Police Minister Mark Mitchell initially denied the policy had been changed. Photo / Laura Smith
Police Minister Mark Mitchell initially denied the policy had been changed. Photo / Laura Smith
Labour’s police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen is accusing the Government of prioritising tax cuts over resourcing police after Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the promise of 500 new officers will be realised in three years, not two.
The coalition agreement between National and New Zealand First included a commitment to training “no fewer than 500 new frontline police within the first two years”. Late last year, Mitchell said the 500 officers would be a net addition to the workforce.
However, when asked in the House by Andersen to confirm this, Mitchell said the Government’s policy was to “deliver 500 additional police officers over the term of this Government, which is three years...”.
Listen live: PM Christopher Luxon talks to Mike Hosking at 7.30am, Mark Mitchell and Ginny Andersen at 8am
When Andersen asked whether this was confirmation the Government was walking back on its promise, Mitchell denied it before claiming he had previously spoken to the issue when discussing the recruitment challenges faced by police thanks in part to a section of the workforce getting ready to retire and targeted campaigns to recruit New Zealand officers coming from Australia.
Speaking to TVNZ Breakfast this morning Luxon said Mitchell had muddled his words.
“We want to deliver 500 police in two years but Mark is talking about the difficulty around that but we’re not backing down,” he said.
“We know it’s challenging, we’re going to do everything we can do to get that done.”
He said he was in regular conversation with Mitchell and that nothing had changed about the timeline for delivery.
Former Police Minister Ginny Andersen claims the public spending cuts have changed the policy. Photo / Mike Scott
In a statement, Andersen claimed the backdown indicated the proposed 6.5-7.5 per cent back-office spending cuts in the public service had led to the change in policy.
“This is yet another broken promise that makes a mockery of Mark Mitchell’s claim that he will restore law and order,” she said.
“Only in December, Mark Mitchell ‘absolutely guaranteed’ that there would be no cuts or reprioritisations to the Police budget in order to deliver on the promise of 500 more frontline Police in two years. Two months later the Minister of Police is desperately back-tracking.
“National needs to be straight up with New Zealanders about what these promised tax cuts are actually going to cost us.”
She argued Mitchell, a former police officer, would have known the extent of the recruitment challenges and should have constructed the policy accordingly.
Even with the policy extended to three years, Andersen questioned whether that would be achievable given the difficulty NZ Police was experiencing attracting new recruits.
The Herald is waiting for a response from Mitchell. Finance Minister Nicola Willis had also been contacted for comment.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
