Episode description
In today's Focus on Politics podcast Political Reporter Giles Dexter reviews the government's approach to youth crime, and examines what is missing from the debate.
"We are dealing with that crisis of 'hey a kid's just driven into a dairy' - we can do a lot more to prevent it" - youth worker Aaron Hendry
The government this week launched a week-long media blitz touting its responses to rising youth crime; shifting the rhetoric on a topic the opposition has been targeting for months.
Those on the ground however fear that in rising to their opponents' bait, the government could be ignoring the more difficult early interventions that could make a real difference.
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Law and order - always easily politicised - is again shaping up as a big election topic, an easy stick for the opposition to hit the government with. The latest cudgel: youth crime and ram raids.
Nationwide youth crime is down, but it's up 24 percent in Auckland in the past year. Ram raids in the city have become near-daily news items, notorious in part because they are highly visible - driven by social media.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins is yet to visit a raided dairy but opposition MPs make a point of calling in on them. National and ACT's leaders, Christopher Luxon and David Seymour both referred on Tuesday to recent visits to shop owners.
"I spent time with a shop owner who's been ram raided and broken into three times in four months and they've worked incredibly hard, they've saved a lot of money to be able to get into that business and lo and behold they are attacked by ram raiders and burglars," Luxon said.
The day before, at the post-Cabinet media conference, Justice Minister Kiri Allan had kicked off a series of government announcements aiming to counter such easy hits, announcing new police powers to seize assets from gangs.
"I think it's fair to say that this is one of the areas which we as a government have committed to in terms of getting tough on crimes and indeed the ill-gotten gains that they have received through criminal activities," Allan said.
Justice Minister Kiritapu Allan
The amendment would allow police to restrain property linked to criminal groups if there's suspicion they didn't fund it legitimately.
It would also bolster the Proceeds of Crime Fund, which bankrolls - among projects for more than 40 other ministries and agencies - fog cannons and bollards as ram-raid countermeasures through the Small Retailer Crime Prevention Fund announced in May. …