1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Is it quite possibly our most high profile police commissioners.

2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,480
Speaker 1: Leaving his job early, having already indicated he wasn't seeking

3
00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:07,680
Speaker 1: a second term, he will head to the Public Service Commissioners.

4
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,040
Speaker 1: Secretary of Social Investment Andrew Costa is with us.

5
00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:11,400
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning mate.

6
00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 1: What are your observations of the politics of being a

7
00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,880
Speaker 1: police commissioner as you exit this particular role.

8
00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,560
Speaker 2: I think it's been a really interesting time. I don't

9
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:25,279
Speaker 2: know that this is unique to New Zealand, but it

10
00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:29,120
Speaker 2: seems that place has been a lot more of the politics,

11
00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,000
Speaker 2: not by intention, but really law and order focused election

12
00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,559
Speaker 2: and we got very drawn neck.

13
00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,680
Speaker 1: What are your observations on the ability? What has interested

14
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,280
Speaker 1: me about you most of all is your seeming, I guess,

15
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:44,559
Speaker 1: and I go back to the words of the Prime

16
00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,280
Speaker 1: Minister yesterday which were very flattering, your ability to serve

17
00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,080
Speaker 1: the government of the day. In other words, you might

18
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,559
Speaker 1: or might not have been doing what you wanted to do,

19
00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:55,840
Speaker 1: but you were under instruction. Is that fair or not?

20
00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,920
Speaker 2: What is that job to serve the government of the day.

21
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,040
Speaker 2: We're operationally independence, but that doesn't mean entirely independent, and

22
00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,280
Speaker 2: we respond to the government's priorities and that's exactly what

23
00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,200
Speaker 2: we've done with this new government. And you know, in

24
00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,040
Speaker 2: the end that's the job of every public servant.

25
00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,440
Speaker 1: But have you seen the contrast, say, from the public's

26
00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,560
Speaker 1: point of view on what for one government you seem

27
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,640
Speaker 1: soft on another government you seemed harder. Is that fair?

28
00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,360
Speaker 2: Well, I definitely accept that that perception is there, and

29
00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,120
Speaker 2: we have pivoted to respond to a new government's priorities.

30
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,960
Speaker 2: If you look at the everyday work of police officers

31
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000
Speaker 2: we're talking about, you know, the tenth percent of the

32
00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:43,480
Speaker 2: margins then remains pretty consistent year and year out.

33
00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,560
Speaker 1: The COVID period. If it had never happened, how different

34
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:47,520
Speaker 1: do you reckon it would be?

35
00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:54,800
Speaker 2: Oh? Hugely. COVID has fundamentally changed what police are dealing

36
00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,880
Speaker 2: with every day. People are more polarized and more angry.

37
00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,480
Speaker 2: Kids have been disrupted in their schooling. That plays through

38
00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 2: and to their offending. I know COVID pen and has

39
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,280
Speaker 2: been used as an excuse, but it has a really

40
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,079
Speaker 2: long tail and we're still dealing with it.

41
00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:11,720
Speaker 1: How long do you reckon that tailor is.

42
00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 2: Well, we've still got the economic impacts of it, so

43
00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,160
Speaker 2: that plays through and pressure on families and family violence

44
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,480
Speaker 2: and even retail crime, for example. I would hope that

45
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:26,239
Speaker 2: would turn the corner. But I think it's with the

46
00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,520
Speaker 2: economy terms of corner that you start to see that

47
00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:32,320
Speaker 2: really play through in terms of some different results in

48
00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:32,960
Speaker 2: terms of crime.

49
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,280
Speaker 1: And given all of that, what's your advice to people

50
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,960
Speaker 1: who think that policing is a career is a good idea?

51
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,400
Speaker 2: I think it's a career is a great idea. It

52
00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,560
Speaker 2: has been a truly outstanding career for me. I've done

53
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,480
Speaker 2: so many different things through the course of it. It's

54
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,000
Speaker 2: a great set of people doing outstanding work in the community.

55
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,440
Speaker 2: I couldn't recommend it more. When you want to be

56
00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,600
Speaker 2: the commissioner, well, a different question, but fosting is a

57
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:01,120
Speaker 2: great job.

58
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,800
Speaker 1: What is social investment and how will it manifest itself

59
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:05,639
Speaker 1: under your watch?

60
00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,640
Speaker 2: I see social investment as at the other end of

61
00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,120
Speaker 2: the spectrum from work places. We spend a lot of

62
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,800
Speaker 2: time at the bottom of the cliffs of social failure.

63
00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,480
Speaker 2: Social investments trying to change the settings at the top

64
00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:22,520
Speaker 2: end to get better outcomes in the community. It really

65
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:26,320
Speaker 2: means looking across all of the social spends is about

66
00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,520
Speaker 2: seventy billion dollars and understanding how that can be applied

67
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:31,560
Speaker 2: better to get better results.

68
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,320
Speaker 1: All right, appreciate your TI. I'm sure we'll talk again.

69
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,000
Speaker 1: Andrew Costa, police sell outgoing police commissioner.

70
00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,360
Speaker 2: For more from the mic Asking Breakfast listen live to

71
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,560
Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow

72
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,160
Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio