1. Under New Zealand First, if you commit a crime and are part of a gang it will be law that it is an automatic aggravating factor in your sentencing.
We have a real problem with gangs and gang culture in our country and something must change and change soon.
The concern I have with this policy is:
Being a member of a gang, whatever gang it maybe and committing a crime is no different to committing the same crime as an individual.
Segregating criminal behaviour is not going to fix the problem and can be likened to apartheid in South Africa when the coloured people were treated differently than the white people.
Do any of you seriously think a gang member is going to stop and say to themselves “if I commit a crime I am going to get in more trouble because I am in a gang, so maybe I shouldn’t do this?
I agree that the gang issue needs addressing, but I don’t think this will achieve anything.
2. If you assault a First Responder – police officer, paramedic, firefighter, or corrections officer in the course of their duty, there will be an automatic six-month minimum mandatory prison sentence.
A good policy that they were promoting in the 2017 and 2020 elections but didn’t get the support from other parties.
We totally agree that any Police, Ambulance, Fire or Corrections officer should never be assaulted in their workplace but on the other hand no one should be assaulted in their workplace.
Again, a good policy, which hopefully will gain support if NZ First get over the 5% required.
3. New Zealand First will designate gangs ‘Terrorist Entities’ under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2022.
I am not sure how gangs can be “designated” terrorists as the definition of a terrorist is “a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”.
I don’t think we have ever seen a patched gang member running for parliament yet but who knows and more seriously does anyone think any gang is politically motivated?
4. We will establish a dedicated gang prison to minimise prison recruitment of non-gang members.
Absolutely agree we need to focus on gang recruitment, a serious issue affecting so many of our young people today but the issue as an advocate and current support person of a gang member in prison on his rehabilitation journey is segregation from whanau and support people.
So, NZ First will send all gang members to, for example, Far North prison when their whanau and support people live in Invercargill?
SJA will always advocate to keep prisoners close to their whanau and support, it is imperative to rehabilitation, and we will advocate to corrections for each prison to have separate wings of every prison for various gangs and their members.
5. New Zealand First is going to restore education and stop indoctrination by removing gender ideology from the curriculum, especially from primary school.
I slipped this policy in here because it carried the words education. For us any education is so important for Aotearoa and something that every political party should be focusing on.
6. New Zealand First is calling for a referendum in this year’s election, for an immediate start of a four-year parliamentary term beginning in 2023.
Absolutely agree that one of Aotearoa’s biggest problems is that unlike most democracies, our parliamentary term is too short, and furthermore it should be a referendum, so Winston you got this one right.
Seriously though people, nearly every other democratic society is under a 4-year term and let’s be honest 3 years isn’t much time to actually do anything is it?
So in summing up, although there is some good stuff in here and the focus is right, I am troubled with the lack of focus on real issues within the corrections, policing and judicial arena and even more so the absolute lack of any policy and or suggestion of Oranga Tamariki, remembering that the tamariki of Aotearoa are the future of Aotearoa, so Winston for me as a seasoned politician I would have expected better from you.
Once I have come to the end of our political opinion blogging, we will do a summary of the parties and their policies giving an overall opinion and would be interested in everyone else’s thoughts.
Jackie Foster, CEO, Social Justice Aotearoa
Disagree with the four year term. We need more democracy not less. The majority of New Zealand governments stay in power for 6 years. If they are execrably bad we can vote them out in 3, before they can do any more harm.
If they are popular and people are happy with them, they will get 9 years in government, surely that is long enough to achieve their stated aims?
What we don’t want, is a Margaret Thatcher type government that stays way past their popular mandate, to impose more and more extreme policies.
The average war lasts 4 years. What if we wanted to opt out of it, before too many New Zealanders died in an unpopular war?
Finally; Why would we choose to vote fewer times over our life time, which gives more power to the politicians to rule over us?
Totally agree. Labour had 9 years in opposition to set policies and action plans to govern. Did they? No. Instead they want longer terms of even more badly planned, poorly legislated and badly implemented policies.
You dont have to look past the health and education sectors to see how badly Labour spent the nine years as the “shadow” government.
No. ALL political parties need to plan to be the government (that is why they have “shadow” ministers). Do that and a three year term will expand to 6 or even nine years.
I don’t have much faith the National have spent the last six years planning to be the government, though the last three have provided enough opportunity to promulgate some better policies than Labour could enact.
So currently the 3 year term leaves it open for good policies to be implemented by a government that, lets say, could take 4-5 years to bare fruit, and if that government is thrown out after three years the incoming government could cancel that incoming policy. That is really my only concern.
I agree with you having more voting is good and I support that, so as you, I really am on the fence on this issue.
One thing is for sure, there will be no referendum on this issue this election.
Thank you for your reply.
How we as a society deals with anti-social behaviour is important. Action against criminal activity should be through law. I have no objection to increasing penalties for criminals who benefit from their association with criminal organisations.
I support a four year election cycles.
I support measures that strengthen our democracy.
I support free speech…
I support human rights….
These issues are fundamental and should be put through the ringer. It should call for a super majority to implement any changes to the way we do business. Referendums sound cool but can only ever be on issues that can be reduced to very simple ideas. One example:
What is a woman?
