There is no question that a resurgent Labour party has closed the National party out of the media limelight. What else could Bill English do but pander to his ageist supporters by proposing boot camps and spot fines for the families of wayward youth?
The National party, bereft of policy ideas, is even being criticised by the countries leading newspapers for their latest policy flop. Often the last bastion of right wing fundamentalism, the editorials often signal to voters where their allegiance should lie, and based on that who will likely become the next government.
Today, the NZ Herald reported:
NZ Herald editorial: Boot camps and parent fines are 'red meat' for National
Not much new can be credibly proposed by a three-term government. National's military "boot camp" detention for young serious offenders is not even new. It is reminiscent of the party's showpiece policy on law and order when bidding for power in 2008. The policy did not come to fruition then and its revival now looks like desperation in the National camp. With all the attention on Labour's new leader, and so much discussion of policies she has announced, National will be anxious to change the subject.
Unfortunately that’s about as hard hitting as the NZ Herald ever gets against the National party. Thankfully they’re not the only widely read publication in New Zealand.
Today, Stuff reported:
Editorial: Compulsory military service as a punishment has never worked and never will
Sometimes politicians have daft ideas. The National Party is proposing to round up New Zealand's worst young criminals and train them to think and act like soldiers.
The overwhelming weight of research into military-styled corrections programmes shows that they don't reduce reoffending rates. So, the end result of the proposed scheme will probably be fighting-fit offenders with a set of new skills they can use to further their lives of crime.
Instead of cutting through the Jacinda effect, National’s ill-advised policy has fallen well short of the mark, and will soon be hurriedly buried like so many of their other lame duck policy ideas.
It’s likely that the dog whistle boot camp proposal was reheated because of the insulated nature of politics in New Zealand. National are perhaps the worst offenders when it comes to being shut off from reality. In the real world youth are actual people who shouldn’t be discriminated against just because they’re an easy non-voting target.
