ACT Justice spokesperson Todd Stephenson is calling on the Green Party to confirm it does not support police abolition.

“Tonight, Green MP Tamatha Paul will give a talk in Christchurch about 'the police, and what alternatives we could have to the police, and what radical police abolition could look like in real terms'. Those are her own words, from a TikTok video.

“This is just nutty stuff. It's easy to be anti-police until you find yourself threatened by crime. That's when we all rely on the ability to call police with the tools and powers to protect us from violence and theft.

“She's also out of touch with the communities she claims to represent. Poorer New Zealanders and Māori are disproportionately likely to be victims of crime, and more likely to need the protection of police.

“This comes just a few weeks after she told her 37,000 young TikTok followers that the 'vast majority' of people in prison are there for non-violent offences that they've 'had to do as a response to poverty'. In the real world, more than half of prisoners are there for homicide, sexual assault, acts intended to cause injury, and unlawful entry with intent/burglary.

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“Tamatha Paul went on to say people are in prison because “They’re being punished for being disabled, they’re being punished for being poor, they’re being punished for being Māori, they’re being punished for our system that we have in our country.”

“At best, Tamatha Paul has deluded herself. At worst, she is using her platform to actively misinform her followers and make them more likely to support radically pro-crime policies like police abolition.

“I'm proud to say that, with ACT in Government, we have scrapped Labour's prisoner reduction targeted, while introducing tougher sentences so dangerous criminals are locked up for longer. On issues of public safety and justice, we are the anti-Greens – delivering consequences for crime and putting victims first,” says Mr Stephenson.

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