5. Making streets safer.
As someone with a lot of experience of the effects of prison, I can say quite adamantly that our current model is failing, both morally and economically. I support more police - it is without a doubt that our men and women in blue have had funding cuts consistently. But I don't think the answer is to be harsher on crime (especially not petty crime) or to breach human rights. What we need is early intervention, and to look at the systemic problems that cause crime - over half of prisoners are illiterate, and over 80 per cent were first charged with a lack of licence. Education and support while young (and entering the system) are the answer. Providing opportunity. Police may catch criminals, but they will not solve crime. We as a government need to do that.
David Elliott, National
1.The destructive impact of P.
Both Lawrence Yule and I are committed to a team fight to remove this destructive drug from Hawke's Bay. The Government recently announced tough new penalties and restrictions on gangs to reign in drug manufacture and distribution. I wholeheartedly support these new measures. I would also advocate for more drug rehabilitation centres to help users reintegrate back into society rather than go to prison.
2. Providing permanent, well-paying jobs .
Governments do not create employment, businesses do and you don't encourage expansion or new business by taxing them with water tax or capital gains tax or asset tax. Hawke's Bay will continue to attract new businesses if it is given the support and infrastructure to assist in that growth. If the correct support is offered start-ups, if companies are encouraged to expand, if more land is made available for expansion, then permanent well-paying jobs will follow.
3. Providing affordable housing.
The Government is building houses all over the country. Rotorua, Tauranga, Nelson all have Housing Accords with central govenment to speed up consents, support new social housing and assist with infrastructure costs, because they have effectve MPs raising the issue. Napier needs an MP who will tirelessly demand housing for Napier rather than complain about it in the paper.
4. Homelessness.
Again, move Napier to the top of the list for new social housing. Couple that with initiatives like Housing First that has seen 150 homeless people in Auckland helped off the streets. I would continue to advocate for new programmes such as Housing First to be introduced to Napier as well as supporting groups such as Whatever It Takes and the Salvation Army to fund the support services homeless people need to overcome their complex problems.
5. Making streets safer.
The police ultimately decide how to deploy their staff to ensure maximum effectiveness.
In order to reduce crime you need to remove the drivers of crime and that is primarily drug addiction,poverty and family violence. We have bought out tough new measures on gangs and drugs, I support these tough new measures. Social Investment and the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children will focus specifically on those that most need help in our society.
Karl Matthys, Democrats for Social Credit
1) The destructive impact of P.
Methamphetamine is of course not the only drug causing problems in Napier, in New Zealand, in the whole wide world. Alcohol, marijuana, coke, heroin and a few more will be with us for a while yet. Why? Because the human brain needs the occasional break from worries and stress? How many of us can say "I have never ever been intoxicated"? There is a strong correlation between problem drug use and worsening poverty and inequality. Improve people's standard of living and the drug problem will not go away entirely but will be reduced to bearable levels. Also, legalising marijuana will help.
2) Providing permanent, well paying jobs.
Well, most politicians promise to throw money at this problem hoping that voters believe it to be the answer. What not many are willing to admit or perhaps not even understand is that the world is going through a gigantic transformation. The computer geeks have done it! Algorithms (call it Artificial Intelligence if you like) are making millions of us not just unemployed but unemployable. This applies not just to menial labour, accountants, doctors, teachers and many of the professions will be affected. What is the answer? Re-schooling? How many virtual reality gaming programmers do we need? No, the answer is: pay every man woman and child a Universal Unconditional Basic Income.
Just like superannuation. Those lucky enough to have a job will be rich, the rest of us just 'get by'.
3) Providing affordable housing.
That's an easy one. We used to have what was called the 'Caring Society', before neo liberal economics (remember Rogernomics?) took over and made everything (including us) profit generating commodities. The Government built and maintained state houses, and provided affordable loans, to those brave enough to buy a home, through the State Advances Corporation. All this can be done again. Bypass the usurious trading banks (annual profit $4.5 billion going to Australian shareholders) and let the state, through the to be established Sovereign Reserve Bank Monetary Authority (RMBA) provide zero interest loans to local bodies for building new low income rental accommodation. And provide first, low income home buyers with very low interest mortgages.
