Timing hu?
Just as the Government lurch from one housing meltdown to another in the twilight of a declining economy, suddenly the release of a story that suggests Maori are getting treated differently by the law and wait for the roar of beige privilege that will divert attention from Nick Smith…
Exclusive: Police told not to ticket unlicenced Maori drivers in South Auckland
Unlicensed Maori drivers caught behind the wheel in South Auckland are getting the chance to avoid a $400 fine.Police are defending the move, saying it’s part of their goal to reduce Maori offending and that it’s crucial and it’s working.
Documents leaked to ONE News show the “guidelines”police in South Auckland say they’ve been enforcing since last year.
The paperwork spells out that all Maori drivers caught without a licence or in breach of their conditions are to be referred for training and not given a ticket.
…if the policy is more holistic than punitive and it’s working, then it’s a success story and progressive policing. It’s not evidence of an apartheid state where Maori are getting race based privileges that risk the very fabric of egalitarian NZ.
Giving people a second chance to work things out is smart policing, it’s not the end of Western Civilisation.
Now, back to the Housing meltdown where Nick Smith has been thrown a poorly researched brain fart that’s designed not to work as National require demand side free market economics to keep the property bubble afloat to create the illusion of growth.
What we need is the Labour Party to wake up to the reality that this housing crisis requires a Government with their history to stand up and build new state houses while linking our provincial timber centres with work training facilities to build them and create jobs.
The sooner the Greens or Labour move on Renters Rights, the sooner we can start that debate.
This new policy might make up for the one where Otara was targeted at regular intervals last year, and vehicles were pulled over and checked for registration and wofs.
Both the on ramp to the motorway and the Otara shopping centre were regular places for the police to have their checkpoints.
I was going past every weekday morning, and wondered why there were several police cars there with a large number of officers. Then I realised, that the number of tickets they could get from the amount of people who prioritised food and other bills over wof and registration was high.
I drive through many well-heeled suburbs as well, and have never seen that kind of regular presence in those places.
Correct. It happens in Wellington as well. I see regular checkpoints in Naenae and Taita (Lower Hutt) doing exactly the same. Even the Council “Parking” wardens just do a walkaround checking warrants and regos – both $200 penalties. I have been chalked only twice in 2 years.
Easy money in poor areas from people who can ill-afford to pay. I’m sure these people would appreciate a “second chance”.
Re the licence story, I was really shocked. Shocked at the appalling spelling mistakes in the leaked document:
liscences, liscence and liscene in one paragraph
compy instead of comply
issed instead of issued.
What sort of uneducated people are they employing at NZ Police.
And they do not even have spell checker
Tch tch… Question mark missing?? Not ex-Police force, are you?
(Even rhetorical questions should have a question mark!)
Perhaps we need more Grammar Police…
Really? Although grammar is good when making a point, that is your biggest concern? Wow.
LOL. Yeah I do have bigger concerns but I felt it needed saying.
Apologies for the grammar errors.
I think he was getting at me, not you. I had intended gentle humour, but maybe I needed to mark it as such. I find it ironic to talk of Grammar Police when the Police themselves have such poor spelling. But it is also important to be squeaky clean oneself if one criticises others’ use of language.
I agree with your bigger concerns.
Poor people are harrassed into meeting the obligations of a government that habitually disrespects, sidelines and systematically disregards their basic human rights. Any decent person is going to feed their family, before they pay for some labels to put on their car.
We know we haven’t got a government that makes new policies for the people, so we can conclude the cost of collecting unpaid fines is probably more than the revenue received from them. As with all corporations, money is the bottom line.
This has been presented in the media as yet another divide and conquer, Maori bashing policy designed to incite racism.
Do you mean rather that yet another divide and conquer, Maori bashing policy designed to incite racism has been presented in the media as straight news?
You are getting thumbs down that I suspect you do not deserve.
I agree, we have the ability to build houses. What we don’t have, is any political will to build any houses.
Again, the labour party in parliament, proves they are traitors to working people by sitting on there hands. On this issue, and oh so many more issues like it.
So you don’t think it is important for people to have a drivers license? Perhaps we should apply the same method the police are using in regards to infanticide? Maori have shocking statistics in regards to that so the next to Maori child dies at the hands of their caregiver we should not charge those responsible thereby lowering the number of Maori child abuse numbers. Just applying your leftist logic if you can call it that.
