<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>6:10 jenny kirk in rising to speak in the general <.>d debate today on the theme of law and order <,> and resources for our police department i would like to remind the house of one or two factual matters <.>covering concerning the opposition when IT was in government its record when in government on law and order issues national mister speaker when it was in government was wimpish on law and order it was dealing at the time with a reported crime increase of almost eighty percent eighty percent between nineteen seventy five and nineteen eighty four and it had an elderly and tired out police force and what did it do what did it do mister speaker nothing for almost ten years it did nothing it wasn't until labour became government that the <&>7:00 early retirement package that the police had been asking for for years came into being and this allowed older police officers who were tired and stressed from years of frontline work to retire early with dignity and with a generous remuneration in two weeks mister speaker the former minister of police missus ann hercus did more for police than national had done in the preceding two years that's according to former police association secretary bob mooney in fact he said at that time that the police had suffered ten years ten years of abject neglect from the national government and is it likely that they will do any better when if very much of if they ever become a government again not on your nelly their projected policies show they are as asleep on law and order as they were during the nineteen seventy five eighty four decade and in <&>8:00 that decade national introduced no legislation to combat violent crime and labour's record stands proud in five years with at least seven different pieces of legislation national closed eleven police stations and we under labour are busily reopening them there was a community police station <.>base base opened just recently in the highbury shopping centre in birkenhead um and it's just like many others around the country where where um we are busily reopening community police bases and we have encouraged a return to community policing and neighbourhood support national's record mister speaker on gang problems is abysmal there were no social <.>messa measures to deal with the problems of gangs and violence on a nationwide basis during their term of office and labour has established the roper committee and has set to work ever since on implementing those recommendations <&>9:00 tut and mister speaker people have to ask themselves what of the present national party members and their proposals to combat violence and crime how much credibility do we give them how much credibility can we give them not much when all they are doing is copycatting labour policies which are already in place and not much when they have such people as the member for whangarei who purports to speak for law and order but who instead advocates disorder anarchy and violence this was the member who told striking police officers just the other prison officers just the other day to keep THEIR industrial action going HE knew that that was an incitement to create further disorder and chaos in our jails and in our society it was a <.>r irresponsible action it was disgraceful from the so called law and order crusader from whangarei but that's just the <&>10:00 sort of politics we expect from that member after all that's the very same member who once described himself as a political cockroach creeping around in the subculture of politics at floor level a political cockroach he called himself mister speaker my pocket oxford dictionary states that a cockroach is a dark brown beetle like insect infesting rooms such as especially kitchens and bathrooms and infestation means harmful persons or things such as vermin overrunning places and it is this sort of member the selfconfessed political cockroach who pretends to have a concern for new zealand and new zealanders but whose actions and and words belie his stated <&>11:00 concern that's the member who went close to a contempt of court charge in leaking details a few years ago from the wanganui computer and he pontificates on law and order but his own actions are those of a selfstyled political cockroach who helps create disorder and chaos and that's that's the opposition spokesman on law and order who makes a mockery of this country's law rule of law through his own actions and he makes a <.>c mockery of his own party's wish for a decent society in fact he doesn't even know how to behave in a decent society just a <.>whi short while ago i witnessed in in a select committee the member for whangarei having a tantrum having a tantrum in a very public place in a select committee in front of the press and public a most disgraceful little <{><[>exhibition he <.>did <[>er a point of order <&>12:00 order a point of order <{><[>mister the honourable <&>name <[>order mister speaker i'm not sure whether <{1><[1>the said select committee has reported back to the house but i think the line of argument the member for birkenhead is pursuing er could lead to disorder the second point i wanted to raise was in reference to her comment about a a er legal proceeding in the high court which involved the member of parliament for whangarei and the charges in that case mister speaker were thrown out by none other than the chief justice <{2><[2>now i just raise those two <{3><[3>points i could raise <{4><[4>others but i think the member for birkenhead should worry about her own electorate <[1>clears throat <[2>tut <.