4) Homelessness.
Homelessness will of course decrease, possibly become 'a thing of the past' though the provision of affordable housing. Again, the world is in for some really dramatic changes with regards to work availability and social capital. Many people living in one of the bigger cities, especially Auckland, once economic pressure is taken off through the provision of a Universal Unconditional Basic Income, will find that a move to a rural setting is 'on the cards'. This is because life is cheaper, house prices and rents are lower, in places like Napier and even more so in smaller places like Wairoa.
5) Making streets safer.
Are our streets not safe? Drunks abusing passers-by? Perhaps the question has something to do with the recent appearance of people begging for money in the main street. Again my answer is: "Lift people out of the poverty trap they are in and the problem will go away". Visualise yourself asking people for money in the street. How awful it must be. Think about the UBI mentioned above. Google UBI and check it out. The 'powers that be' ridicule the idea but it can be done! This is a worldwide movement.
Laurence Day, Conservative Party
1. The destructive impact of P.
Firstly; double all the current penalties relating to P. Add special task forces in every police district to focus on P related crime.
Secondly; set up more addiction recovery programmes.
Thirdly; re-introduce 'work for the dole' . They aren't the only users but too many unemployed are over represented in problem drug statistics.
2. Providing permanent, well-paying jobs.
Well paid jobs go to those who are well qualified or who take financial risks and create their own employment. In both cases it helps to have a good education and we know that kids from stable two-parent families are as much as four times as likely to succeed educationally. We need to incentivise committed families through such things as income tax splitting, etc, to encourage and support the best nurturing environment for our kids. We also need to significantly reduce business tax so employers are incentivised to create more employment. The government will still get their tax as the owners still pay tax on their personel drawings and the new employees pay PAYE tax. Leaving more money in the business allows much more re investment in growth. The best example of this is the dramatic success of Tainui and Ngai Tahu who pay no tax on their business earnings!
3. Providing affordable housing.
Housing problems are the result of over zealous bureaucratic types in councils choking supply of suitable land by not rezoning fast enough then when they do rezone they impose such onerous costs on developers that the price of sections is way too high. On top of that, NZ is unnecessarily bringing in low wage immigrants who both take up unskilled jobs from locals and increase the pressure on house supply. It's simple, when the supply exceeds demand, house prices drop. Check out any town where the main industry has closed ... the house prices drop! So ... increase the supply of land!. Then if the government allowed first home owners to borrow 100 per cent of the house price by government guaranteeing the 20 per cent deposit, young people, who can often afford the mortgage but can't save the deposit would be able to buy home. And that would cost the government nothing!
4. Homelessness.
Two things here.
Firstly; direct money from Lotto, regional charitable trusts and the like and if necessary, direct government support to local charities to purchase, provide and manage homeless shelters and the like.
Secondly; impose much much more sensible budgetary controls regarding beneficiaries' income, such that rent is always paid direct from the benefit and also provide 'food stamps' so the basic needs are under control. The balance of their income could still be at their discretion but all recipients of benefits should have to be on a budget.
5. Making streets safer.
Increasing the police numbers but incentivise more mature 'real-world' experienced recruits. I'm not convinced that 18-year-olds make good police persons and at that age they can pick up some unhelpful attitudes. Certainly we need increased penalties for violent crime. It's not 'PC' to say it, but more than anything we need to disincentivise solo-parenthood. We know that around 80 per cent of people in Jail were raised without a father in the home. Their role models and 'father figures' are too often gang members. It comes down to - are we willing to incentivise stable two parent families?
