AM co-host Ryan Bridge has labelled Justice Minister Kiri Allan's attempt to deflect blame for the spike in crime " pretty woeful" and laid into her graph mishaps.
The Justice Minister was responding to questions on crime from National's Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith in House.
While Allan admitted there is currently a spike in crime, she said it is "nothing to the extent" of when National was in Government.
Allan held up a graph showing a downward trajectory for crime. However, her struggle to hold the graph the right way got flak from Bridge.
"Oops, wrong way… Wrong way," he commentated. "One more time, let's try again… Nope."
"Seriously, get your graph the right way and sort your business out."
Bridge said with Labour down in the polls, now is not the time for them to point fingers.
"The problem that it illustrates is one, can't hold a graph the right way, and two, that every time she's pointing, she is pointing back to the National Party. I mean just own it… Just take some responsibility."
The Government has been under fire for its record on crime as ramraids saw a 500 percent increase this year. The attacks on the Labour Government heightened after dairy worker Janak Patel was killed during an alleged aggravated robbery.
Allan said all victims of crime deserve sympathy and support and the Government has doubled the level of funding for the victim assistance scheme since National left office. She also said the Government put aside $45 million in its 2022 Budget for victims of crime.
"On retail crime, in particular, shop owners and workers feeling targetted is completely unacceptable," Allan said.
She said the Government has rolled out 1000 fog cannons since 2018, introduced a new fog cannon subsidy scheme and invested $6 million into a retail crime prevention fund to help retailers.
"That side of the House is focused on getting tough on crime slogans, boot camps that cost expensive amounts of money and have an 85 percent failure rate. We are focused on the evidence," she said.
But Bridge said the Minister’s response to questions on crime would be offensive to some.
"There is a spike in crime," he said. "Talk to any normal person on the street and they will tell you they are more scared now than they have probably been in their grown lives about crime in New Zealand and that's not just because it's in our heads.
"Don't tell us it's in our heads and point to a graph, it's offensive."
AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green jumped in saying even if the statistics show crime is down, if the people on the frontline feel crime is getting worse there is still a problem.
Dairy owners across the country have said the constant fear of crime has driven them out of the industry, while those left are "fearing for their life".
On Thursday, the Government announced further steps to tackle growing youth crime.
Children aged between 10 and 13 who repeatedly engaged in serious offending would have a fast-track intervention introduced within 24 to 48 hours of crimes being committed.
The announcement was an extension of the Government's $53 million "Better Pathways" package announced in September.
