We all know that Police and Corrections Minister Judith Collins has, for all her tough talk, failed to bring down crime. In fact, the steady decrease in the crime rate has dramatically reversed under her watch. Her stupid ‘tough on crime’ policies have failed to work because they fundamentally misconceive the causes of crime.
We also know that she is pushing through the 3 strikes policy. When Justice warned that this could increase the number of murders, she banned Justice from telling the select committee.
But what about the policy that got her the nickname that she revels in? How many cars has ‘Crusher’ crushed? The NBR’s David Cohen took an approach to journalism that is nearly unknown to find out:
From zero to zero in just over a year
MEDIA WATCH – David Cohen | Friday April 9, 2010
Writing the other week in the Aucklander, John Landrigan became the umpteenth journalist to pay a backhand homage to the country’s no-nonsense corrections minister by making mention of the nickname she acquired last year in the wake of putting forward legislation to ‘crush’ the cars of persistent boy racers.The nickname’s Crusher. Crusher Collins.
And hey, why not? As every decent scribe knows, this is someone who walks the talk in an area where the ordinary public and business alike have long demanded muscular political action.
Boy racers are a total bane on society. Any leader strong enough to destroy their social weapon of choice and send these scary men back to where they belong which is to say, a suburban beauty salon somewhere having their weekly bikini wax is notable.
A random computer search throws up hundreds of items saying as much, including a Facebook site celebrating Ms Collins’ achievements in destroying the boy racers (‘Go Crusher Collins, you have our support!’) and a suitably detailed entry in the online Wikipedia.
‘Crusher Collins,’ as Mr Landrigan suggests in the Aucklander, is really a tribute acknowledging Ms Collins ‘successful calls to mash errant boy-racer cars.’ Or, as the New Zealand Herald political writer Patrick Gower put it a few months ago, ‘Judith Collins clearly revels in her nickname, based on her signature policy of crushing boy-racer cars.’
With all this successful mashing and signature crushing going on, and the legislation in question now having been in existence for more than a year, one might wonder how many motor vehicles have been put to rest on the minister’s watch. Hundreds? Scores? Or possibly just a few dozen?
Using an amazing new piece of technology, Media Watch was able to discover the tally stands at exactly er, zero.
No disrespect intended of course. Not everyone in the media business, one assumes, enjoys the same access as I do to this newfangled technology, known as a ‘telephone,’ and the ability it has to put one directly in touch with the office of a government minister to ask an obvious question or two.
‘Crusher’ Collins, another do nothing failure of a National minister.
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