Opposition, 1990–1999 In 1990 Hawkins was selected to succeed
Roger Douglas as the Labour candidate for the seat of
Manurewa, beating Alan Johnson, a town planner and opponent of Douglas. In his maiden statement, he praised Douglas and
Michael Bassett, and the economic and local government reforms they oversaw during the previous administration. He also proposed the relocation of New Zealand's parliament from
Wellington to Auckland. Labour leader
Mike Moore appointed Hawkins as the party's spokesperson for local government and urban affairs; he was also assigned to the internal affairs and local government committee and the planning and development committee. Between 1993 and 1999, he was police spokesperson and sat on the justice and law reform committee. Through the 1990s, he was aligned with
Mike Moore and
Phil Goff and was part of their attempted coup to relieve
Helen Clark of the Labour leadership in 1996. With them, he formulated the Labour Party's tougher law and order policies that were taken into the 1999 election, which included
zero-tolerance policies proposing that district commanders be sacked if they fail to meet crime-reduction targets. As police spokesperson, Hawkins was critical of the development and cost overruns of the
Integrated National Crime Information System (INCIS), which was eventually abandoned in 1999. In July 1992 Hawkins was hospitalized suffering from an infection and exhaustion. While in hospital he suffered a
pulmonary embolism, leading him to an extended convalescence. He later decided to retire from the Papakura mayoralty to ease his workload. During the period he suffered a
stroke, which would leave him with a speech impediment. At the time Hawkins (and others) thought bad health would end his career. He continued on, however, stating "But it [his condition] made me think that some things are really worth fighting for." As police minister, Hawkins oversaw a crackdown on burglary. In 2000, he ordered police to respond to burglaries within 24 hours and introduced new legislation enabling police to conduct DNA testing of burglary suspects and collect fingerprints of children aged 10 and over without parental consent. The fingerprint proposal was criticised by Hawkins' colleague, junior minister
Tariana Turia. Early reports indicated that the burglary policies were having some success despite not meeting the targets set, but violent crime continued to rise. Hawkins suggested that the rise in crime was an effect of the previous government's stricter social welfare policies. In 2002, amid a shortage of police in Auckland, he announced plans to hire civilians to respond to burglaries. Hawkins was also criticised for being too involved in police operations, which are supposed to be independent of politicians, including for suggesting police trainees pay their own way, banning police officers from carrying cell phones, giving directions on the investigation into the
murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, and determining what colours to paint police cars. A new police amendment bill proposed the police minister to have greater powers of direction over the police commissioner. Police association president
Greg O'Connor described the bill as "compromising the ability of police to act independently." Hawkins received responsibility for citizenship as associate internal affairs minister in July 2000 and was assigned the full portfolio that November. The reshuffle gave him responsibility for the
New Zealand Fire Service, in addition to the police and civil defence. He initiated a review of the fire service in 2004, which had been described as "financially ailing" with a $100m funding shortfall in 2001. Hawkins was also responsible for gambling and building regulations. He was seen as "pro-gaming" but progressed government policy to prevent the building of any new casinos in New Zealand and established a new Gambling Commission. Despite initially obfuscating on the issue, he commissioned an inquiry into the
leaky homes crisis in September 2002 and established a mediation service for victims of the crisis in October 2002. When it was revealed he had known about the crisis for several months before taking any action, there were calls for his resignation; eventually responsibility for the issue was reassigned to the commerce minister,
Lianne Dalziel. Hawkins also came under further pressure in the police portfolio in 2004 and 2005 when issues with the police 111 telephone system were reported, when senior officers were accused of sexual misconduct, and when large amounts of pornography were discovered on police hard drives. Ahead of the
2005 general election, Hawkins—despite being the 11th-ranked cabinet minister—was placed 25th on the
Labour Party list in what was described as a "clear message" about his future with the party after the election. In response, Hawkins withdrew his name from the party list, won his Manurewa electorate by a 12,000-vote margin, and proactively ended his ministerial career by issuing a post-election statement that he would not accept reappointment as a minister.
Later parliamentary career After withdrawing from the ministry in 2005, Hawkins became a
backbencher, sitting on the
finance and expenditure committee, the government administration committee, and the social services committee. Hawkins was successful in having the bill introduced into Parliament without a ballot, and it was referred to the social services committee on 2 July 2008. The bill returned to the House for its second reading in 2010, where it was defeated when the government preferred to consider that proposal in its own alcohol reform bill. Speaking on the bill, Hawkins said he had changed his position on alcohol over his career and, having voted for the alcohol purchase age to be 18 in 1999, would instead vote for the age to be 20. Both bills were defeated, with the select committee that considered the second bill determining that it was not required because councils could already create by-laws related to prostitution. Calls for Hawkins to retire continued after he left the ministry. These intensified in 2007 when Hawkins took two months off to have an operation for bowel cancer. He believed many in the Labour Party coveted his safe electorate seat and stated of many of the visitors he received in hospital: "They didn't want to hold your hand, they wanted to take your pulse." At the election, Hawkins' majority was cut by more than half. Following the defeat of the Labour government in 2008, Hawkins was appointed housing spokesperson by Clark's successor as leader,
Phil Goff. In a 2009 reshuffle, he was reassigned to the local government portfolio. In the 2008–2011 term, Hawkins sat as a member of the primary production committee, the local government and environment committee, and the Auckland governance legislation committee. After winning the seat, he refused to say whether he would force a by-election or simply retire at the 2011 general election. Hawkins threatened to call a by-election if an
EPMU-backed candidate was selected over his preferred successor. Initially, Hawkins favoured Labour list MP
Shane Jones but later gave his allegiance to his former advisor Ian Dunwoodie. In the end,
Louisa Wall won the nomination with Hawkins' blessing and he retired from Parliament at the election, giving his valedictory statement on 29 September 2011. == Local board member ==