The Government’s plan for tougher sentences for people who don’t think twice about assaulting first responders and corrections officers is great. But I think there are some other people who should be included.

Doctors and nurses. These are the people who, it seems, can be at just as much risk of being attacked. 

It’s brilliant that the Government has got the ambulance paramedics in their thinking. But the threat doesn’t necessarily go away once they’ve dropped someone off in the emergency department. 

In fact, it could be argued that, at times, hospital staff are at more risk than prison officers. Because, in prisons, there are all sorts of precautions and measures in place to minimise the risk of violence. There’s none of that in hospitals, though. 

Not that I see the new law being a solution to this problem we have, where  some muppets think it’s ok to assault and injure the people who come to our rescue 24/7. 

The ambulance guy I heard on Newstalk ZB this morning sounded like he’s in the “give it a go and see if it works camp”. Which I guess he’s more than willing to do given he said that his paramedics are assaulted pretty much every day. He said, at least, a couple of times a day. Prison officers - there were 900 assaults on them last year.  

But guess what the numbers are for health workers? Numbers aren’t available for last year but, according to Health NZ data, there were about 14,000 assaults on staff by patients, family members and visitors between January 2023 and December 2024. 

The number of assaults increased by 30 percent between the first half of 2023 and the second half of 2024. 

Fifteen out of 19 health districts saw increases in assaults on staff over the period. 

No assault on anybody is acceptable. Especially first responders. But, if we’re going to judge the situation on numbers, then you could say that the nurses and doctors in our hospitals are at much greater risk of being assaulted than fire, ambulance, police and corrections officers. 

And emergency department staff, especially, should be protected by this new law. They’re not.  But they should. 

Then we get to the broader question as to how or why we’ve got to the point where a law like this is even needed. 

How has New Zealand become a place where some of us have a complete disregard for people who are just here to help? That’s the wider question. 

And I reckon there are two possibilities. One, the ambulance guy on the radio mentioned. The other is something much bigger. 

First - alcohol and drugs. They are undoubtedly part of the problem. Because if you’re off your nut on alcohol and/or methamphetamine, you’re probably much more likely to have a go at a first responder, aren’t you? 

More likely than if you weren’t. And, while I think it's great the Government intends to crack down on first responder assaults, I don’t think it’s going to make a big difference.  

The other reason I think we’re seeing more and more of this violence towards first responders and hospital staff, is something much deeper. 

And it’s something that I think we are all guilty of - to varying degrees.  

Respect. Or lack of it. Society, in general, has way less respect for authority than it used to. And we are all more inclined to challenge authority these days than we used to be. 

So, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that there are some people who take that next-level and are prepared to fight against the authority of ambulance paramedics, firefighters, police officers, corrections officers, doctors and nurses. 

Sadly, I think that horse has well and truly bolted and I don’t see us ever getting back to a time when the idea of assaulting or injuring first responders never entered anyone’s head.  

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