Andrew Dickens: Tamatha Paul shares complaints of one, not one hundred

Tamatha Paul: a woman mocked for her views on Police.  

Chris Hipkins says her views on beat Police were unwise, and then he went further and said they were stupid.  

The Prime Minister says she’s in lala land. 

Yesterday I commented that life must be really sweet on her planet - pity it’s not ours. 

But that didn’t stop her doubling down yesterday on her views, because they are not untrue. 

She pointed out that brown people have quite a different perception of police than others. 

Look up profiling and it’s meaning. 

She pointed out the terrible failure of the police in the case of the 11-year-old confused with a twenty-year-old that we’re all shocked at. 

She highlighted the hassle of homeless. 

She didn’t back down because as she said they are legitimate experiences amongst her constituents.  

And she has constituents. She’s not a list MP. She won Wellington Central fair and square. 

However, the complaints of one are not the complaints of a hundred. The vast, overwhelming, majority of New Zealanders feel better with cops on the beat. 

So, she is wrong. But I will defend her right to point out the flaws, because that is the true meaning of free speech.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tamitha Paul, a woman yesterday mocked for her views on police.
Chris Hipkins said her views on beat police were unwise
and then he went further and said they were stupid.
The Prime Minister said she's in La la Land. Yesterday
when I was talking about the views, I commented that
life must be really sweet on her planet. Pity it's

(00:21):
not ours. But that didn't stop her doubling down yesterday
on her views because they're not untrue in her world.
She pointed out the brown people have quite a different
perception of police than others. Look up profiling and its meaning.
It happens here. We know this. She pointed out the
terrible failure of the police in the case of the
eleven year old confused with a twenty year old that

(00:42):
we all got shocked at. This week, she highlighted the
hassle of the homeless by the police and the reason
she didn't back down because, as she said, they are
legitimate experiences amongst her constituents. And remember she's agreen, but
she has constituents. She's not a list. MP one's Wellington Central,
Fair and Square. She's talked to people who have these problems. However,

(01:06):
the complaints of one are not the complaints of one hundred.
The vast overwhelming majority of New Zealanders feel better with
more cops on the beat. So she is wrong, and
she was wrong to take the experience of a few
and then expanded into a broad statement of let's defund
the police. However, I'm going to defend her right to

(01:28):
point out the flaws as she sees it, because that
is the true meaning of free speech. For more from
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