Democrats Berate Brash’s Blatant Political Posing

In Auckland over the past weekend for an Executive planning session, the Democrat Leader Stephnie de Ruyter said it is very clear neither Labour or National are prepared to bite the bullet and put resources into breaking the intergenerational nature of offending.

“The speech by Don Brash on law and order was cynically aimed at the emotional triggers of people who have real concerns about safety and security in their lives” she said “It offers nothing to resolve the fundamental drivers of crime and indeed, if the plan to build more prisons and double the present number of inmates becomes Government policy, the multi-billion plus dollars it will eventually cost will adversely impact on other areas of our essential infrastructure such as health and education and help make a bad situation worse”

“The drivers of the problem have been well identified in studies both here and overseas and while taking recidivist offenders out of circulation reduces the short-term impact of crime, the next generation of offenders are already out there learning their craft” said Ms de Ruyter “the long-term solution to the issues of law and order will never be found within the walls of our prison system”

“Until a multi-tiered and integrated approach is introduced, which builds a fence at the top of the cliff rather than parks a prison van at the bottom, politicians like Don Brash will play on the resultant mayhem for all the votes they can wring out of it” continued the Democrat Leader.

“Crime stems directly from historic factors within those groups who feature prominently in the statistics – factors such as intergenerational unemployment, low or no academic achievement, a lack of parenting and budgeting skills, poor housing and health related issues etc - need to be addressed alongside dealing to those who choose to offend. The Democrats Manifesto for the 2005 Election will contain the viable long-term integrated policy solution that Labour and National haven’t been able or prepared to put together” concluded Ms. De Ruyter

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>