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June 18, 2024 12 mins

Politicians are speaking out about safety concerns as a potential boost to Parliament security is being looked at. 

Speaker Gerry Brownlee is seeking advice on giving Parliamentary security guards arrest powers. 

Corrections and Police Minister Mark Mitchell says he had an incident where a person made serious threats to him. 

He told Mike Hosking that the safety of staff should always be at the forefront, and so there is no cap on the investment they have to make to keep them safe. 

Labour MP Ginny Andersen says it's important discussions like these are taking place. 

She says with recent instances of security issues being raised, it seems like a good thing that Brownlee is taking this seriously and taking some steps. 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ten feet time, bulletproof, throwing me a buy cabot booths,
a whistle and a dar start around, a whispering Mama's starts,
blood rich.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
In his head and a far and he I couldn't
make a many.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It tough to drink. The man son his chest just
starting to food. Regarding who it is, it's Luke Comesy's back,
which is interesting because Getting Old was the last album,
only came out last year, and from memory having got it,
there were a myriad of tracks on there as part
of this sort of seemingly ongoing move and music generally
just to produce albums with so many tracks that you

(00:36):
don't know what to do with them. All this one,
Fathers and Sons has only got twelve and he put
out a piece the other day suggesting, maybe even apologizing
to some of the people who love Luke Comes he's
not writing songs about drinking beer anymore and going out
and having a good time because he's father now, he's
got kids, and he wants to write more about, you know,
what's happening in his life. So twelve tracks, it's all good.
Everything Luke Colbs does is good, and he's come up

(00:58):
with forty minutes and ten seconds worth of it is
eight minutes past eight Politics Wednesday, Mark Mitchell and Ginny
Anderson with us. Hold on, let me let me do this.
Hold on, hold on, hold on, I've got this I've
cocked this up. I've cocked this up. Oh what's hold on?
The whole phone systems changed?

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Got you now? Ginny? How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Good morning? Hunker? Thank you bloody.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Eventually, if I stick with this job, I reckon, I
might get quite good at it. We'll see how we go.
So first of all, Mark, take me through Switzerland. How
did you get there? How'd you get back? And how
long were you on the ground as we flew?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Ever, it's up to do Bay and then flight up
to Zurich. It's quite a long trip, but we're on
the ground. That was important. With their on the ground,
t about four gate hours and then and then took
the same trip back. But listen, extremely important to be happy,
without a doubt, big turning out every region. There were
over fifty five leaders or prime ministers there, and of

(01:52):
course you know the ability to let President Selinsk. You
know that US as a country that we are there
in solidarity and we'll continue to support him in the
war against Russia.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Taking nothing away, taking nothing away from that sentiment. Apart
from that, nothing happened, did it?

Speaker 3 (02:07):
I mean?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
And that's the cold hard reality of what you're facing
at the moment in terms of the war. He's losing,
and China wasn't there, and Russia's not there, and Biden
wasn't there. So you all gathered in a nice spot
and said we love you, and you all came back
home again.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
For him, it's for him and the people of Ukraine
is really important. They are worried that people will forget
about war. And when you have over one hundred countries
turning up and you've got you had the Prime minis
of Great Britainyar, you had the President of francee, you
had the Prime Minister of Canada there, the Chancellor of Germany.
It's had a very very powerful missis that this war

(02:41):
is not forgotten. And the international community continued to stand
on how he with Ukraine and they will not tolerate
the aggression from Putin and Russia. So no, it was
very important on a very personal level. I got to
spend some time with him on the and I have
the leaded dinner only he had received a message from
his daughter. Was Father's Day in Ukraine and we were

(03:03):
talking about our kids and he said, look, you know,
getting the message from my daughter means everything. But at
the end of the day, I remember that we have
got twenty thousand Ukrainian children that have been taken by
Russia and taken away from their families, and there is
there are children in my country that cannot send your
father a happy Father's dotept because they've been killed by

(03:24):
invading Russian forces.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
So does he have a vibe about him those there
an expect us?

