Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Kiwis are known around the world for their kindness.  We open doors, we say please and thank you, we help out our neighbour. We leap in to help when help is needed.  It’s one of the traits we’re most proud of. But one thing we hate more than anything else is when that kindness is taken for granted - then it’s no more Mr Nice Guy. We say this with kids stealing from dairies and ram-raiding poor old hard-working dairy owners. The minute they started destroying livelihoods and beating people with screw drivers and hammers, sympathy evaporated. Sure, some of these kids may have had hard upbringings, but there are plenty of kids with tough upbringings who choose not to drive a Nissan Gidda through a four-square window at 3am. So, we voted for boot camps. We reversed our ‘no chase’ police pursuit policy. We cracked down. Kindness has its limits.  A long time ago, for those who frequent the city, we crossed the same line with beggars and rough sleepers. We care about them. We donate our time and money