Hawkins finally backs Police Commissioner

Police Minister George Hawkins has belatedly expressed confidence in his commissioner to restructure the embattled emergency 111 system after declining to do so earlier today.


After visiting the Northern Communications Centre in Auckland today, Mr Hawkins was asked if he still had confidence in commissioner Rob Robinson after a damning report on the system recommended 61 changes.


"Yes I do. He will get the job done," Mr Hawkins said.


He said Mr Robinson's job was not under threat and nor would Mr Hawkins resign as minister after calls today by National leader Don Brash.


He said the 111 system in New Zealand was the equal of, if not better than, other systems around the world, including England.


Yesterday a scathing review of the police 111 system said it was so bad that both public and police safety was at risk and the Government immediately announced it would spend $45 million over four years to fix the problem.

Earlier today, when asked directly if he had confidence in Mr Robinson, Mr Hawkins - who is himself under pressure from opposition MPs to quit - repeatedly skirted the question.

"I'm not happy with what's been happening but I'm determined to make it work, determined it will be fixed," he told National Radio.

If problems were not fixed he would "look at" confidence in Mr Robinson but gave no time-line for the commissioner to implement changes.

"All the improvements will take some time. We are saying 'treat this with urgency -- do it immediately'.

"The Government's expectation is that Rob Robinson will make sure it is fixed."

The responsibility lay with Mr Robinson -- who yesterday repeated comments he thought the service was world class despite the report saying public lives and police safety could be at risk.

"No system that deals with 1.6 million calls a year and 500,000 thousand of those, approximately, being emergency calls will get it right every time but that is our goal," Mr Robinson said.

National Party deputy leader Gerry Brownlee said Mr Hawkins should appear in Parliament today.

"Mr Hawkins must front up to his responsibilities as minister. If he is unable to do that and if Helen Clark has lost confidence in his ability to do that, then he should resign or be sacked."

A spokeswoman for Mr Hawkins said he was visiting Auckland today and would not be back in Wellington for question time at 2pm.

- NZPA