Source: Radio New Zealand
The move-on powers announced in February will mean police can move on rough sleepers or people displaying disorderly behaviour as young as 14-years-old. RNZ / Richard Tindiller
The Wellington region’s mayors, as well as iwi, church and social support agency leaders, say the government’s proposed move-on orders are not welcome in the region.
An open letter decrying the introduction of powers to enable police to relocate people from certain areas – under threat of fines or imprisonment – has been sent to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
But Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the letter was “overly simplistic” and its signatories were “ignoring the facts”.
The letter – signed by 21 Wellington leaders – described the initiative as a “superficial and unhelpful” approach.
“Whilst we accept and understand that anti-social behaviour on the part of some must be able to be responded to, we don’t consider that moving a person to some other unspecified place fixes the problem, nor does anything to address the issues that individual is dealing with, and in fact, potentially causes significant harm,” the signatories wrote.
Breaching a move-on order – which would require someone to leave an area for up to 24 hours – risked a fine of up to $2000 or a three month jail term.
Community leaders ‘united’ in opposition – Mayor Andrew Little
Wellington City Mayor, Andrew Little, said it was important to show the government that leadership in the region was united in opposition to the legislation.
“What we’re all trying to do is just emphasise to the government that – if they’re serious about dealing with the issue – we actually need to be focussed on what the underlying solutions are. Not cosmetic measures that shift the problem to somewhere else,” Little said.
Little said he understood community and business concerns over rough sleeping and antisocial behaviour – but the initiative failed to offer any real solution to the problem.
“[The signatories] are all organisations that [have] people in the front-line dealing with the homelessness and rough sleeper issue and they don’t take their roles and responsibilities lightly. We know it causes concern to a lot of people – including people whose lives and business are disrupted by it. But the move on order – as a response to it – simply is not a solution,” Little said.
Legislation sends the wrong message to vulnerable people
Porirua mayor Anita Baker said the “vast majority” of people who found themselves on the streets we’re struggling with complex issues including mental health challenges, drug dependancy and a lack of appropriate services and housing options.
Baker said the legislation risked sending the wrong message to already disadvantaged people.
“It’s sending an indication to these people that we don’t really care. A $2000 fine, how are they even going to pay that? They can’t afford to be in a house so I think it is unhelpful.
We need more mental health services, we need more houses, how about providing those?” Baker said.
She said the legislation offered nothing to organisations already working to improve the circumstances of people living rough.
“Across the Wellington region there is already a strong collaborative approach between councils, police, health providers, housing organisations, iwi and NGOs.
“The focus is on outreach, connecting people to services, and creating pathways into stable housing. That work recognises that homelessness and related behaviour are usually the visible end of much deeper issues. Our priority will continue to be solutions that address those causes rather than measures that simply push the problem somewhere else,” Baker said.
Letter ‘overly simplistic’ – Paul Goldsmith
Goldsmith responded to requests for comment sent to Luxon.
He said the letter was “overly simplistic” and it’s signatories were “actively choosing to ignore the facts”.
“Only people who refuse those orders, will face prosecution. A move-on order, is not a criminal charge.
“This is about reclaiming our streets and our city centres for the enjoyment of everybody who visits, works and lives there” Goldsmith said.
Goldsmith said police had “the expertise to connect people with the support services they may require”.
“New Zealanders are fair-minded people, and our culture is one where we seek to help those who are in need, but that doesn’t mean we should accept our city centres, particularly our showcase tourist spots, becoming places of intimidation, and dysfunction,” Goldsmith said.
A protest against the move-on orders by people living and working in Auckland’s central city. Supplied
Police ‘overworked as it is’
Police Association head Steve Watt said police on the beat were “overworked as it is” did not have the resources to deal with the issues that led to people sleeping on the streets.
“The vast majority of people that are out on the street suffer from mental health issues, financial issues, anxiety issues. They’re all issues that really need to have specialist capability wrapped around them as opposed to police picking them up off the street and moving them along,” Watt said.
Watt said some members did welcome the additional powers but he felt the tools to deal with criminal behaviour on the streets were already available to police.
“There is legislation in place in order to deal with people that are on our streets, acting disorderly, being threatening towards members of the public or being offensive.
“We have powers under the Summary Offences Act in which we can deal with this. So what we’re talking about here is non-criminal activity and basically having an order to ship that problem down the street,” Watt said.
Legislation ‘another layer of mistreatment’
CEO of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, Helmut Modlik said the legislation would add “another layer of mistreatment” into already difficult lives.
“Moving somebody from one spot to an undisclosed second spot without any substantive response to the reason why they were there in the first place is – by my definition – ‘superficial’.
“We don’t want want anything that just adds another layer of mistreatment, or ignoring or unhelpfulness into the lives of these people whose lives are full of all of that,” Modlik said.
He said the legislation was far removed from what he understood to be the values of New Zealanders.
“Nobody likes to see extreme examples of homeless people making a nuisance of themselves. But if people take just a few minutes just to actually understand what’s going on for those poor souls – why they’re there and what’s going on – then a very different response is what follows.
“That should guide us. That should guide our public policy, that should guide our investable activity in this domain. Not a nod to a narrow spectrum of interests and a superficial response. Which is what it is.
“There’s nothing about it that aligns with my understanding of what kind of people we are here in Aotearoa,” Modlik said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
