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I'd be lowering the threshold for crushing cars, hiking fines from the noisy exhausts, and harsher penalties for those who refuse to stop for police. So will these changes make a difference? Police Minister Mark Mitchell joins me. Now, good afternoon, Hey.
Uster doing Tim, I didn't realize so many people were listening to you. Made I apologize for being late, that I was getting text messages and list pools and everyone's putting, he told me, saying good on them. That's good.
That's good to hear. Hey, I hope you had a good day with family and things.
Now, well, I've been able to route a rout today with I've been able to write a root today with Chris Bishop announcing this policy that you want to talk about. Yes, yeah, which is generating some good interest, which is great.
How bad has the problem?
Got?
What's your primary motivation?
Well, if you look at if you go back to twenty thirteen, they were dealing with about fifteen hundred cases of boy or people coming out and sort of misbehavior on the streets in groups. If you fast forward to twenty twenty three, it's now over three thousand, so it's doubled. And I'm aware of the police are running operations all over the country. We have these boy races and these dirt bike riders that come out and think that they
can harass and terrorize the communities that they're in. It's obvious that we need to take the police need to have some better tools, and the courts as well, and that's why we've we're going to introduce this legislation as.
I mean, look, it's always a bit of this and a bit of that, but how much of this is a response to the police saying perhaps, look, we need some more tools for this rather because we all can see the problem. But have the police requested this power as well, or that.
These contents so that no, so the police didn't come and directly request that. We obviously saw it. We've got feedback from the communities. We looked at it and could see that although the legislation was passed originally was full of good and tent, it requires three prosecutions before vehicles are seized and destroyed. So what we've changed is that's a three strike regime. We've changed it to one strike regime where now you only need need to be convicted once.
How has the law been failing until now? Is it that actual warning part of it that means you know, we never I mean Port Judith Collins got the nickname Crush of Colins probably because they're really never any crushed any cars.
They did crush a few cars and there's still I think there was twelve last year. But the real here it is it's not a big enough to terrent because you need those three convictions. So we've established a presuptive court sentence now of destruction all forature of vehicles involved in street racing, filling police, or involved in intimidating convoys I sort of gain convoys and things like that.
So basically that means if you you tick the your box with these offenders, but these offenses, your car is going to get crushed unless you can convince us otherwise.
Yes, exactly, unless it's unless it's absolutely in officially unjust and you can prove that to the courts, then your vehicles gone. It will be destroyed.
That's the bit that sort of caught my attention, The quote if it's manifestly unjust or causes extreme hardship to the offender or undue hardship to any other person, and of course everyone's going to have a sob story and a lawyer are you Are you confident that people are not just going to be wriggling off the hook with this one.
No, well, we'll be watching very closely and carefully to make sure that doesn't happen. But we have to. We felt that we have to give the judge the ability to Every case is different, and you will get some genuine cases where you know there will be a finding of being manifestly unjust or unfair due to what the circumstances may be. So you've just got to have that
in there. However, you know, our expectations of government is that that would have to be that would have to be a rare occasion and certainly not a standard approach.
What do the police have the capacity to enforce these laws and to really call people to count on the stuff.
The police themselves? Yeah, well, I mean now they do now because they're getting extra powers. They're able to close public roads, they're able to now that they serious infringement and finds that they can that they can issue immediately, they can take them to court. The courts have got a high threshold around the finds that they can apply. We've now gone to a first strike presumptive system, whereby they lose it on the first strike rather than the
third strike. So I think when you combine all these together, it is a very clear signal being sent out to these boy racers and these dirt bike riders that as a country, we're not tolerating this anymore. You want to be engaged in a noxious, dangerous behavior, then there's going to be serious consequences around it.
What's your time frame for getting this and all passed and into action.
Yeah, good question. So we'll definitely get the legislation into the House this year, but it probably won't be an effect be passed and until early next year.
Okay, any examples from overseas you've borrowed?
No, No, just sort of we've taken the legislation that was sort of that was there originally, and we've just strengthened it.
Do you think people will get the message because I actually I didn't realize it was a dozen cars last year. You'd think word would get around. But do the people who are doing this, you know, breaking these laws, will they get the message? Or it'll just be oh bad luck.
Yeah, I hope they do. I hope that, and I hope that people that lend their vehicles will give their peoples to vehicles to people to go out and use at night that are a bit more prudent about who they give them to and what they're going to be used for. I think that that. I think it will have an impact when these boy racers realize that the vehicles are gone and there's no chance of getting them back, and it's not a third strike, it's a first strike,
so that the police have got more powers. I do think that I do think that'll have a serious deterrent effect. You know, with the sort of.
Behavior, how will you judge success.
Well, if there's a reduction in the amount of these events that are that are occurring that you know, the impacting the community negatively and obviously tying up police resource.
I think Jinnie Anderson must love this law because when it comes to criticism, she's the only thing she's mentioned is it's a distraction. You're throwing in there to distract from a year equal pay legislation. So what's your response to that.
I'm focused on public safety, and we went backwards rapidly under the previous government, and we're starting to regain ground there. The police are doing outstanding work. The Labor and Green Party are voted against just a bit every messure that we've tried to introduced around public safety, and a lot of it is proven to be very effective.
And I guess it doesn't matter what gender you are when it comes to these laws, it'll be enforced equally. Nothing say that's me being mischievous. Hey Mark, I really appreciate your time this afternoon, Thanks so much. Here we go than probably that is a Minister of Police, Mark Mitchell.
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