The country was shocked and saddened by the Auckland CBD shootings on Thursday. This week on Inside Parliament, the 1News parliamentary press gallery team discuss the delicate balance politicians will need to strike in asking and answering important questions about the tragedy while being mindful of sensitivity and timing.
Read on and listen below.
On Monday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced a "crackdown" on youth crime.
It included making posting criminal activity online or commissioning or rewarding kids to commit crimes an aggravating factor in sentencing.
Hipkins initially announced the latter would be a new offence, but that was corrected by his office two hours later to say it would only be an aggravating factor in sentencing.
The Family Court would also be given the ability to require children and young people to undertake community service - something the court can currently only request.
On Tuesday, the Government announced it would push through new laws to toughen rules in youth justice residences while also promising to build two new "high needs" units.
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis defended the announcement, but ACT leader David Seymour said it was "half-baked" and National's justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith said the series of law and order announcements just demonstrated a pre-election "scrambling".
On Wednesday, the Government announced it would create a new ram-raiding criminal offence with a maximum 10-year jail term, and enable 12 and 13-year-olds who have committed ram-raids to be charged in Youth Court.
The law and order announcement flurry was cast in the shadow of Monday's 1News Verian poll release, which showed National and ACT would have the numbers to govern - but only by a whisker. Undertaken from July 8 to 12 and asking 1000 eligible voters, it showed National and ACT would likely secure 62 seats - just one more than the magic number 61. A Labour / Green / Te Pāti Māori coalition would achieve a total of 59 seats.
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