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Speaker 1: Good news, if that's the right phrase. On violent crime.

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Speaker 1: We've got one hundred and forty seven thousand victims of

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Speaker 1: serious violent crime in the twelve months to August, but

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Speaker 1: that is a drop of thirty eight thousand in the

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Speaker 1: time of the government. Basically, it's a drop of nine

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Speaker 1: thousand in the last quarter alone. Also marks, of course,

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Speaker 1: one year since the gang laws came in, one hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighty two patches seized, two hundred and fifty five charges.

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Speaker 1: Late Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is with us. Good morning,

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Speaker 1: good morning. These numbers. One hundred and forty seven thousand

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Speaker 1: victims is still a stunning number of victims.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, But we came in twenty three with one

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty five thousand New Zealand as being a

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Speaker 2: victim of serious violent crime or sexual offending. That's far

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Speaker 2: too many. That's so we set a goal of getting

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Speaker 2: it down to one hundred and sixty five by twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty nine. The good news is we're almost doubled that

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Speaker 2: in a short period of time. But you're right, one

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Speaker 2: hundred and forty seven thousand people are still too many,

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Speaker 2: and that's why we're determined to go much further.

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Speaker 1: So given these numbers, what's your level of satisfaction.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm pleased that we're making progress as a country

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Speaker 2: because you know, there's thirty eight thousand and fewer victims

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Speaker 2: of crime. That's thirty eight thousand families that don't have

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Speaker 2: to go through the trauma and horror of dealing with

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Speaker 2: violent crime. So that's a huge win. But like I say,

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Speaker 2: we're not going to arrest in our laurels because now

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Speaker 2: we want New Zealanders to feel safe in their community

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Speaker 2: and in their homes. And there was a huge amount

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Speaker 2: to do, but we're making good progress.

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Speaker 1: And so you're making progress, how longest sentences, you're simply

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Speaker 1: taking the people who were committing the crime and locking

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Speaker 1: them up or.

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Speaker 2: Not, there's an element of that. I mean, the obvious

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Speaker 2: place to start is with that very small group of

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Speaker 2: New Zealanders who create the most victims over and over

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Speaker 2: and again, which is why we've targeted the gangs. Less

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Speaker 2: than a quarter of one percent of adult New Zealanders

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Speaker 2: are in gangs, but they're associated with nearly twenty five

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Speaker 2: percent of the violent crime. So good place to start.

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Speaker 2: That's why we did the three strikes. You know, lock

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Speaker 2: up the most serious repeat offenders. That's why we've toughened

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Speaker 2: up the sentencing regime to reduce the amount of discounts

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Speaker 2: that judges can offer. So yes, that's part of it.

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Speaker 2: And also it's about sending a clear message. You know,

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Speaker 2: the previous government was all about, you know, a culture

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Speaker 2: of excuses. It wasn't your fault, it was society's fault.

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Speaker 2: It was something else's fault. We've changed that message.

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Speaker 1: Having us accountable. Having said that, is this like perception

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Speaker 1: in health? So health, you never spent more in health,

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Speaker 1: but the perception is health is still broken. Is it

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Speaker 1: the same with crime and justice? It doesn't matter what

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Speaker 1: you do, somebody somewhere is going to say you're failing.

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean people are naturally right. But when

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Speaker 2: you look at the overall concerns that New Zealanders have

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Speaker 2: when we were campaigning two years ago, crime was number

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Speaker 2: two or three on the list of things that people

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Speaker 2: worried about. It's much lower now because I think the

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Speaker 2: publican and see we're making good progress, but they want

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Speaker 2: us to keep that momentum up because there's much more

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Speaker 2: to do.

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Speaker 1: All right, appreciate it. You have a good weekend. Justice

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Speaker 1: Minster Paul Goldsmith. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast,

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