Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's proof this Kāinga Ora crackdown is for the best

If you needed proof that the Government is doing the right thing by cracking down on unruly state house tenants-  here it is. Even Chris Hipkins is endorsing it now.

He's admitted today his Government should've done more to crack down on state house tenants terrorising their neighbourhoods.

And he’s said- “I have some sympathy for some of the changes that they’re making, there should be further consequences”.

If even the guy who led the Government that stopped the evictions now admits he’s on board with starting up the evictions again, then that tells you it’s the right thing to do.

Look, I admit it's a tough policy, because people are gonna get punished.

If they tear up a house, if they terrorise their neighbours, or don’t pay their rent repeatedly- they will be punished by being kicked out of the house.

But this isn't introducing punishment, it's just changing who gets punished.

Because people are being punished already. The neighbours are being punished, the taxpayers are being punished by constantly having to fix up houses that are being ripped up, and the families waiting in motels for homes while those homes are filled with people who aren’t respecting the privilege are being punished too.

But the neighbours and the taxpayers and people waiting in motels shouldn't be the ones being punished by this behaviour, because they aren't the bad guys here- the guys tearing up the houses are the bad guys.

And it is only right that if someone is being punished, it should the people doing the bad stuff, not everyone around them.

I think yesterday's crackdown was well overdue, because we need to start looking after the right people in this country.

We've spent too long now bending over backwards for the delinquents. The unruly tenants, the gang members demanding rights to wear a patch, the criminals demanding discounts because of tough childhoods.

We have to change who we look after here, including the neighbours, the citizens who don’t want to be intimidated by gangs, and the victims who want the offenders locked up.

This looks after the right people instead of punishing them- and it’s about time.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.