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Speaker 1: You know immediately when something makes good political sense. You

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Speaker 1: can usually tell not by listening to the minister announce it,

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Speaker 1: but by listening to the opposition oppose it. Crime is

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Speaker 1: the topic Jeju this week, of course, and it's one

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Speaker 1: of National's strongest, biggest levers. It's got to pull. It's

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Speaker 1: one of the few election issues on which they outpoll Labor,

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Speaker 1: so it's no wonder that they've pulled out all the

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Speaker 1: stops this after a few weeks of some shaky polling

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Speaker 1: and being on the defense. The problem for Labor with

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Speaker 1: crime quite simple. No one trusts them. The facts are

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Speaker 1: as follows, crime went nuts. Labour's policy reduce prison population,

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Speaker 1: which is what makes this such a hard slog, A

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Speaker 1: hard week for Labor, not the Greens into Party Maori,

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Speaker 1: who sing from a very different songsheet on law and

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Speaker 1: audibit for hapkins. How do you credibly stand up and

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Speaker 1: argue against longer sentences for thugs who bash first responders?

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Speaker 1: How do you oppose getting tough on coward punches? How

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Speaker 1: do you oppose fines for people stealing cuts of meat

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Speaker 1: or booze from the supermarket while the rest of us

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Speaker 1: pay ever higher prices? The answer for Labor so far

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Speaker 1: has been you do oppose these things. They've come out

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Speaker 1: against pretty much every single change that's been announced, and

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Speaker 1: that plays into the perception that they're still weak on crime,

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Speaker 1: that they haven't been going to the gym to get

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Speaker 1: stronger and tougher on crime. They are instead further withering away.

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Speaker 1: Of course, this problem could be solved if we knew

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Speaker 1: anything about what Labor is planning policy wise for the

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Speaker 1: next election, but Chippy's strategy is going to be shock

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Speaker 1: and awe. They're holding cards very close to their chest

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Speaker 1: until the election. In the meantime, they do run the risk,

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Speaker 1: don't they, of looking weak while the coalition steals their thunder.

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Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live

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Speaker 1: to Newstalk It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.