Speaker 3 (03:31):
He absolutely is the next factor about him. He's one
of those guys that he's physically quite a small guy,
but when he walks in the room, he has a presence.
And I've got enormous respect and admiration for admiration for
him for the energy that he has and what he's
doing in terms of leading his country through what's an
extremely difficult conflict with a huge human cost for him

(03:53):
and his people, and the energy that he brings to
make sure that this remains in the forefront of people's minds.
And one of the leakers were saying that one of
the things that really structure was they. I actually met
with the Ukrainian soldier had lost both of us legs
and he said to that person, you know, if you
don't stop this, if Ukraine losers, then Plutin's lots done.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
I think most people understand that, Ginny. For you, completely
different subjects scrutiny week. From your point of view, are
you loving it? Is anything coming out of it? Or
are we wasting our time here? It's good we get a.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Longer period of time. Mark. We had Marcus corrections minister
for sventeen minutes yesterday. So what it's designed to do
is take out those that are quick political hits of
what the headline was over the last out of forty
eight hours. But you actually get into the detail of
what's in the budget and what's what's funded and what's
not funded. So you can look, you know, police for example,

(04:48):
not not want to give too much away. Is Mark's
going to be there on Thursday?

Speaker 1 (04:52):
That's a good question.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
You can look funding for crime preventions overall gone down,
so you get to look at that level and to
interrogate that's what's what's the point of doing some big
ticket items.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
That's not that's not christ So that's where you go.
It's you're hearing the budget.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
We get nineteen minutes to talk about it. Marks fun,
looking forward to looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Have you got some national pease on board there, Mark,
to ask you some soft patsy questions?

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yes, they do that.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
No, my lot that we like Jim said, we heard
the grections here today. My view of it was normally
in the last becomement the labor ministers were coming and
talk for twenty minutes. I said, I'm not doing that.
This is the opposition's time. I made a short opening
address and then I gave us many questions. In fact,
I stayed one of the members of another question would

(05:43):
come to the end of the time, and I said, no, no,
letter asked the questions. So it is oppositions chance to
the script to ask the minister's questions, and it's an
important part of our democracy. So I respect that.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Good. I know you're back today three fifteen Emergency Management
Ministry expecting a grilling there or you've done pretty well
on that, and haven't you.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, we have done well, and you know there's a
lot of very good work going on. So no, it's good.
I mean it's also a chance to tell to give
a download in a report on what we are doing
in what we are achievement.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
All right, Brie break more in a moment, Jinny Anderson,
make Mitchell. It is thirteen past eight U S talks.
There be sixteen past dight. Jinny Anderson, Mark Mitchell Politics Wednesday,
Jinny Jerry Browne speaking of scrutiny week. He wants security
guards to be able to arrest and detain people on
the precinct, good idea or not, and he wants better
protection for MPs in the community. Better a good idea
or not.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Look, I think it's important that those discussions are taking place.
They're usually done in a committee where you get agreement
from all parties, but there have been a few instances
recently of security issues being raised, and I think it's
important that security guards feel like they cannect to take
people safe if they need to, so always with the

(06:51):
sort of agreement of all parties. But the fact he's
taking this seriously and taking some steps seems like a
good thing to me.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
How would you, as an MP in the community a
feel about it? In what form would you see it taking?
Is it a copper, is it a security guard? Is
a aminder. When do they start, when do they stop,
and what circumstances will they operate.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
We already have the ability through Parliamentary Security to carry
a Juris alarm with us if we feel that we're
at risk and you can activate that and when you do,
police come. So we already have that ability. The fact
that they want to monitor it more are always cautious
of how much that's going to cost in terms of
taxpayer spend. But if there are some people at risk

