Congrats to winners — and others too
Ram raids hot topic at street-corner chats
It’s been a big few weeks for local government across the country. Having attended a number of candidate debates, I can say it was nice to be on the other side! A huge congratulations to everyone who has been elected or reelected to the Kā piti Coast District Council.
A special mention to Janet Holborow, our new mayor. I’ve worked closely with Janet over the last two years in her role as deputy mayor and have always admired her integrity and wide connections across Kā piti and the Wellington region. Her experience will hold her and her new council in good stead, and I look forward to strengthening our relationship over her term.
Thank you also to those who stood but were unsuccessful. It’s a difficult and gutsy decision to stand so I also acknowledge your partners, families and your volunteers who supported you throughout your campaign.
Sadly it also means we bid farewell to Mayor Guru. I cannot recall a meeting where it hasn’t been full of laughter or life lessons that have been revolved around a council decision or initiative. I hope you enjoy more time with your wonderful whā nau and mokopuna.
I spent Sunday afternoon in Raumati conducting Street Corner Meetings. Thank you to all those who came to discuss issues such as tax policy, immigration settings, the standard of nursing studies, food stamps for the Defence Force or those who stopped by just to say hi!
I find Street Corner Meetings a great way to ensure I am accessible outside of normal working hours and it’s another option for some people who may find coming into an electorate office intimidating.
One topical issue was the recent ram raids, and questions about what the Government is doing to prevent them. We’re committed to addressing the increase in ram-raid style burglaries and other types of retail crime in communities. While police statistics show youth offending is down on where it was a decade ago, we know there’s still work to do. Ram raids and other forms of retail crime are incredibly distressing for business owners who’ve become the targets and yet often work for long hours to make their business thrive, to serve our community and to care for their own families. I’d like to extend our thanks to the police for their swift actions which led to arrests being made in some cases.
If you’re a local business owner you can go to https://www.police. govt.nz/advice-services/businessesand-organisations/retail-crimeprevention-hub to find out more information about our retail crime prevention package.
I’ll also be working with our new council to ensure our local business owners get the support they need to install preventative measures.
Those I met this week agreed that we also need to ensure our young people have more options to keep them busy and to prevent these crimes happening in the first place. We recently released our Better Pathways package, which extends programmes that have a record of success in helping young people into better futures, and driving down youth crime.
All of the programmes that we’re scaling up play slightly different roles — ranging from helping people into education, training and employment, to more general wrap-around support.
For example, we recently reached the milestone of 50,000 Kiwis through Apprenticeship Boost, which supports employers to keep and take on new apprentices.
By investing in pathways to better opportunities for more young people, increasing the number of police and strengthening the laws to seize organised crime assets, we’re helping to break the cycle of crime to make Kā piti safer.