Audrey Young: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins makes his first mistake, on Cyclone Gabrielle lawlessness

OPINION

Until this week, new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins hadn’t put a foot wrong in his handling of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Until this week he had avoided the reflex response of most governments when faced with criticism – defensiveness.

That ended yesterday when he parroted the line of Police Commissioner Andrew Coster that dishonesty crime in the flood-ravaged Hawke’s Bay had dropped and effectively, there was nothing to see here.

Hipkins also questioned reports that a couple of people who had set up roadblocks had had firearms pointed at them, saying no one had reported it to police.

As the former Police Minister, he no doubt has a good relationship with police and has been in communication with them daily since the disaster unfolded.

But as reports of crime stepped up, he let politics drive his response to reports of crime - at the cost of losing the empathy with the flood victims he had shown up until now.

Chris Hipkins has made his first misstep as PM. Photo / Dean Purcell

Opposition parties had zeroed in on reports of crime and amplified the situation to create a sense of lawlessness. Act called for the Defence Force to help the police to keep the peace.

Hipkins was incensed at the depiction of lawlessness - and at suggestions police had lost control.

But there were ways of handling that without dismissing the real concerns about crime – as expressed by Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise.

National’s Mark Mitchell put it perfectly on Newstalk ZB this morning when he said the Government’s messaging had been terrible and it had sent to wrong signals to people in Hawke’s Bay who were already stressed and fatigued.

Senior Cabinet Minister Megan Woods was on damage control on the same show, doing what Hipkins should have done in the first place.

She accepted the concerns of residents as real and acknowledged that the same thing had happened in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake - 12 years ago today.

There had been a surge in looting and burglary and her own home had been burgled two weeks after the disaster.

Quite why Coster compared reported crime in the midst of a disaster to reported crime at normal times is bewildering. Surely the reporting of crime when you’re short on power and telecommunications might have some effect on reported crime. Coster was defensive and Hipkins simply repeated his posture without thinking.

The Opposition is making the most of Hipkins’ first mistake.

But he can also afford to make a few mistakes. He has built up political capital because his transition to the job was seamless and he has been largely admired for his steady and methodical approach to the daunting job.

Hipkins should think more about the victims and less about his political opponents in future responses.