Law and order is the focus of the government’s next 100 days, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
New action plan, but nothing much new
If you felt a little out of sorts yesterday, perhaps that’s because there wasn’t a current government action plan in play. The coalition claimed success in 35 of the 36 goals it had for “quarter two” which wrapped on Sunday night. If you need your own personal “energy” to be raised, good news: the government’s now unveiled 40 further actions it aims to have completed by September. Newsroom’s Tim Murphy, writing on Twitter, said the action plans tend toward the “menial and incremental”. With tongue firmly in cheek, he added: “When they start listing ‘Hold cabinet meetings’ and ‘attend question time’ we’ll know they’re really running out of imagination”. We’re not quite there yet, but there’s nothing hugely surprising in the new list.
Economic growth over a sugar hit
The bulk of the goals (19) are targeted at the cost of living crisis. Most of these have been heavily signposted previously, like reversing blanket speed limit reductions or launching a new infrastructure agency. I’d argue the link between speed limits and the economy is tenuous at best, though National has framed it as an economic issue since the election campaign. But as Newsroom Pro’s Laura Walters writes (paywalled), most of the proposals focus on longer-term projects to address the economy, rather than quick fixes to keep bills down. At his post-cabinet press conference, Luxon said the cost of living remained his top priority. “You’ve got to invest in world-class education, you gotta get modern infrastructure in place,” he said. Newsroom’s Fox Meyer noted (paywalled) that the new action plan had no mention of the government’s controversial “fast track” bill, but it’s there under a new name. The plan referred to “the government’s one-stop shop consenting and permitting scheme”, which brings it in line with the New Zealand First coalition agreement. Crucially, the action plan reiterates that the government will incorporate changes to the bill following select committee, though as Meyer writes, we’re no closer to understanding what changes the prime minister wants to see.
Putting the boot in
The more meaty proposals in the action plan centre around law and order, as The Post’s Anna Whyte summarised here. Four laws will be passed in the next three months to, in Christopher Luxon’s words, “crack down on criminal activity”. So what’s the top priority? The first bullet point in the law and order section reads: “Launch a military-style academy pilot for serious and persistent young offenders.” Yep, the so-called “boot camps” are coming back this month. Luxon was at pains to say that the government had to try “something different” to tackle the causes of crime, though it was pointed out to him that similar programmes have run before, largely unsuccessfully. I looked at some of the pros and cons of the proposal back when it was first announced in late 2022. Criticism over the proposal is nothing new, as this feature by Hanna McCallum at the Sunday Star-Times looked at back in March. Recent attention has turned to the potential psychological impact, with this piece in The Conversation arguing that young people who offend have already experienced more trauma than most. “When young people with these difficulties are subjected to harsh discipline in boot camps, they are likely to associate their treatment with the serious physical harm caused to them in the past, causing further anxiety and stress.”
Yesterday’s action plan announcement came on the same day internal concerns over the boot camp plan were raised in the media. RNZ’s Craig McCulloch reported on the “serious mental distress” suffered by Defence Force staff running the six-week Limited Service Volunteer (LSV) programme, seen as the blueprint for the coalition’s plans. Luxon wouldn’t be drawn on the allegations – in fact he said he wasn’t aware of them, despite McCulloch’s report being 10 hours old by this point. Earlier in the day, police minister Mark Mitchell told Morning Report the volunteer programme was “hugely successful” regardless of these concerns, while emails obtained by 1News revealed the Defence Force had sought to quash comparisons between the LSV and the proposed boot camp programme as it could create “public misunderstanding”.
The one that got away
Returning to the last action plan and the one goal the government failed to tick off. It’s related to the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga, the super-polytech the coalition has pledged to break apart. Luxon said that while decisions had been taken, consultation had not yet begun. “It just genuinely has been very complex… we’re doing a lot every quarter,” he told reporters, saying that he was being “transparent” by admitting the government hadn’t quite achieved all 36 goals. Asked whether tertiary education minister Penny Simmonds, who earlier in the year was stripped of her disability issues portfolio, was to blame, the prime minister said she wasn’t. There’s been some recent reporting around the proposed break up of Te Pūkenga, with RNZ’s John Gerritsen writing yesterday that there remain questions over millions of dollars of loans between different parts of the institute.