>s <[3>right <[4>speaking to the point of order mister speaker yes <{><[>er <[><.>spea <{><[>speaking to the point of order <[>and and one or two other things <{><[>of relevance <[>yeah well <.>spea speaking to the point of order jenny kirk yes er mister speaker i would like to um mention that the um behaviour of <.>s <&>13:00 member for <.>ong whangarei was a matter of public record there there there's a article in the um herald of the seventh of march which um i would be prepared to table in the house well as far as the er the first point of order that was raised is concerned of course if members members refer to proceedings which have not yet been reported back then er er they're out of order but i gather the member was the member wasn't actually referring to the proCEEdings of the committee the business of the committee she was referring to an incident and the and the and the place and the time and in fact the select committee were not identified so that's not out of order the um the other point the member raised was about er matters that were dealt with by a court now the only time that a member can't refer to these is when they are sub judice that is when proceedings proceedings are in progress members can of course refer to court proceedings <.>a <.>af after these have concluded <,> tut yep yeah mister speaker i think actually i have adequately made my points about the so called <&>14:00 opposition spokesperson on so called law and order mister speaker i would like now to turn to the actual policing that happens in my electorate i'm talking here mister speaker of the crime detection work and the crime prevention work done by local police <.>o <.>o officers under the supervision of the northern command post in takapuna i'm not actually talking mister speaker about the <.>politic politicisation of of the police of in particular two auckland policemen who have decided to stand for the national party as candidates in glenfield and birkenhead electives in the forthcoming election that's the subject for a later debate mister speaker but i'm quite sure that the people of birkenhead won't accept a policeman as their political representative they don't want a <.>polit a politicised police force the people of birkenhead want a police the police to do what <&>15:00 they're trained to do and that is crime <.>detenti detection and crime prevention and in fact mister speaker i actually think the police of the north shore and particularly those in birkenhead do a darned good job they do it um and i would like to commend them for particularly for their treatment of the victims and the hard work that they put in recently over the last um eighteen months or so in apprehending the <.>pol the people responsible for the rex bell murder in in northcote and i would also like to commend um tut the birkenhead community constable particularly and his superior officers for the work they have also put in in the last um few weeks in <.>invi advising the people of the north shore about the merits of um neighbourhood support and what people can do to prevent um themselves and their families and <.>th their possessions from <&>16:00 being the the subject of criminal behaviour and there there were three excellent documents just published just very recently mister speaker on um crime prevention and and these er um were recently published and are available for general <.>u um public use and the birkenhead community constable on his own initiative has um arranged a display at the <.>b at the local library in in fact i think at both libraries at the birkenhead library anyhow er which shows people the different types of secure locks that they can put on their possessions and homes to prevent crime and i know he has also arranged seminars to for the local business people to attend to learn how they can actually help prevent their their properties from being the subject of um crime tut and um he has the <&>17:00 er the the general the general public are invited to take some copies of these documents from <.>at from the library and from the birkenhead um police base and i heard um he was telling me about that just the other day mister speaker i would like to remind the house of the sort of resources this government this labour government in the last five years have put in to support the work of the police particularly the community work um which which has been going on the police get now get two and a half times the funding that that they got under the previous government and their funding has doubled in three years and this has rejuvenated the police force and they have a younger um more energetic police force at the moment we also have had the establishment of a <&>18:00 hundred more community constables twenty six more youth aid officers and fourteen extra officers to work in schools which have been further moves to help provide support for the communities and prevention of criminal behaviour in in the communities and i would say that our emphasis on community policing and our increase in police resources um voc will not happen the sort of <.>em emphasis that we have put on will not happen under a future national government if as i have said before and i very much doubt that um a national government will um come into being after the next general election it's very doubtful in fact um and i doubt that they would have the commitment to putting into the community the resources that we have in the matter of um police resources thank you <&>19:02