National reheats the Big Mac with new boot camp announcements

What is Christopher Luxon up to? He seems intent on driving lefties nuts at the moment. First, he suggested yesterday that, shock horror, parents should be responsible for getting their children to school and that was followed up by a new crime policy that includes military boot camps for troubled teens.

Despite howls of outrage from Labour about creating ‘‘fitter faster criminals who do more crime’’ (Grant Robertson) and how this is reheated old nasty National coming back, this has clearly been a calculated decision.

Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said the policy was ‘‘harmful’’ and ‘‘deeply racist’’. ‘‘It is demonising and further stigmatising entire communities.’’

Luxon and National won’t mind. John Key ran on a policy similar to this back in 2009 and it gels well with National’s law and order shtick – especially in the current era of fashionable ramraids and Australian-style gangland activity, imported from across the ditch. A version of boot camps was also reintroduced by National in the lead-up to the 2017 election. Clearly, there was a view that it worked for the party – politically at least.

In policy terms, it is a bit like reheating an old Big Mac you popped in the fridge after over-ordering a couple of days earlier. You know you probably shouldn’t but the packaging is appealing and you know what you are going to get.

It is still good but you do get a slightly sloppy old burger with a supersized portion of guilt and regret.

It is what it says on the box – which let’s face it, is pretty good and has wide appeal – but a nutritious meal it is not.

And so it is with this policy: looks good to a lot of people but a very charitable reading of results in the past would say they have been mixed to poor.

The policy also marks a harder edge to National and shows an upping of the ante in law and order. In October, National’s Erica Stanford said the following in response to an ACT proposal to stick ankle bracelets on young offenders: ‘‘We are going to whack an ankle bracelet on them? I mean, it just breaks my heart that we are even talking about this.’’ Now National is potentially going to do the same.

There is also the matter of using the Defence Force to do it – with a 15% staff attrition rate and lots of serving soldiers still grumpy about being MIQ (managed isolation and quarantine) babysitters for two years – will they really want to be involved in straightening out wayward teens?

Nevertheless, the political virtues of this policy concern cultural optics and who and what Luxon is and National are. It signals an attitude to law and order. Labour is right that really tackling youth crime is complicated but lecturing people on that fact can just grate.

Plus that is cold comfort to ramraided or assaulted citizens who just want something done. National will probably get a polling bump from this.

As for saying parents are responsible for getting their children to school, well, they are.

And most voters National wants to attract will also probably agree with that. When Luxon was first elected National Party leader, comparisons to Key abounded: they were both successful, white businessmen from Christchurch who went overseas, did well and came back to politics. That comparison has always been over-egged.

However, there now does seem to be more reheating of Key’s greatest hits. And why not, it was a winning formula.

Luxon has hired staff from that era and key caucus confidants were either staffers or ministers in that government: his messages are long on aspiration, short on details, and have easy-to-digest-soundbites about the cost of living.

But Luxon is not Key and some more original fare that better suits his own strengths will have to be dished up at some point.

John Key ran on a policy similar to this in 2009.