New Zealand’s prime minster is being accused of being in denial over crime in New Zealand.

Ardern told the AM show this morning “we’ve seen the number of ram raids this month, for instance. They have come down in November and one of the reasons will be because of the large number of prosecutions we have.

ACT Leader David Seymour said this shows she’s either in denial or living on another planet when it comes to crimes.

“The Prime Minister tried to say that 14 ramraids last month was a good statistic and shows that we’ve turned a corner. In no way is 14 ramraids in a month acceptable.

The claim that the “majority” are being prosecuted is farcical and frankly insulting to victims. It’s time Ardern woke up to the reality of this situation.”

Only 37 per cent of ram raids resulted in enforcement action, and only 61 per cent of those instances led to prosecutions.

“We have called on the Government to get tough, and smart on the epidemic of retail crime that followed the epidemic of COVID-19. We have proposed idea after idea to try and get on top of the ram raids and the robberies, but the Government has barely listened, if at all.

We have challenged the Government to expedite its retail crime prevention fund, particularly after someone who sought and didn’t get help from it was robbed. That fund has continued at a glacial pace and now needs to be sized up and expedited.”

Seymour said “the Government needs to show a clear pathway of consequences for young offenders, from instant practical penalties as proposed by ACT, to ankle bracelets for offenders, to secure facilities to keep offenders in if they do not comply with earlier sanctions. It then needs to get them back to school or employment.

It should never have got this far and the Government must now act to ensure it does not happen again.”

National’s Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said the Prime Minister constantly sounds surprised by the increase in violent retail crime and resorts to carefully chosen and misleading statements to avoid accountability.

“On Monday she told RNZ the Government had not lessened the penalties on any individual crime. What she doesn’t say is that her Government has sent three powerful signals to the justice system that have driven the current ‘soft on crime’ approach.

“First, the only target her Government has set for the justice sector has been to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent, regardless of the level of crime on our streets.

Second, the only legislation it has passed on sentencing has been to repeal the Three Strikes Act, to shorten prison sentences for our most serious, repeat offenders.

Third, her Ministers have encouraged a culture of excuses.”

Goldsmith said “though it might have been well-intentioned, the Government’s soft on crime approach has led to more violence in our communities, a 500 per cent increase in ram raids, a sense of impunity amongst offenders and, sadly, more victims of crime.“