What Key should have said on crime
This remarkable editorial appeared in The Press on 27 August, following the Prime Ministers speech to the Sensible Sentencing Trust conference.
On Wednesday Prime Minister John Key delivered a speech to the Sensible Sentencing Trust conference (sponsored by the National Party, Labour Party and ACT) at Parliament. It was a predictable presentation which avoided the obvious truth that if New Zealand ever had a policy with “economic disaster” written all over it then it’s our crime and imprisonment policy.
Here is the speech John Key should have given:
Kia ora koutou e hoa ma,
Thank you for the invitation to speak today. As Prime Minister I’m particularly pleased to be here because I’ve developed serious misgivings about the influence of your organization on the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders not to mention our economic policy. We all want safer communities and the victims of crime supported but SST is pushing policies which are having the opposite effect. Let me explain.
In the past, many victims have been badly let down by the government. For example the Accident Compensation Corporation recently agreed to reinstate funding of counselling for all victims of sexual assault. That funding should never have been removed and I apologise for my government’s financial pressure on ACC which led to the decision. Sexual assault victims deserve much better and we will be there to make sure such decisions are not repeated.
Your own organisation has also let down victims. I recall your spokesperson Garth McVicar supporting the criminal instead of the victim when he defended the knife-wielding assailant who chased, attacked and killed a young boy who had tagged the killer’s fence. Did anyone here call on the family of the young brown boy to offer support? No, I didn’t think so. It seems the rights of victims are paramount to SST when they are middle-class but we know that the victims of crime in New Zealand are predominantly working class, poor and frequently brown.
Your organisation has called for tougher prison sentences and both the previous Labour government and my National government have delivered on this. However, I’ve come to see that longer sentences will not make us safer. I hear shocked gasps from the audience – but it’s true. We won’t be safer. My colleague Rodney Hide makes the point that a person can’t commit further crime while they are in prison and so we have put in place ACT’s policy of three strikes.
I must apologise. We should never have gone along with ACT. I now find out it’s been a disastrous failure in the US where several states follow a similar line. The cost there is in the tens of billions and no one is safer. We have 8839 inmates in our prisons here in New Zealand – not enough, I hear someone heckle – was that David Garrett at the back? Yes I see it was – you’ve been a leader in SST, haven’t you, David? Would it be too much to describe SST as an ACT creation, David? No? Perhaps it’s just the corporate funding from ACT-friendly businesses which is keeping this organisation afloat. And while I’m on finance I see that SST was turned down for tax exempt status with the Charities Commission. Why you applied I’ll never know. The Genghis Khan Appreciation Society was also turned down so your application never had a chance.
Where was I before Garrett interrupted? Yes, our prison numbers are horrendous and at this rate we could even surpass the US and become the western country with the most prisoners per head of population. Is this a statistic that would make us world beaters? Was that a crazed cry of yes, yes, yes, from the back? Garrett again – he seems to be foaming around the mouth. Would someone from ACT please escort him out? Heavens – I didn’t expect to see the whole audience move. Just one will do – he seems to be crawling in the right direction now.
We may be falling behind Australia in the important statistics but I’m determined to beat them at this one and reduce our prison population. With the right policies, including restorative justice, we can make the country much safer while saving billions for community development and providing genuine support for victims. Here’s some homework for the Trust. Find out which Scandinavian country has severely reduced its prison population in recent years while making the country safer for everyone. I know the truth is sometimes hard to stomach but victims deserve to hear what really works rather than have to listen to half-baked soundbites from bullies.
But it’s time I addressed the causes of crime. The speech notes prepared by my press secretary say the main causes of crime are illegal drugs, alcohol and brown working-class kids who need army-style discipline.
But let me be totally honest – these are just symptoms of the problem and no matter how much we massage the truth there is no society anywhere which has become safer focusing on such approaches. I must say I’m embarrassed to think I’ve been part of a long line of politicians who have manipulated the truth about crime for electoral gain.
Back to the causes of crime. I want to share with you a book I’ve read recently called The Spirit Level, which shows that violent crime rises in societies as the gap between rich and poor increases. I’ve read this book, read the criticisms from the book’s detractors and in turn the responses of the authors. It’s not the whole answer but it gives us a clear steer how to reduce crime and create a safer, healthier, happier society.
I think it’s so important I’ve ordered copies for all National and ACT MPs – on second thoughts I’ll cancel the copy for David because the book has no cartoons.
I’ve sent an email to Phil Goff suggesting he do the same for Labour MPs because Phil has spent more than 10 years trying to outdo ACT at the extreme margins of the debate on law and order. Phil has led New Zealand further down a blind alley on crime than any other single MP – Garrett included. Phil has even agreed to have this dead end conference co-sponsored by the Labour Party. I’m ashamed National put its name to this conference. It won’t happen again.
I want to finish by expressing my anger at what I see as the abuse of victims by the Sensible Sentencing Trust. SST is not working with victims to get them through the most difficult time of their lives. Instead it is re-victimising these people again and again by locking them into a lifetime of regurgitating their pain and hatred by encouraging them to wallow in endless self pity. Some of your victims are deeply tragic figures and SST is wrong to use and abuse them for political effect.
Every victim I’ve ever met says to me they don’t want anyone else to have to go through the same trauma as they have. Let’s take up that challenge together. Work with me to reduce inequalities in New Zealand and protect future generations from the effects of bad economic policies.
Thank you all for listening. I know it’s not the speech you were expecting but as Prime Minister I sometimes have to lead in telling the truth even if it means Garth’s blood pressure reaches dangerous levels.
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