(07:31):
and they want to be in the community, I think
it's only right and fear that they should be secure when.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
They want to know that. So you hit a button
and that goes to the cop shop and they respond
what as fast as.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
They can as fast as they can. So well all
our staff and electric officers have that as well as
an MP. You can wear like a dongle thing around
your neck that you have a little emergency button and
you can have that and when you hit it it
activates a juris.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Where do you stand on it? Mark guards and detaining
people on the precinct and security in your electric look.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
My staff had to use the Jerius alarm about two
weeks ago and I take the safety of all of
our staff, whether it Beginneas people or my people. They
we must always put their safety at the forefront. They
do deal with difficult people at times, and so you know,
I think that there is no cap on the investment

(08:22):
that we have to make to keep them safe. I
think that, you know, Jerry is definitely looking at something
that needs to be looked at. We have, We've had
a couple of incidents, like Jinny said in Parliament recently,
that highlighted the fact we've got our standing security personnel
in our Parliament to do a fantastic job, but they
need some additional powers and I think that one of
the instances that we saw unfolding the public gathering really

(08:45):
showed that that needs to be looked at. So I
support Jerry and taking that position in terms of MP safety. Yes,
we shouldn't be cavalier about that. I know that we've
I've had a couple of incidents. I know that we've
something that threatened for me so that they these But
you but you're in a public you own, you own
a job that you're in the public eye, and and

(09:07):
so you are going to treat sometimes unwanted attention and sadly,
sometimes some of these people have got mental health issues
and need some proper support, but around them as well.
I had an incident, if you want a couple of examples,
I had an incident in my office where there was
someone with serious mental health issues that made serious threats
and saying that I had a firearm and they're on

(09:27):
their way to the ID office for my office. I
happened to be in the office. Thatson turned up at
my office. I put my staff into the safe room
and I was lucky because I had a policing career
that I had the ability through communication to keep that
person in my office until plas arrife. But those are
the types of incidence that that can happen.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Unreal. What sort of car do you drive? Jinny as
an MP, I've got a photo of your car. It
looks like an aqua? Is it in an aqua?

Speaker 2 (09:54):
It is a Holden barrina.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
It is a barina?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Is it? Uh?

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Do you have more than one of them?

Speaker 2 (09:59):
No?

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I don't have You had it resign writed recently with
your face on the back door? Or is the face
one the new one?

Speaker 2 (10:08):
The non face one has been like that for a
better year okay, because.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
You're parking on the footpath and I'm just looking at.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Do you know what?

Speaker 2 (10:15):
That's a funny Christian there because the person who packs
in my car pack is that the person in the
pres and takes the photo. So here's a local guy
who packs in my car pack and then takes a
photo of my car.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Do you need to activate your dongle?

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Probably it was because it's it's a repeat offender who
packs in my car, waits till I pack to go
into my office of grads and stuff. Pretty sure.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
You go in behind him and then he takes a photo.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, that's exactly what happens. What sort of assholes that yeah,
thank you, thank you?

Speaker 1 (10:55):
And what do you do about that?

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Well?

Speaker 2 (10:58):
You smiling, you know with his But when you've got
a short period of time to go get some papers
and get your meeting or meet someone and he's nowhere else,
I just usually sit there run in. But I won't
be doing it anymore because they clearly are sitting and
waiting to take a photo, and you have some fun
with it, and that's part of being an MP to
deal with.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Yeah, targy on the foot path is probably not a
good idea.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Jilly, Well, it is, like what that photo doesn't tell
is it's an industrial zone. It's the street, so that's
further up the street. You've got cars all parking up
there because it's not a typical area that pedestrians used.
It's an industrial zone with a whole Hopes operating. But no, look,
I shouldn't have done it. It was silly, But I
do get frustrated that I'm pretty sure that the person

(11:45):
who illegally packed in a private car park paid for
it by what I buy prountary service in my office
parks there, then pops out and snaps one when I.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
Hope the Greens aren't going to take your car part.
That is so true.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Good to see you guys, catch up next week. Appreciate
it very much, Jimmy Anderson, Mark Mitchell A twenty one.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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