It’s official, and it’s not surprising. After what must have been plenty of whining during wine-and-steak dinners in nice Auckland suburbs and Golf games on barren turf, the government have given cops the authority and directive to issue ‘move on’ orders to unhoused people aged 14 and up. Punishment for refusing to listen to a cop – who was at best totally oblivious to Jevon McSkimming’s internet usage and, at worst, probably also needs their computer searched – ranges from a maximum fine of $2,000 or up to three months in prison.
According to The Beehive, this is being done to limit disorderly behavior, intimidation, and breaching the peace. Also, according to The Beehive, “We shouldn’t accept our […] showcase tourist spots becoming places of intimidation and dysfunction,” and that gives the game away. These 24 hour move-on orders are a way for out-of-touch socialites to not have to visually reckon with the consequences of the gross and cannibalistic system we live under, and it allows the police to accumulate records on unhoused people, until the point where they get thrown in a private prison and a shareholder makes enough money to take Luxon out for dinner. “I have to say,” this shareholder will tell Christopher, “I was in Hamilton recently, and Garden Place is just looking fabulous!”
The facts are that it’s more expensive to chuck people in prison, and we burden that as working-class taxpayers. The landlords driving up housing prices and rent don’t bear any consequence aside from having to witness a reflection of the displacement they’ve caused, but obviously they’re figuring out ways to get rid of that over wine-and-steak dinners in nice Auckland suburbs.