Should we join the Commonwealth of Australia?
Should we change our electoral system?
Should we change of governance structure?
Well written Jackie.
It seems that NZ First has very few police/justice policies? Where is their policy on three strikes or do they not have one anymore?
I’m with you on a four year term, bringing us inline with America although it would be worthy to mention that the British parliament has to have an election every five years not that I am suggesting that long but certainly longer than three. Why cant we have a system where the public can give them the boot if things are going pear shaped?
Jackie one has to say, I admire your tenacity and perseverance all the while knowing that the people you must deal with at executive level in any government department must do your head in and it is those puppets shall we say that need the chop.
I was at a dinner not so long ago and the subject of government salaries came up. People were suggesting that we have CEO’s of government departments getting paid more than our Prime Minister. A discussion that needs to be had. I would love to see you blog on that subject and tell us exactly what these people asre getting paid.
keep up your good work Jackie.
NZF’s plan for a gang prison will end up one big gang pad.
One can only presume each gang will get a wing — BP’s, MM, Hell Angels, Tribemen, HH’s, H61 controlling each part of the prison. So many ways to move product in and out, and tax accordingly. Each and every staff member will be on the take from the gangs right up to the manager. It will be a nightmare.
You want to know what gangster is? Ask our 14 multi-billionaires, the 3118 multi-millionaires with in excess of $50 million each and the four now foreign owned banksters stealing your $180.00 a second in nett profits 24/7/365 and all sanctioned by the politicians and the police you pay for with your taxes. Now, that’s fucking gangster, man
What most regard as gangs are really just a grubby bunch of old kids pulling cheap heists to gas up the Harley and maybe score 50 grams of meth.
All the anti-gang whoop yea mythologies distracts from the realities.
Try this fellow. Terence McKenna. Interesting fellow to read when realty seems far too subjective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_McKenna
Nearly moved on.
winston peters. He’s a fucking gangster but perhaps worst of all, he’s a lawyer too.
BTW. U$ Treasury report. https://boingboing.net/2023/08/30/new-us-treasury-report-confirms-that-unions-are-good-for-everybody.html
What was that about roger douglas and his cuddle buddy Jimbo bolger getting rid of unions? The last 39 years has been one long Ka Ching for you, Aye Boys?
All those big political donors would love it to move to four years. You get an extra years worth out of your “donation”
2. If you assault a First Responder – police officer, paramedic, firefighter, or corrections officer in the course of their duty, there will be an automatic six-month minimum mandatory prison sentence.
Absolutely disgusting policy – Minto has a conviction for assaulting a first responder ‘he flipped the peaked cap off a cop’. This is truly nutty policy.
The Gang thing is utterly stupid I think the cops are a gang that cover up for one another first and foremost.
electing real leaders
Being able to trust a politician is like bungee jumping with no safety harness. One never knows a) if they are who they say they are (ie. whether they have alternative identities, properties & bank accounts etc where, just like a bigamist that can with a clear conscience pop out for ten minutes at the ‘pub’ yet come home wearing a clean set of clothes, right down to the undies.)
One never knows b) if they have any idea of the realities of what they promise to effect, like a brilliant city transport system or world class health systems which end up in rags and tatters and shocking outcomes such as: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dad-of-wellington-boy-who-died-after-being-sent-home-from-hospital-frustrated-by-strained-system/6QPFYU2SA5DVZEKFX2I5BUJK7Y/
This story really gets to me, so sorry for the parents.
For a ‘caring’ government to allow the cracks in their multi million dollar artifice to widen so deeply that we get this message: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mental-health-patients-told-not-to-call-247-crisis-hub-at-night/CE7J24SGIRCMFN2345ZKLQ6WPY/ is literally insane, while giving unintelligible lip service to all things maori yet, in an area predominantly populated by pacifica and maori, cannot fund a birthing centre for local mothers: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/talanoa/south-auckland-mums-rally-to-keep-state-of-the-art-birthing-clinic-open/HQFVCDGEUZELHF47IBJOTB5KDE/ I really think that one takes the cake.
One never knows c) how ‘safe’ they are on the roads because waka kotahi don’t do their job , someone else does: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-man-convicted-over-issuing-900-unlawful-wofs-in-first-prosecution-of-its-kind/JFBBYMWHYRHSLABZBJY4ORKRSU/ and the roads are now not only structurally dangerous but occupied by all kinds of terror: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/driver-licence-scandal-hundreds-of-licences-chucked-out-after-officer-accepted-bribes-for-passes/DL3OPA2GZFW352F75RM3AN2BEE/
One never knows d) how structurally sound their new house is because https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/493378/man-accused-of-forging-qualified-engineers-signatures-to-sign-off-1000-buildings-police-probe-underway and yes they let that one get away https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/a/nz-news/350034601/engineering-scandal-man-jon-hall-nowhere-to-be-found because of what you said, Michal.
Also, one never knows e) where or when their paper ballot will end up, let alone the dodgy digital voting ‘system’ which can be altered with the flick of a pixel and shifted into the next column on a database.
All these fiascos aside, at least the sun came out this morning so please have a great day everyone!