In the aftermath of the recent Cabinet reshuffle it is easy to draw some cynical parallels between the outgoing Minister of Police and the incoming Minister for Conservation; the one and the same.
Poto Williams, in her role as Minister of Police, should have been about upholding the protection of those of us who do not ram-raid businesses or engage in gang warfare and drive-by shootings. But she didn’t. She allowed the protection of the wildlife that carry out these crimes, terrifying business owners and innocent community members, making their lives hell. She will be protecting wildlife in her new role too.
“[…] proof that the Government is committed to protecting Aotearoa’s wildlife.”
No change there then.
“Christchurch East MP Poto Williams lost her role as Police Minister to Chris Hipkins, as Ardern said there was a need to “get back to basics” for policing. A spike in ramraids and gang shootings had recently seen opposition MPs slam Labour as “soft on crime“.
stuff.co.nz/environment/129011202/being-conservation-minister-a-real-privilege-williams-speaks-out-after-cabinet-reshuffle
Is this government soft on crime? Not according to the Prime Minister, despite the Newshub-Reid Research poll finding that most Kiwis thought Poto Williams wasn’t harsh enough.
“The poll asked: Is/was the current Police Minister (Poto Williams) too soft on crime? More than two-thirds – 68.3 percent – said yes, while just 18.3 percent said no.”
Our PM, pre her cabinet reshuffle said:
“let’s just look at the bare facts. None of the penalties, none of the consequences for these crimes have changed. So this idea that somehow there is this weakening is just wrong,”
PM Jacinda Ardern says soft on crime claims ‘just wrong’ as former detective hails NZ Police’s international reputation | Newshub
And yet Labour is repealing the Three Strikes Law, again supporting those who do active harm to our vulnerable citizenry. Soft on crime? Absolutely.
There is an impressive budget for Poto Williams for conservation, and the protection of our natural environment should be a priority, however let’s look at the figures and the key initiatives.
“Key initiatives included $64m to help deliver the Predator Free 2050 strategy, including $30m for researching and developing new tools and technology to eradicate rats, stoats, and possums, and a provision to help create two new predator-free offshore islands for vulnerable species like kakapo.”
No doubt her police budget was also significant. Was it spent in the same proportions to help deliver predator-free streets and communities so that people could sleep safely at night and walk to or from work without being shot at or knifed to death? Are our citizens not now a vulnerable species? Like the kakapo? How about we put the predators on off-shore islands and let them sort themselves out.
What to do about it? Bollards have been recommended as the answer to ram-raiders and if you have funds to invest then the bollard industry is looking promising thanks to the destruction of NZ society under the auspices of the Labour government.
“Xpanda Security managing director Peter Novosad said demand for bollards has been steadily rising over the past year as ram raids have increased.”
Demand for bollards skyrockets as shop owners look for protection from ram raids | RNZ News
There is no allocation in the conservation budget or the police budget for the installation of bollards. No, that is at the business owner’s expense. To protect themselves against the predators. So, we can look forward to our streets being barricaded against incursion. Just in case. Far better than to make ram-raiding an unattractive pursuit and one with meaningful penalties and prison sentences or making parents responsible for the crimes their children commit. Why should the rest of us pay for these miscreants?
John Macdonald on Newstalk ZB said before the cabinet reshuffle:
[…] even if Poto Williams was in reality the best Police Minister the country has ever had, the general perception is that she’s one of the worst […] because she doesn’t have the mongrel that I think most of us expect in a Police Minister […] but we don’t get that with Poto Williams […] the clumsy way she answers questions – not decisive […].
John MacDonald: Poto Williams isn’t the problem, but she does need to go (newstalkzb.co.nz)
Does Minister Hipkins have the mongrel that we expect?
“New Police Minister Chris Hipkins has hinted a crackdown on gangs is on the way, including potentially giving officers more powers to seize assets if members are caught with illegal guns.”
Is he decisive? In an MSM article, published 21 June, he “hints at”, he “has had some conversations” with Justice Minister Kiri Allan, and they “are looking to get a package of things together” and considers “there is more they can do in that space”. “He doesn’t want to get into details.” He and Allan “want to knock their heads together to see of they need to reset any direction and in three weeks they will probably have a pretty fulsome set of views…including potentially giving officers more powers to seize assets if members are caught with illegal guns.”
Well, I think many of us would like to knock their heads together. Whatever happened to their roles to serve and protect? What a pathetic load of codswallop. The same old same old blah blah blah. Another mealy-mouthed soft-on-crime approach that will see more social damage and less meaningful action against the perpetrators of crime.
And of the gangs, Minister Hipkins has no idea. He doesn’t know if a truce has been called between the Tribesmen and the Killer Beez. He says:
“My job as Minister of Police is to make sure they [police] have the tools they need, it’s not to second guess what the police are going to be doing. They make those judgments and they do that independently of politicians and that’s quite appropriate.”
New Police Minister hints at gang crackdown, doesn’t know if truce has been called between Auckland gangs (msn.com)
It would be unfair and unrealistic to expect that a week into their new roles, significant changes would be announced, but the terminology, the tired phrases, the ‘we will look into it,’ all of that is very familiar. Can we be rightly concerned that the status-quo will trundle on, more bollards will be installed, more ram-raids will occur, and nothing of significance will change?
The public was quick to respond to the MSM article, with comments such as:
“Resign Hipkins, you are not fit to be a Minister.”
“Do not hold your breath with Hipkins on the Job , by the time the next few weeks go by the package will still be unwrapped.”
“The eenie, meenie, minie moe minister….”
“This politician is full of it, he wouldn’t even know if it was raining even as the droplets fall on his face!”
“This man is a joke, he hints, man just get the police doing what they supposed to do, serve and protect, as a health minister you were pathetic ,and you sure as well are heading the same way.”
What is also highly troubling about all of this is that the Labour talent pool has the depth of an extremely shallow puddle. Why Minister Hipkins was the answer is a question left largely unanswered. I do have some sympathy for the man, however, as he is seen as the only person able to handle multiple significant portfolios simultaneously. There is no one else available.
But he was appointed, and we’re watching and waiting, Minister Hipkins.