Except we aren’t talking about infanticide are we Stephen? Holding up the worst case scenario by extension doesn’t mean the original idea is invalid, it’s just that you have an active imagination.
We are talking about a licence, if the opportunity to fill our clogged judicial system and prisons is there and we get a better result overall why not celebrate a successful policy rather than twist it into a ridiculous argument for petty point scoring purposes?
Unless, of course the infants are the ones driving without licsences.
Maybe they can do dawn raids to see if they have got their licsences yet.
If kindness and lateral-thinking is breaking out among the police, perhaps they might like to spread the love around a bit.
The thing about State Houses is that they are built to be rented, not bought. And here is a big part of the solution to Auckland’s housing woes.
What is needed are well-built, low-rise, low rental (say 3 storeys) apartment blocks near amenities. To be rented to all sorts of people who need inexpensive accommodation: workers, beneficiaries, students etc.
Building to sell just uses up available land in a way that will have no appreciable effect on prices. Not when “affordable” now means $500,000. Even prefabs will fetch $400,000 until the market is saturated. All available land will be used up long before that happens. And prices will still be way too high.
If a major effort is put into housing the bottom end in centrally heated blocks (the warmth is shared among maybe 7-9 apartments (better for the planet, price included in the rental) spread around Auckland where land can be found or on existing State House sections to intensify land use using existing facilities, then the slums in current use at the bottle of the market, abandoned and unlettable in their Rachman-esque dilapidated state, will soon have to be sold as doer-uppers to those who wish to buy cheaper houses.
By the way, the bursting of the housing bubble is only to be feared by the foolish who over borrowed. They will still have to pay, by NZ law, so the US-style melt-down can’t happen.
Most of the country suffered up to 30% value-drop to their houses not long ago. It was painful, but like with the disappearance of SMPs it caused pain sometimes, but no financial collapse.
Exactly TDB, a discussion about licensing has been twisted into a discussion about infantcide???? Fellow bloggers, remember my first comment about this media report inciting racism! I REST MY CASE.
Stephen, I wasn’t referring to driver’s licenses, which you would know if you bothered to read the post properly. But since you mention it, I’ve seen some pretty scary drivers that hold a driver’s licence, because they can afford a fast track driving school and lessons. That doesn’t mean they drive well. On the other side of the coin, I know people that have been driving for many years, well and incident free, without one. That isn’t the point. That’s a whole other blog.
The point is, society demands a high standard and there are obligations for the use of a motor vehicle on our public roads in the interest of public safety. Many working poor and beneficiaries want to but do not have the financial means to meet these obligations, then, to add insult to injury, are fined and penalized for the “crime” of being broke.
Actually that’s a point. I wonder if they are getting a pass on having no driver’s licence, but still get fined for no warrant and/or rego? The MSM tend to cherry pick and leave out such things and the devil is in the details. Perhaps it’s because poor people have old, run down cars that aren’t worth impounding and selling for the crown coffers.
@Liberty
Well the next time a Maori lady leaves her child in the car and they die, then charge them with murder….
?
“Giving people a second chance to work things out is smart policing, it’s not the end of Western Civilisation. ”
I agree. As long as it is applied universally. When it is applied on the basis of race, it is just plain wrong.
“What we need is the Labour Party to wake up to the reality that this housing crisis requires a Government with their history to stand up and build new state houses while linking our provincial timber centres with work training facilities to build them and create jobs”
That is Labour’s policy.
Well NZ First have a rejuvenation of jobs in the regions as a strong platform also folks.
“What we need is the Labour Party to wake up to the reality that this housing crisis requires a Government with their history to stand up and build new state houses while linking our provincial timber centres with work training facilities to build them and create jobs.”
Get back to share the wealth instead of this destructive “take the money & run” Government that is inciting racial discourse here now.
“Giving people a second chance to work things out is smart policing, it’s not the end of Western Civilisation.”
The sole reason for this, is to push down the crime rate of Maori. To bring their offending down statistically… This is not to give people a second chance…
Why would you suddenly be lenient on such a crucial part of the law. If people don’t have a licence then they don’t understand all of the road rules… Even saying that I see the worst people driving…
Whats next? No penalties for Asian drivers who drive on the wrong side of the road?
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