Christopher Luxon says there will be serious consequences for assaulting first responders in New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The Prime Minister says increasing sanctions for people who assault first responders makes sense.
The bill proposes new offences for assaulting or injuring police, corrections, ambulance and fire officers with intent - a New Zealand First policy.
The new offence of assaulting a first responder with intent to injure would mean up to five years in prison - two years higher than the standard offence - while injuring them with intent would carry a sentence of up to seven years and counts against the three strikes regime which can impose mandatory minimum sentences.
Christopher Luxon told Morning Report it was a sensible move.
"We've got some really hardworking police officers and firefighters and paramedics and prison officers and they tend to run towards the danger and give help to their fellow Kiwis when it's most needed and what they don't need is someone assaulting or bashing them.
"If you're going to assault first responders that's utterly unacceptable in New Zealand so there's going to be some serious consequences for it."
Luxon said the sentence would be longer than for the standard offence.
"We've got a series of three, five and seven years depending upon the nature of the offence and I just think you know anyone would just say that makes perfect sense, there's been an increasing trend of assaults on Corrections staff, police officers and first responders and you know that's going to stop."
That crime needs to have serious consequences and the victims need to be protected, he said.
But Labour's Justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said attacks against first responders already attracted longer sentences. "So this is doing more of the same."
Webb said harsher sentences were not an effective deterrent - and the three strikes law, for example, failed to reduce offending.
He said the government should focus on recruitment to support first responders.
"We think the better response would be to recruit more Corrections officers and the 500 police officers that haven't turned up yet.
"That's what really makes them safer - to support them in the work that they're doing."
The proposed legislation was promised in National's coalition agreement with New Zealand First, and follows a Member's bill by then-NZ First MP Darroch Ball was rejected in 2020 by Labour and National, which said it was poorly drafted.
The announcement follows a suite of sentencing changes that came into effect on Sunday.
Defence lawyer questions idea of new law
Defence lawyer John Munro is questioning the justice minister's plans to bring in higher penalties for people who assault first responders.
Munro has some reservations and told Midday Report it was understandable that a new offence could be created in order to protect first responders, but some thought sentencing for assaults on first offenders could be managed within the existing laws.
"So for example in our law, under the Sentencing Act section 9, which is aggravating and mitigating factors of an offence, it's already taken into account that if say the victim is a constable or a prison officer acting in the course of their duty, or if the victim was an emergency health or fire service provider acting in the course of their duty then the sentence will be aggravated ... in other words the sentence will be increased."
One view was that it was unnecessary to add offences when it could already be dealt with in the Sentencing Act, he said.
"We already have it in the law that any offence like this gets an increased sentence."
Some people may think the money would be better spent by ensuring there was a well-resourced police force, rather than creating new offences that the law can already deal with, he said.
Whānau Ora funding
Luxon said there was more to do in terms of looking at the checks and balances on Whānau Ora funding.
Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) has launched an independent review into allegations of inappropriate use of public funding allocated for Whānau Ora commissioning services.
The independent review relates to allegations of funding misuse by two agencies, Te Pou Matakana Limited - otherwise known as the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency - and Pasifika Futures Limited, and would focus on whether the agencies met their contractual obligations when using the public money.
The review followed Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka seeking urgent advice on "electioneering concerns" relating to an advertisement encouraging Māori to sign-up to the Māori electoral roll paid for by Te Pou Matakana Limited released this week, and suggestions Moana Pasifika had also received Whānau Ora funds.
Luxon said Te Pou Matakana Limited and Pasifika Futures Limited both received private and public money which is why the investigation was needed to determine whether tax payer funds were used around these causes.
Potaka had done a good job of changing the way that Whānau Ora operated, Luxon said.
"He's removed the three previous commissioning agencies who have been there for a long time, over a decade, he's put four brand new commissioning agencies in place - takes effect tomorrow, but he's also ... making sure for goodness sake that we've got outcomes based contracts, that we've got more auditing, we've got conflict management being properly dealt with, we've got better data collection."
The government wants to ensure that there is stronger contracting with the commissioning agencies, he said.
Any past inappropriate spending or use of taxpayer funds by the agencies will be determined by the investigation, Luxon said.
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