Darroch Ball
Leader
Sensible Sentencing Trust
The Prime Minister said the following at her post-cabinet press conference about the reasons why Poto Williams is being replaced as Police Minister:
“…at this time it is critical that our focus in time is on supporting the police […] and developing additional measures to deal with the current escalation in gang tensions and violence, that focus currently has been lost.”
Yes, she just said ‘that focus currently has been lost’. The political translation is ‘the Minister is failing terribly and she has to go’.
Not only is this an astonishing admission by itself, it is in the starkest of contrasts to what the Minister was saying and more to the point what the Prime Minister herself was defending.
Compare that ‘loss of focus’ admission to this quote by Poto Williams in the House just last month:
“I reject the premise of the question that gang tensions are rising under this government.”
Once she said that it was just a matter of time.
But let’s get one thing straight. It’s not the Minister who lost focus – Labour never had that focus in the first place. The truth is their ‘rainbows and lollipops’ approach to crime was found out a long time ago – they tried to hold on as long as they could but the intense political pressure made them flinch. This wasn’t a practical decision; it was a political one.
And, make no mistake, the change in Police Minister was due purely to public pressure and pressure from those dismal polls. It wasn’t because of some ridiculously airy ‘change of focus’ that the media fervently lapped up.
The Prime Minister is saying the focus now is about legislative and policy change to back police and crack down on gangs and their violence – when the hell was it anything different? The gang issue has been building for years and we have been seeing violence escalate markedly since at least the beginning of last year.
The Prime Minister then said it was previously a focus on cultural change…excuse me, what? What exactly does ‘cultural change’ mean? That must be news to the frontline cops who I have been told had literally no idea who Poto Williams even was.
Where is the quality fourth estate when you need them?
If Ardern’s Government didn’t see that the focus should always have been on the rise and rise of gangs and their violence, the police needing legislation, resources, and the government backing them up – then they were toast before they even started.
Chris Hipkins is the new Police Minister. Let’s watch how he more effectively sidesteps, swerves, and makes excuses for the utter failure of the Labour party law and order ideology – but then watch how nothing will change. Gangs will continue to grow, their violence will continue to escalate, and the public will continue to feel unsafe…and the Labour Cabinet will still have no idea why.
Mark my words.