More targets abolished

Chris Bishop released:

Police Minister Stuart Nash has today admitted he abolished two important Police targets focused on keeping New Zealanders safe, without taking the decision to Cabinet, National’s Police spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“Mr Nash confirmed in Parliament today that he unilaterally abolished the targets of 98 per cent of burglaries being attended within 48 hours and 95 per cent of New Zealanders to live within 25km of a 24/7 police station by June 2022.

“This continues a worrying trend of Ministers making decisions on the fly and not bothering to take important issues to Cabinet – like Health Minister David Clark on the abolition of national health targets or Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on her oil and gas exploration ban.

Another Minister who wishes to be judged by how much he spends, not actually by what he achieves.

I wouldn’t object if they replaced National’s targets with some of their own. But as far as I can tell their only target in law and order is to catch and release.

“Mr Nash’s abolition of police targets is at odds with comments by Police Commissioner Mike Bush who, in relation to the nine Police performance targets set by the previous Government, said ‘they’re the right targets for the Police. They are the things we should be aiming at … they’re the things that we, as an executive, think are the right performance outcomes for the New Zealand Police on behalf of the public we serve’.

Having clear targets is good for public agencies. It gives them a direction to aim for, and gives the public a measure of how they are doing.