Bennett David: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Bennett David: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:637;Page:7921] 
DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) 
: 
 In 2005 Annette King became the Minister of Police and she inherited a portfolio that was in pretty good shape. Little did we know that she would do what she has done to health and transport and actually crucify such a good portfolio. We now have a police force that finds it very difficult to recruit the numbers required for Labour to meet its election pledges and soaring crime rates have ravaged the public opinion of the institution. 
In a December 2005 survey published by the Police Association 96 percent of police officers said they did not have enough resources. This Government promised 1000 new police plus ratios comparable with those of the Australian police by 2010. The latter promise requires about 1400 extra officers; therefore this Minister needs to find 2400 new officers. That is a huge ask. The Government has promised more than it can achieve. 
In a June 2006 survey New Zealanders thought that it was better not to relax recruitment standards for people joining the police but that it was better to increase the pay of police officers. Fifty-nine percent thought it was better to pay police officers more while only 28 percent thought that relaxing standards was a good idea. In Hamilton for example it is commonplace for experienced officers to leave the force after many years of service. The bureaucracy and thanklessness of the job can often lead to a lack of faith in the system and in the Minister. Police officers feel they are part of an institution that is not valued and is not being resourced and they certainly feel as individuals that they are not being paid for their work. It is a shame that people who give the best years of their life to this country through serving in the police force feel they have to leave that career after 20 or 30 years of serving our country just to look for some financial reward for their retirement. 
That is the reality of the system we are facing at this stage. Police officers are disillusioned and are leaving the force in droves. Evidence of this is in the Government’s failure to meet its coalition deal of providing those extra police numbers. It simply cannot achieve that goal. The police force is losing too many experienced officers so it is treading water on its recruitment plans. 
The police’s recruitment drive has been a joke. In September 2006 there were 7545 sworn officers 14 fewer than when the recruitment drive began on 1 July. Only 13 days into the recruitment campaign the police admitted that the number of police recruits was already below target and that they were moving to a fall-back plan. Well I ask the Minister what stage of that plan we are at now. What is she doing now to make sure that the police achieve their goals? 
There have been situations when the police have had to strengthen the thin blue line by putting civilians in uniforms. The Government has looked further afield and has tried to recruit from overseas but most officers from overseas run a mile when they see the terms and conditions being offered. Then the police tried to reduce the recruitment standards. This has many limitations as the public expects—and deserves—certain standards in its police force. Even with these relaxations the Government still cannot meet its pledges. Perhaps if it actually reassured the police and recognised the years of service of our current police then it would get a better staff retention rate. The Minister needs to support her force of police. 
The Minister also needs to look at some of the issues the police are dealing with. They feel they are getting caught between the social issues of this country and the Government’s requirement to fulfil its election pledges. This Government will not even recognise that there is a group of New Zealanders who feel that this country does not offer hope and vision for them to go forward. If this Government cannot even recognise the problem it certainly cannot provide solutions. It is not good enough for a generation of New Zealanders to grow up in youth gangs and think that that is their only option to gain pride and respect. It is not. Those kids need to know that there is another way of doing things. The Government has a role in that process and should not just leave it to police to pick up the pieces. 
We will not get to that stage unless we have a change in Government. Only one person in this country is standing up for those people at this stage and he is John Key. He is providing the vision to bring a new country and a new order to that new generation of New Zealanders. 
Report noted. 
Sitting suspended from 5.58 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.