8 July 2009 Media Statement

Collins misleads on yet another safety issue

Corrections Minister Judith Collins has misled corrections staff with her claim that it is essential that frontline staff have the equipment to manage dangerous situations, says Labour law and order spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove.

“This Minister is quite remarkable in the level and frequency of her boasting,” Clayton Cosgrove said. “In recent weeks she has:

• Claimed the Government is funding 600 extra police when all but 224 of them were funded by the previous Labour Government.
• Stripped more than 300 vehicles from the police fleet, while maintaining, contrary to what frontline police tell me, that police will still be able to do their job safely, effectively and efficiently.
• Threatened to get tough on boy racers by crushing their cars, but then admitted that the number of cars to be crushed could probably be counted on two hands each year.
• And now she has claimed that it is essential for frontline corrections staff to have the tools to keep themselves as safe as possible, while cynically not disclosing that in two recent incidents staff who were assaulted would not have been issued with stab-proof vests before they were attacked.

“No doubt Judith Collins will pass this off as unfortunate, and say many staff will be better off because they will have stab-proof vests, but both police and corrections staff are becoming more than a little weary of her bragging.”

Clayton Cosgrove said while it was good news that more than $4 million is being spent on extra equipment and training for corrections staff, “Ms Collins does herself and staff no favours by always having to gild the lily.

“It would be no wonder at all if both police and corrections staff are now dividing every claim she makes by two, and then by two again. That might get them somewhere close to the truth.”

ENDS

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