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Archived Press Releases 2006 28th March 2006

Prime Minister accused of being hypocritical

(28th March 2006)

A Justice Watchdog organization has slammed comments on high levels of domestic violence by the Prime Minister as being hypocritical and "Too little, too late".

This follows the Prime Minister publicly backing comments by Judge Peter Boshier that the country’s high domestic violence rate was out of control.

But the Sensible Sentencing Trust says both the Prime Minister and the Judge have had their heads in the sand for the last five years and have consistently ignored the Trust’s warning of the dire consequences of continuing with failed policies.

"The Trust has been warning the Government for years that the politically correct, social-engineering experiment that has caused this escalation in violence was a disaster for New Zealand," said Trust spokesman Garth McVicar.

"We find it absolutely incredible that Helen Clarke is now agreeing that this is an area of concern, because in our opinion she has been the main catalyst and the chief engineer in this disastrous social experiment".

Mr McVicar said that "Family Group Conferences, Violent offenders being granted home detention and parole at one third of a judge given sentence were all examples of failed legislation that has led to an escalation in violence and loss of public confidence in our Court and Judicial system."

"We have taken victims to Parliament, we have put in submissions to Select Committees, we have met with numerous government officials over the last five years and we have invited the Prime Minister to meet face-to-face with some of these victims to hear first hand about the horrific violence they have experienced.

"Not once has Helen Clarke agreed to meet with these people and now she has the gall to say that New Zealand is no longer a safe place to raise children and the level of domestic violence is a concern! It is hypocritical of the Prime Minister to come out with statements like this now when she has been given every opportunity to act before the situation reached crisis point".

"She’s telling us something we’ve all known for years and frankly for most New Zealanders it is simply too little, too late."

Mr McVicar said an announcement that the Government was considering funding a public awareness campaign to urge the community to say, "we’ve had enough of violence" showed how out of touch the Government really was.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust held rallies in Auckland and Wellington in 2002 attended by thousands of people and the Prime Minister did not even bother to attend. Our catch cry was “Enough is Enough” and “Stop the violence”.

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.