Rt Hon Jenny Shipley

Leader of the Opposition

29 August 2000

Govt downgrades war on crime

The Government has downgraded the war on crime with the move of the Crime Prevention Unit from the Prime Minister's Department to the policy focused Ministry of Justice, Opposition Leader Jenny Shipley said today.

"The Government is also making a mockery of their partnership commitment with Local Government.

"National set up the Crime Prevention Unit to show how serious we were at tackling the causes of crime. The Crime Prevention Unit has granted funding to a number of good initiatives that would not have had a chance under the Ministry of Justice.

"The Government has yielded to the whim of bureaucrats who don't like the Prime Minister's Department having control over a separate budget for crime prevention. A dedicated unit within the Ministry of Justice simply won't have the same grunt.

"The purpose of the Crime Prevention Unit was to indicate the priority the Government accorded crime prevention. Local Government and community groups were able to work directly with the Prime Minister's Department in developing initiatives to prevent crime, now they will have to fight their way through a bureaucratic jungle at the Ministry of Justice.

"The Prime Minister has washed her hands of the Crime Prevention Unit but is content to accord the status of her office to arts and culture. This is a true reflection of this Government's priorities regardless of the amount of spin they try and put on it," Mrs Shipley said.

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