Paula Bennett: Labour Government’s youth and crime policies a response to voter concerns

Chris Hipkins and Children's Minister Kelvin Davis announce two new high-needs units will be built within youth justice residences as part of a broader package intended to curb a recent spike in youth offending such as ram raids. Photo / Mark Mitchell

OPINION

What we need is well-considered detailed policy – not on-the-hoof-made-it-up-because-of-a-bad-poll like we have seen this week.

Labour’s roll-out of youth and crime policies screamed of desperation. In the past, we have heard from the Labour Government that punitive approaches have never worked. That these youth needed more understanding regarding the complexity of their situation and locking them up in facilities doesn’t work.

However, this week we had a stern-looking Chris Hipkins tell us that “Kiwis have had a gutsful of people thinking the rules don’t apply to them, and I have had a gutsful as well.” I don’t know how he delivered the line with a straight face.

They announced two new high-needs units will be built for youth offenders.

He declared that this was not rushed policy and that they had been working on it for a while. But when both he and Kelvin Davis were asked, they could not say where two new youth justice facilities would be built, how much they would cost or even what the model would look like.

Hipkins tried to reassure us that it was normal process to not have the policy costed or design work done as it had only just been signed off by Cabinet. As I see it, that is about as honest as a crocodile trying to assure us it is a vegetarian.

If the previous National Government had put out an uncosted, untimed, unplanned policy like this we would have been slammed. In my opinion, this policy came out this week simply because Hipkins and Labour wanted to look tough on crime and had seen enough polling to know the issue of law and order is increasingly of real concern to voters.

Hipkins came back from overseas to find that Labour’s wheels were falling off and voters have had enough. Successive negative polls in recent weeks have consistently shown that National could form the next Government with Act if an election was held that week. According to the Herald’s poll of polls, come election day a National-Act coalition remains the most likely outcome with a probability of 45.8 per cent. Of equal concern for Labour is that they are just steadily declining. The more people see the more they don’t want to vote for them.

And so they panicked and have probably done more damage. They look like they are out of ideas; worse, they have no ideology, and their only quest is to stay in power. Labour has built themselves a little pedestal that they like to stand on and look down at National and its supporters.

They have tried to say they are the more principled party, I have always known it wasn’t true and this week they proved it. Their pedestal has toppled over. If they don’t know what they believe in and what they stand for then how can you?

Paula Bennett is a former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party politician who now works at Bayleys Real Estate as national director — customer engagement. She is still active within the party, raising millions of dollars in donations for National this year.