<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>0:15 but you know mister speaker the attitude that we've seen from the member for fendalton this afternoon <,> isn't something that's new it is typical of the longstanding conTEMPT for law and order <,> that the national party have shown over ALL of the years that they were in government and over their time in opposition to date mister speaker the reALity is <,> that that party has NO commitment to the rule of law has no interest in law and order except as some <.>tub thumping election issue mister speaker let's talk about some of the issues that they've paraded about recently we see unctuous concern from the opposition now sidling up to the police trying to demonstrate their commitment their solidarity call it what you like <&>1:00 with the police over their superannuation issue but mister speaker it's not SO long ago that the police in this country were pleased to see the rid of ben couch and his colleagues because of the progress that WASn't being made on the national party's early <.>retiremen on the <,> the police <.>t request for an early retirement package and for a basic salary review and when ann hercus became the minister of police sir <,> according to bob moody the police association secretary she was able to do more for the police in two weeks that the national party had done in two years and that <,> she in that two week period was able to reverse ten years of neglect of the police services of this country under a national government now mister speaker that's the party of law and order that's the party we see parading its concern in the house this afternoon but it doesn't stop there sir <,> in the nine years that they were the <&>2:00 government they didn't go around OPening police stations they keep talking now about the requirement for more police but the reality was sir in their years in government they closed police station they closed eleven police stations over that period <,> sir under this government we are seeing an <{1><[1>extension of community policing and we're going to see more community police stations opened under this minister and this government complete contrast sir to the policy followed by the national party the so called party of law and order now mister speaker they had nine years in power and they did nothing about violent crime that they say they're so concerned about now <,> in six years in office sir we've made <,> seven major amendments to the laws governing violent crime in new zealand we've increased the penalties for offences involving knives and firearms and we've made the carrying of knives in a public place <,> <.>a an offence mister speaker we've also changed the <&>3:00 law to allow for the electronic surveillance of crime and i want to know why the national party wasn't interested in doing that the national party that can throw charges and smears around of corruption <,> singularly quiet on the subject <,> of more <,> coherent policing of organised crime in new zealand mister speaker we were the government through the criminal justice act in nineteen eighty five that introduced a legal presumption of imprisonment for violent criminals we were the government sir that made <,> the minimum period of life imprisonment ten years not seven years we were the government sir that said that parole would no longer be automatically available for serious violent offences and that drugs and alcohol <,> could no longer be used <,> in mitigation of sentences <&>pronounced as senses er of sentence we the government sir that dramatically improved the rape laws in this country that increased the penalties we were the government that improved the laws relating to riot and brought in increased controls over <&>4:00 drinking offences in public sir we were the government that did things the national party has been the government in its years in office that simply paraded conscience now mister speaker we have done more in the last six years to give substance to a concern about law and order than the national party has ever done sir we established the roper commission under the distinguished high court judge sir clinton roper to look comprehensively at violent offending in our society and we have implemented the recommendations of his report and we're now working through the recommendations of his second report on the prison system mister speaker in the decade that the national government was in office <,> overall reported crime in this country <,> rose by about eighty percent <,> under this government last year for the FIRST time since the early nineteen sixties <&>5:00 overall reported crime fell the proof of the pudding sir is very much in the <{2><[2>eating <,> sir in the last six years of the national government there there was a two thirds increase in the level of violent crime <,> last year in the last three years alone it was a three a thirty percent increase it's been past that level of increase <{3><[3>word <{4><[4>the years <{5><[5>that we have been in government <,> mister speaker our commitment to law and order transcends their tub thumping oratory transcends their lack of substance we've improved the court <&>pronounced as cot system we've improved the prison system we've tackled problems relating to white collar crime we set up the serious fraud office sir the national party wasn't even interested in the matter we brought in new laws to punish and prevent computer crime the national party not interested in that in fact there's a very strong suspicion that they've been involved in their own form of computer crime in the past mister speaker <&>6:00 we're involved in reviews now of companies <,> securities legislation we indicated in the twentieth of march economic statement that a major reform of the companies act will be brought before the house this year we've had the russell committee looking through the whole question of er insider trading nominee shareholding issues as a result of issues that were identified following the nineteen eighty seven sharemarket crash and we will implement those recommendations sir this government has not spent its time idly talking about law and order and when stuck for an argument we haven't inhales resorted