Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has confirmed the newly formed National Security Agency is part of the nation’s development and growth in part of the regional network of nations that are working together to combat transnational crimes.
PM Brown made these comments in Parliament Wednesday responding to queries raised by the leader of the Opposition, Tina Brown during the discussion of the Appropriation Bill 2025 which was passed in parliament.
The Appropriation Amendment Bill 2025 which was tabled by the PM last week, was increased from $328 million to $396 million (US$184 million – US$223 million), a total increase of nearly $68 million (US$38 million).
The Supplementary Budget includes an allocation of $2 million (US$1.12 million) for the 60th Te Maeva Nui preparations, $500,000 (US$281,000) for critical road maintenance, and a total of $6,647,810 (US$3,743,988) for the Ministry of Police. With the police allocation there is an allocation of $145,000 (US$81,690( to re-establish community policing and $100,000 (US$56,338) to strengthen the Police Advisory Committee.
Opposition Leader Browne drew the gathering’s attention to a consultation she attended last week by the national security agency whose duty is to give support for security especially with the internet cyberbullying.
She questioned whether the agency should have been under the administration of the Police Service due to their role.
However, PM Brown emphasised that because of the challenges that the Police Force faced at the moment, it’s not best seen as something that can be managed by the police department.
He added that this agency is an outcome of a national security police which the government adopted last year and one of its key aspects was to do with cyber security.
“Over the last year, working very closely with the New Zealand Secret Intelligence Service, and other New Zealand agencies responsible for national securities, we are developing an agency that will be capable, that will be part of a regional intelligence gathering and sharing network,” he said.
“And this is more than just work that will include the police department and it also includes agencies such as Customs, Immigration, and other such agencies that deal with security issues that are becoming more prevalent around the region.
“Elements affecting the country right now involve cyber security, but this national security agency will also deal with aspects of people smuggling, transnational crimes, unfavourable persons traveling to other counties, and other crimes committed through the region.”
According to Brown, while working with NZ counterparts, they will be able to determine what shape this agency will take and whether it will be best suited as a stand-alone agency, or attached to the Office of the Prime minister, or police department.
With regards to the Supplementary budget, Browne acknowledged concerns around the police’s new recruits being paid minimum wage when it is one of the main ministries being challenged.
She said she believed that the amount of money allocated for police is not sufficient to employ new recruits for police.
“And I believe that in the budget that will be allocated for next year, there will be enough money to recruit new officers because we discovered a lot of our young people are breaking the law,” she added.
She raised concerns also about the local ability to protect homes in regards to criminal activities.
In response, Brown stressed that this was just a supplementary budget, and he expects that the main budget to be tabled in May will have more significant appropriations.
“And just like we have done with the Crown Law office, we are taking a very calculated methodical step by step process to address the issues around the retention recruitment of our police force,” he said.
He said this appropriation adds an extra in this supplementary budget of around $460,000 (US$259,162) is to go towards some of the work, the funding is required for the police including community policing.
Looking ahead, the government is looking at what they have done with other ministries that each year, they will be able to increase these allocations for these critical ministries and departments to ensure that their needs are met.
