*PRESS RELEASE*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Law and Order

Welfare and Violence: The Elephant In The Room

"The headlines in recent days say it all: '*Stabbing In Central Auckland*' - '*30 police hunt Wanganui man's killers*' - '*Fatal Stabbing In Invercargill*'. Horrific violent crimes are shattering the lives of ordinary New Zealanders," laments Libertarianz spokesman Luke Howison. "According to the Sensible Sentencing Trust, there have been 51 murders so far this year; 20 of them in Auckland alone."

"When politicians talk about violent crime, they always call for shallow, superficial solutions - banning smacking, regulating air rifles, reducing liquor licenses or otherwise taking away the rights of law-abiding New Zealanders," Howison complains. "Obscured by the manufactured outrage, one compelling truth is almost never mentioned: the link between the welfare state and violent crime."

"Most violent crime is committed by a welfare-addicted underclass, who have no experience of working and therefore no concept of personal responsibility or property rights. Stabbings, shootings, violent robberies and gang warfare are the logical outcome when people are paid systematically to do nothing; to aspire to nothing. Life is altered, often irreversibly, from a future of possibilities and aspirations to an easy option of subsidised nothingness. The life of idleness that is fostered by welfarism could only ever serve to degrade one's self value."

"Welfarism turns hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders into a hopeless underclass. The welfare trap must be destroyed, and replaced with an acknowledgement and firm encouragement of personal responsibility. Police should focus on real crime rather than making easy drug busts and filling ticket quotas, criminals must be held responsible for their crimes, and law-abiding people should be allowed to protect themselves with reasonable force."

"Libertarianz is the only political party which believes that the ultimate - and only - priority of the government must be to protect the rights of its citizens. Libertarianz is the only party which believes that the response to violent crime must be to affirm freedom and responsibility, not to announce ever-greater violations of individual rights. A vote for Libertarianz is a vote for yourself!"

*ENDS*

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