to the sort of grupper <&>blending of grubby and gutter grubby gutter tactics of the member for fendalton and all his colleagues what we have done sir is concentrate on the issues and the proud record that we've got in terms of bringing law and order to new zealand in terms of toughening up the penalties the member for whangarei is so keen to talk about but was part of a government that did nothing about stamps this government sir <&>7:00 as the strongest government this country's had in terms of its commitment to the rule of law and i reckon sir if we wanted to steal the phrase of the leader of the opposition which we don't we could proudly claim to be the developers of the decent society because we've been the government that put our money where our mouth is we've been the government that's increased the resources available we've inCREASED the penalties we've enSURED sir that new zealanders are safer in their streets and the next step we will take sir in the next three years will be the <.>ens to ensure that new zealanders become even safer from the types of scurrilous unsubstantiated wildly inaccurate charges thrown around by the likes of the member for fendalton let me conclude on this point sir if the member for fendalton had any commitment to the points that he was making or was confident that there was any substance in the allegations he was making he would have presented the <.>info information to the police <{6><[6>rather than to this house <[1>order <[2>order order word <[3>mister speaker <[4>order <[5>mister speaker <,> oh yeah <.>i <.>i <[6>oh yes mister speaker there was an element there was an element of desperation about that speech from the member <&>8:00 for ohariu you know he talked about how well the police were doing the last national government added one thousand extra police to the police force this government is imposing police CUTS and then he said that he said that the labour government had increased the period that a murderer must spend in jail do you know i move legislation in this voc house on two occasions to do that and this government voted against it and the criminal justice act which he trumpeted about do you know that was already drawn up by the previous national government ready for introduction and what else has he voted against measures to control the gangs the government voted against <.>mol it was too tough on the gangs increasing the rape penalty government voted against that as well what did they do corporate fraud he says every new zealander can remember the prime minister as minister of justice coming to this house and saying to the people of new zealand your <&>9:00 investment is safe with r s l <,> what happened with <.>a couple of weeks it had collapsed and they'd lost their life savings they have only moved on corporate fraud two years after the people have had their savings stripped away from them because they'd been exposed by an opposition as failing to take responsible government action tut now the minister of justice spent his time talking about the prison strike i would have thought as far as he was concerned that was best forgotten he had to get the prime minister in to fix it and it only got as bad as it did because of three reasons one there was a complete lack of consultation on the part of the government with the prison officers two they brought in a bill to reduce superannuation by forty percent aggrieved everybody and then buckled at the last minute reduced it to thirty percent after strike <&>10:00 notice had been given and then three they gave false information to the court about the timetable for the passage of the legislation a very sorry state of affairs and no wonder the prison officers were so disgruntled and so the issue became so embarrassing that the government turned down an opposition application in this chamber to debate the matter even though they conceded that because of their mishandling there were criminals who were being released on bail who would otherwise have been kept in custody and even though they said they had some contingency plans but they refused to put them before the public of new zealand and reassure law abiding citizens what was going to be done in the event of this strike being more protracted tut so i would say it is a very very embarrassing debate for <&>11:00 this government and what i have to say of course is the <.>o the reason that they're so desperate is cos they know that we have a law and order <.>po policy that has massive support from north cape to the bluff and they know we are committed to it they know that when we have a national party conference our spokesman on police doesn't get hissed and booed as happens at a labour party conference they know that the national party is committed to law and order they're worried about the erosion of their support so they're trying to scramble some of it back today sniffs mister speaker tut this is the last chance in a general debate to talk about the issues that are affecting this parliament and the political parties now the starting point for any debate of that nature would have to be the public opinion polls and i'm sorry to say that these polls clearly reflect the fact that the government's coming apart at the seams the <&>12:00 morale is actually rock bottom and i feel sorry for them because some of them are nice chaps but the morale is actually rock bottom and it's not good for the country i want to offer them some constructive advice i think they're on the right track when they're plotting to change their leadership i know that the member for christchurch north has been under er some er cloud in this particular debate but i want to say to government members he's still their best chance he understands the working class he can speak for the traditional labour supporter hear hear now mister speaker he might have lost some of his caucus support by the extravagant claim that he was going to spearhead an attack to save anzac day which i have to say was somewhat amusing seeing it came from six thousand feet in the stratosphere and he was heading in the wrong direction laughter but putting that to one side i have to say that their best chance lies with the member for christchurch north <&>12:59