desperate cash crisis before the courts and the fact that the number of cases waiting before the courts was up 32 percent since the change of Government. We talked about the anguish that that was causing victims who were at risk of violence and defendants who could not clear their names if innocent or begin their sentences if found guilty. 
We talked about the need for more judges. We told the Government about the desperate need for new recording technology in the court. I refer members to the press release of the National Party entitled “Government admits courts’ cash crisis” where we said to the Government: “National says we need more judges better use of technology to beat the backlog in our courts and better case management practices.” So what was announced in the Budget? After a year of the National Party pounding the Government in question time and in the media the Government has announced more judges better use of technology to beat the backlog in our courts and better case management practices. The Government said that every suggestion the National Party made last year to fix the backlog in our courts was unnecessary but finally in the face of the irrefutable and unrelenting increase in waiting times before the nation’s courts the Government has acted. 
National has some more advice for the Government today which is to take the advice of the police commissioner—and the suggestion that the National Party made at a parliamentary select committee today—to give police the new number plate photographic technology to target car conversion and the criminal element who are driving in motor vehicles. In Britain there are speed camera - like devices that can take photos of the number plates of vehicles analyse them immediately within the computer database and then alert the police to the status of a stolen vehicle. That vehicle can be pursued or the criminal driving that vehicle can be apprehended. 
We know that car conversion and car burglary in this country are out of control. In the city of Wellington there have never been more cars stolen each week than there are now. Under the Labour Government there are now I think over 4000 extra cars per year being stolen in New Zealand communities. Next to having one’s house burgled having one’s car stolen is a real worry for ordinary New Zealanders. National is telling the Government that a further increase in car conversion figures is on the way according to official police statistics and that it should bring this technology from Britain to enable the police to target those who are driving stolen vehicles. 
This Budget is all about the Government—the hard men of the Labour Party. Mr Goff is the man who built a career on being the tough man on law and order but he wanted to decriminalise some sexual activity between 12-year-olds. That is really tough! Mr Hawkins is the Minister of Police who is scared to show his face anywhere in this country and he is the most forgettable Minister of Police we have had in years. Only now is Labour accepting that law and order in this Budget owes more to the National Party than it does to the Labour Party in Government.