Tuesday 28 May 2002
"National still doesn't get it," said ACT Justice spokesman Stephen Franks on the release of their law and order
policies today. "They had all those years to get tough and now two and a half years out of power but still they come
back with minor tinkering to preserve the failed 30-year experiment.
"With both Labour and National resisting the ordinary commonsense of 92% of New Zealanders we could end up with the
worst of all possible outcomes - very high imprisonment rates, long sentences, and the highest violent crime rates in
the English speaking world.
"National is starting to use the language of certainty but only the language. ACT's policy of abolishing parole will
create real Truth in Sentencing that can leave no criminal gambling on getting out at two thirds or half their sentence
as National proposes, or one third has Labour has now put into law.
"If National meant more than rhetoric on helping the Police they would have authorised them to use DNA profiling to
identify all convicted Crimes Act offenders, not just cosmetic extensions to cover burglars.
"Like Labour they have focused their election promises on headline crimes and fashion of the moment issues such as
methamphetamine. We will not make New Zealanders genuinely safer and get crime levels even back to levels comparable
with the US unless entry-level crime and youth justice is the focus. Zero Tolerance puts the emphasis on where it must
be, making sure young offenders know that the law will mean what it says, that feeble excuses and endless family group
conferencing won't get them out of being held accountable.
"I had thought that National would have policy that would draw more on overseas experience of what works and what
doesn't and that it might be hard to find difference between ACT and National. That would have made it much easier to
turn things around immediately with an ACT/National coalition. We will have to ensure they take crime more seriously.
Clearly ACT's influence in this area will remain much more vital than we had hoped," Stephen Franks said.
Ends