While Chris Hipkins wriggled and squirmed and would only call crime a ‘challenge’ this morning on RNZ, his Police Minister Ginny Anderson finally admitted that crime was a problem in Parliament today.

“That’s progress”, says ACT’s Police Spokesperson Chris Baillie, “now we need action.”

“Schemes like spending $11 million on fog cannons are a band-aid, it’s great for fog cannon makers, but it does nothing to stop crime happening. How about actually locking up criminals for a change?”

“This Government is doing everything it can to avoid acknowledging that criminals are bad people who need to be behind bars to keep New Zealanders safe.

“This is the same Government who set a goal of reducing the number of people behind bars by 30 per cent. Now we’re seeing the consequences.

• There has been a 465 per cent increase in ram raids in the last two years
• Violent crime is out of control, with serious assaults resulting in injury up 121 per cent since 2017
• Knife crime is up 20 per cent over the last two years
• Acts intended to cause injury are up 42 per cent since 2017
• Common assaults are up 47 per cent since 2017.

“New Zealanders are being terrorised by thugs in their homes, in their businesses, and on the streets.

“The Police Minister says she feels safe, but that’s because she’s in the back of a Crown limo rather than out on the street.

“We have a serious problem, and it all comes back to values.

“It’s going to take a Government with ACT at the centre to take crime seriously, restore proper consequences, and put victims first.”

© Scoop Media