Dairy Death Demands Urgent Government Action on Safety
Please visit givealittle to Help the family of the dairy worker slain on 23 November. Kia Ora for the incredible kindness shown by our fellow Kiwis.
24 November 2022
Dairy and Business Owners are rallying around the friends and family of the dairy worker senselessly killed for just doing their job, almost a year to the day, after the Dairy and Business Owners’ Group warned the government that a dairy worker would be killed by its inaction.
“We will be looking into a fund-raising effort for those closest to the dairy worker who was murdered last night performing a valuable role in their community,” says Sunny Kaushal, Chair of the Dairy and Business Owners’ Group.
“Here was a law-abiding dairy worker killed for just doing their job. It leaves us numb with shock. We hope the community will join with us to assist the friends and family of this victim in the most awful of circumstances.
“If anyone knows anything please call Police. We need to catch this murderer urgently. This was inevitable and sadly predictable. We ask those who want to pay their respects to the victim and their family, to join us at 1030am, at 62 Fowlds Avenue, Sandringham.
“Our country is lawless and we are beyond sad, angry and scared. On 3 December 2021, almost a year ago, we warned soft on crime policies and the message sent by repeal of three-strikes emboldened criminals. We told the Justice Select Committee that too.
“We warned someone would be seriously injured or killed. Yet we only get radio silence from a government that has our blood on their hands.
“We were promised a meeting with the Minister of Justice in June. No date has ever come from her office. The Police Minister met with us only after being publicly named and shamed by Mike Hosking that we thank Mr Hosking for.
“It’s been over a month since meeting Mr Hipkins for zero response. Nothing. We put a package of measures to him, like a practical way to supress cigarette demand, a crime driver, without ruining us, how the retail crime fund should be run and a plea to adopt Australia’s self-defence laws.
“Yet this government is more interested in giving 16-year-olds the vote than keeping us and our communities safe. Parliament is in urgency with 24 Bills and not one speaks to our concerns and safety needs. Nothing for victims. This government feels pro criminal.
“As for the Prime Minister, we’ve never had a single reply despite asking to meet. We can add Dr Verrall to that list despite collecting a billion dollars in tax along with Michael Wood. They don’t care what happens to us. We’re expendable.
“We repeat what we said on 3 December 2021 and in our submission on the 3-strikes repeal:
“We will demand that the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice resign if anyone is killed by someone who would otherwise be in jail under the existing [3-strikes] law. They will have blood on their hands, it’s only a matter of time and sadly dairies are in the front line.”
“We don’t know if this is the case right now with this tragic murder. We will demand resignations if the murderer could have or should have been jail than roaming the streets. Our blood is on this government’s hands. Prime Minister, where are our human rights?” Mr Kaushal asked.
Our eight-point plan that was put to the Police Minister on 19 October 2022:
It starts from admitting we have we have a crime emergency and that most crime is not reported because there’s a fundamental loss of faith in the system.
Enlarging the Crime Fund to $30m, targeting 10,000 retailers. Using a “High Trust model” not bureaucracy to speed security delivery (dairies are the government’s unofficial tobacco tax-collector for over a $1bn in tax and GST).
Get smokers into vaping to remove a big driver for ramraids and robberies. We need Mr Hipkins help to reform the law as we can’t actively market the three vape and smokeless tobacco flavours we sell, to 451,000 smokers, even when they ask for a pack of cigarettes.
We need to adopt the “broken windows” approach where no crime is minor by better using council paid staff (like turning Auckland Transport’s 400 traffic wardens and Transport Officers into UK-Style Police Community Support). This is true community street policing; especially in the CBD’s.
Deploy Artificial Intelligence based street lighting and CCTV in partnership with councils to close blind spots and to direct camera operators to where issues are to track them.
We need Police and MSD aligned to deal with feral families who don’t care where their children are, or what they get up to. The role of the state is to intervene in the interests of the child not allowing dysfunction to continue.
We need beggars and the homeless off the streets and put into specialist centres, modelled on refugee resettlement, that’ll fix addiction, numeracy and literacy etc. Unbelievably a member saw a person begging among cars in central Auckland including a Police car that just ignored them.
The law of self defence needs to be modelled on that of Australia. It must allow retailers and anyone to defend themselves, their family, their customers and their own property.
For More Information here see Minister Hipkins Crime Reduction Manifesto