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Kate Hawkesby: Turns out I gave the Government too much credit

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Tue, 10 May 2022, 7:19AM
Police Minister Poto Williams. (Photo / NZ Herald)

Kate Hawkesby: Turns out I gave the Government too much credit

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Tue, 10 May 2022, 7:19AM

So just when I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, the Government showed its true colours again yesterday and went back to its head in the sand approach. 

They’re not soft on crime after all, according to them. I thought all this money being thrown at crime was admission crime is a problem, and their dealing with it hasn’t been flash, but alas, wrong. The PM came out and said yesterday nope, they’re not soft on crime. She also denied this funding announcement was a rushed reaction to bad polls and bad headlines.

As for Poto Williams, yesterday she was bluffing her way around what they’re doing about ram raids, she didn’t sound any clearer than she did when she first announced it. Essentially, they’re not sure how they’re going to help businesses deal with ram raiders, but they’ll consult. Of course they will. As for whether they’re soft on crime, she was singing from the same song sheet as the Prime Minster. 

When it was put to her that a Newshub poll showed 70% of New Zealanders think they're soft on crime, she denied it.

“Not true,” she said. So 70 percent of Kiwis are wrong.

This is, of course, the one and only Labour defence move, just deny everything, it’s not happening, not true, I reject the premise of the question. I’m surprised they’re still taking this path; actually, I’d have thought the polls and focus groups would be telling them by now that this blanket denial routine is not working for them. You can’t deny stuff that people know is true, that people are experiencing for themselves, that people are seeing unfold in front of their very eyes. 

You can’t deny it when even the Police themselves are saying it’s true. That their hands are tied, that they can’t pursue people, that they can’t arrest people and that they can barely get past all their paperwork and bureaucracy these days to even get out on the street and actually be a cop.

Anyway, Poto thinks this announcement of money is proof they’re not soft on crime.

She’s delusional. All that this announcement is, is a long overdue shot in the arm for law enforcement which has been sadly lacking for too long. And even then, this new funding is going to take four years to trickle through.

In regards to our largest city, Poto believes the ‘dynamic in Auckland has changed’ she says due to the loss of international students.

In what can only be described as laughable, she didn’t recognize that’s because in place of the students, the Government popped the 501s in there. So she put criminals in town, then says the ‘dynamic has changed’. 

No kidding, as a direct result of government decision making. Not that they’ll ever see it that way. And that’s part of the problem too, they don’t accept responsibility for anything, everything seems to be somebody else’s fault.

It's hard to have faith there will be meaningful change, when the powers that be can’t even acknowledge the reality of the problem.

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