National's Tom Rutherford

Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central. 

The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.

Beginning near the start of February this year, the government’s new school lunch program has faced criticism after criticism since its introduction. From supply issues to quality and quantity concerns to dietary considerations and heating issues, the program has had its fair share of teething issues. 

Now the government claims these issues have been ironed out, others continue to arise. Libelle, one of the school lunch providers contracted by the School Lunch collective recently went into liquidation. Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also told parents concerned with the program to “go make a marmite sandwich.”

Also in politics this past week we’ve seen Labour MP Camilla Belich’s private members bill passed by all parties excluding National and ACT. The Crimes (Theft by employer) amendment bill would move wage theft from a civil issue to a criminal issue, which National says is unnecessary and time consuming.

In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, starting with school lunch program concerns.

Last week the government announced a new citizen’s arrest policy that would allow members of the public to detain those who commit a crime. The policy has been met with criticism for its potential impact on retail workers and marginalised communities. While the government has asserted that citizen’s arrest should only be conducted when it is safe to do so, some are still worried about safety, especially with employer/employee power dynamics. 

Others are concerned that the law will encourage members of the public to conduct citizens arrests on anyone they suspect of committing a crime, even if their suspicions are false. This would predominantly affect marginalised groups already affected by harmful stereotypes

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Tuesday Wire Host Castor asked about how the new Citizens Arrest policy will work in Aotearoa. 

Over the weekend, an estimated 50 protesters, a part of Destiny Church-linked groups, stormed the Te Atatū Community Centre and library, where a show discussing the science of rainbows was being performed to children by a drag king as a part of Auckland Pride festivities.

This received mass condemnation, over the the protest not being peaceful, as protestors tried to force their way to the library section of the community centre, resulting in not only 30 young children and adults having to be barricaded away for their safety, but also resulted in a 16-year old and her 20-year old sister sustaining injuries while defending against those rallying.

For our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to him about this event, what the parties stances are on it, and the petition to have Destiny Church’s charitable status revoked, which has received over 72,000 signatures.

They also spoke to him about the resignation of Director-General of Health, Dr Diana Sarfati, as well as Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, and Tourism Minister, Louise Upston’s $500,000 campaign enticing Australians tourists to New Zealand.

But first, they started off by asking him about how the party reacted to the Te Atatū Community Centre and Library protests.