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Ryan Bridge: The coalition is stealing Labour's thunder · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know immediately when something makes good political sense. You
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: can usually tell not by listening to the minister announce it,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: but by listening to the opposition oppose it. Crime is
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the topic Jeju this week, of course, and it's one
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of National's strongest, biggest levers. It's got to pull. It's
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: one of the few election issues on which they outpoll Labor,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: so it's no wonder that they've pulled out all the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: stops this after a few weeks of some shaky polling
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and being on the defense. The problem for Labor with
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  Speaker 1: crime quite simple. No one trusts them. The facts are
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: as follows, crime went nuts. Labour's policy reduce prison population,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: which is what makes this such a hard slog, A
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: hard week for Labor, not the Greens into Party Maori,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: who sing from a very different songsheet on law and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: audibit for hapkins. How do you credibly stand up and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: argue against longer sentences for thugs who bash first responders?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: How do you oppose getting tough on coward punches? How
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: do you oppose fines for people stealing cuts of meat
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: or booze from the supermarket while the rest of us
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: pay ever higher prices? The answer for Labor so far
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  Speaker 1: has been you do oppose these things. They've come out
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  Speaker 1: against pretty much every single change that's been announced, and
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  Speaker 1: that plays into the perception that they're still weak on crime,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: that they haven't been going to the gym to get
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  Speaker 1: stronger and tougher on crime. They are instead further withering away.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Of course, this problem could be solved if we knew
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: anything about what Labor is planning policy wise for the
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  Speaker 1: next election, but Chippy's strategy is going to be shock
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and awe. They're holding cards very close to their chest
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: until the election. In the meantime, they do run the risk,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: don't they, of looking weak while the coalition steals their thunder.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to Newstalk It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.