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Speaker 1: Going to Ginny Anderson, who's the Labor police spokesperson, because

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Speaker 1: the Police Minister Mark Mitchell is refusing to allow Labor

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Speaker 1: a Labour's Genny Anderson to meet an Auckland police inspector.

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Speaker 1: Sounds pretty petty to me. It comes two years after

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Speaker 1: Mitchell himself, who was then National's police spokesperson in opposition,

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Speaker 1: you'll remember, was blocked from meeting with police leaders by

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Speaker 1: the then Police Minister Portor Williams, a decision he said

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Speaker 1: was petulant and vindictive. Ginny Anderson's with us, good morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Ryan. How are you.

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Speaker 1: I'm good, thank you. Now I just want to read

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Speaker 1: you what he has said his office has told us.

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Speaker 1: He says, basically, I would support such a request if

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Speaker 1: you were going to meet with the commissioner. I cannot

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Speaker 1: support a generic request to visit a police station with

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Speaker 1: no context, with a week's notice.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think he's walking that back quite quickly because

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Speaker 2: he's realized that he has made a mistake. It's a

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Speaker 2: well established practice that you go to the minister's office. Borrows.

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Speaker 2: Myself and Chris Hopkins never made any attempts to stop

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Speaker 2: him from making visits when he was the opposition spokesperson

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Speaker 2: and all the information that's required as the date and

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Speaker 2: the place and who you intend to meet with. So

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Speaker 2: I think he's realized that he's reacted in the wrong way.

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Speaker 1: So were you just going to bowl up or had

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Speaker 1: you been contact with someone there to meet with them?

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Speaker 2: No, we'd sort of to the MP on the ground

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Speaker 2: often makes inquiries, but we wouldn't attend unless the minister

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Speaker 2: had approved.

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Speaker 1: But was the meeting did you speak to did you

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Speaker 1: arrange a meeting with an inspector there and then go

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Speaker 1: get permission from the minister or did you do the

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Speaker 1: minister first? And actually you haven't got a specific meeting

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Speaker 1: in mind.

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Speaker 2: I think Shannon Helbert had done some preliminary work, but

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Speaker 2: we wouldn't do that until the minister had approved the meeting.

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Speaker 1: Right, Because it sounds like he says, I cannot support

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Speaker 1: a generic request to visit a police station with no

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Speaker 1: con for the week to notice. It sounds like he

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Speaker 1: was worried that if he gave you permission, you were

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Speaker 1: just going to bowl up there and just sort of

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Speaker 1: harass people.

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Speaker 2: No, No, that's not the practice. It's quite an established

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Speaker 2: practice that you only speak with someone who's inspector level

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Speaker 2: or higher, and it's a meeting usually in the station,

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Speaker 2: and it would be half an hour for an hour.

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Speaker 2: He'd done it many many times himself. He should know

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Speaker 2: that it's a pretty standard practice. And the overall concern

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Speaker 2: is we would not want to politicize the police. So

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Speaker 2: it's fighting by general rules to make sure the police

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Speaker 2: are protected from visits and they're not dragged into any

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Speaker 2: sort of political you.

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Speaker 1: Know, yeah, fair enough. Who was the inspector, Janine, What

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Speaker 1: did you want to talk to them about?

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Speaker 2: Oh, well, we were quite interested in an Auckland retail

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Speaker 2: crime that has been an ongoing issue for both governments.

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Speaker 2: So it's important we understand the recent events that have

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Speaker 2: been acting, how they're impacting upon the community, and also

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Speaker 2: what measures police are putting into place to reassure the

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Speaker 2: community that things are being responded to quickly.

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Speaker 1: Jenny, thank you very much for coming on the show.

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Speaker 1: Ginny Anderson, Labour's police spokesperson, responding there to Mark Mitchell's

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Speaker 1: refusal to allow her into the police station in Albany.

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Speaker 1: For more from News Talks B listen live on air

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