Maryanne Marsters, Maori Party
1. The destructive impact of P
The most destructive impact of P is the ending of a life. Yet it does not finish there, for its impact weaves its way through families and friends in the form of grief, of confusion, guilt, anger, and dare I say shame. Now families of Aotearoa New Zealand are no longer silent. At tangi/services anau/fanau are talking about how P and/or depression took their son, took their daughter, took their loved one. In the process of this sharing they raise awareness of the destructive impact of P (and depression). The Maori Party are committed to the lives of the sons and daughters of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our policy around P includes - Develop a national strategy that is whānau-centred and community-led to get beneath the drivers of P and address the wider determinants of health disparities; and Increase the resources appropriated for P prevention, rehabilitation and education.
2. Providing permanent, well-paying jobs
There is not just one road that leads to permanent, well-paying jobs For All, and in this case too many to fit into a 100 word statement. But this is what I will say, I am encouraged by the Maori Party's unveiling of IwiRail, which is aimed at supporting isolated communities and businesses in the regions to get their goods to market, create jobs and open up opportunities for them to participate in the country's economy. A key focus of IwiRail is to inject back into the region the 15,000 jobs and apprenticeships that existed prior to the 1980's and the slicing of rail. IwiRail and its ripple effect can benefit us all.
3. Poviding affordable housing / Homelessness
Homelessness, poverty, and unemployment are symptoms of a wider systemic problem and until we address the root causes of these issues the disparities between Māori and non-Māori will continue to exist. To end homelessness we need a clear national strategy, which includes all sectors and sets out the action that Government will take. Last year, the Māori Party called on the Government to immediately adopt the 21 recommendations set out in the Ending Homelessness in New Zealand report. The Māori Party has advocated for emergency housing and lobbied for a Warrant of Fitness on all rental properties. It is important to say home ownership should be the final destination, and affordable housing is the transition. The Maori Party Policy Manifesto 2017 includes focus on home ownership.
Stuart Nash, Labour
1.The destructive impact of P.
As Labour's police spokesman, I have had quite a bit to do with this issue. Police tell me that P is at epidemic proportions in our communities and yet the mental health and addiction services needed to help people overcome this terrible situation are either non-existent or stretched to breaking point. This is unacceptable. There is a two-pronged approach to dealing with P that involves police and health services.
From a policing perspective we will approach this issue from a preventative and a punitive approach. Community policing as the preventive measure will work with communities in a proactive way, addressing the causes of addiction as well as the consequences. At the other end, increasing the number of police in the organised crime squads is imperative. These are the men and women whose primary responsibility is to go after the gangs. At the compassionate end of the spectrum, our mental health and addiction services have been cut right back. Labour will invest significantly more into these vital mental health and addiction services in order to meet the needs of our communities.
2. Providing permanent, well-paying jobs
As Labour's Economic Development spokesman, I have also written our policy on regional economic development. The type of economic development that creates well-paying, sustainable jobs right across our communities is imperative. As just one example, our $200 million Regional Economic Development fund is available to companies seeking capital at globally competitive interest rates. There are a number of initiatives that will empower our regional economic development agencies to identify the opportunities and then work with the government to realise their potential. My goal is to ensure that, where appropriate, central and local government agencies work together to operationalise our own regional economic development plan, which is extremely robust and achievable.
3. Providing affordable housing.
Labour and Jacinda have made housing a priority. We have said that we will build 10,000 houses a year for 10 years in order to address the absolute lack of affordable and state houses. If you are interested in the details of Labour's plan for Hawke's Bay, come along to Jacinda's announcement on Monday at 11am in Maraenui, the Napier suburb where Housing NZ pulled down 130 houses over two years ago.
4. Homelessness.
This is another priority for Labour. We currently have over 150 Napier families on the high needs wait list. We estimate the taxpayer is spending around $60,000 a week on keeping families in hotels. While it is important to ensure our most vulnerable have a roof over their heads, this money would have been better spent on building permanent houses for these families to live in.
5. Making streets safer.
Again, as police spokesman I am very proud of our policy to deliver 1000 more sworn officers over three years. I have said that the emphasis will be on community policing while also increasing numbers in our organised crime squads in order to go after these gangs peddling P into our communities.