New Zealand First has long held the view that we should all be safe in our homes, businesses and communities.
We share the concerns of those at the public meeting in Auckland, which discussed safety for business owners and their staff, particularly smaller businesses such as dairies and liquor stores.
We have been raising the issue of the increased number of attacks and share the concerns of those at the meeting.
This violence is unacceptable and it is a sad reflection on the deterioration of society under this National government that so many youths are the perpetrators; they are jobless, without direction.
The reality is that a large number of these frontline, high-risk businesses are owned by Kiwis of Indian origin. We believe in hard work and enterprise and have achieved success in business all over the world because of our work ethic and pride in running a business.
The government constantly tells New Zealand that crime is down but this is not evident, as the community well knows.
Then there are the statistics. Of course the government is fudging the figures especially when it comes to Auckland and that there are not enough police to keep our communities safe.
The senior police authorities have gone on record, on questioning by us, that they have closed down 30 police stations but opened 15 new ones resulting in a nett loss of 15 police stations to New Zealanders. This is just not good enough and our role as an opposition party is to hold the government to account on this and we continue to do so.
The other trend that was evident in this meeting was that an increasing number of business owners are so frustrated they won’t mind taking law into their own hands if they have to. We are peace-loving, law-abiding people and this is not what we should be forced into.
This government needs to realise that it is not about “bottom lines” and dollars when it comes to the safety of our people, our homes and our businesses. We need more policemen and women in our streets so they can prevent crime and respond to incidents in acceptable time frames.
