Paul Goldsmith wants move-on orders. Perhaps it is time he faced a move-on order of his own

OPINION: Paul Goldsmith wants New Zealanders to become familiar with move-on orders. Come election time, those orders may follow him all the way back to the Beehive.

The Justice Minister is behind legislation that give Police greater powers to order people out of public places, including in circumstances involving begging and rough sleeping.

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Goldsmith has publicly said the proposal is about reclaiming public spaces and giving Police another tool to deal with behaviour causing concern in communities.

The problem is moving somebody does not solve the reason they were there in the first place.

Tell a homeless person to leave a doorway and they are still homeless.

Move somebody sleeping rough from one street and they simply become somebody else’s problem on the next one.

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Image: National MP offices in Epsom, Auckland. (Google Maps)

The issue became even more confronting after a person died outside Goldsmith’s Auckland office.

Police have not said the death was suspicious and there is no established evidence the person was homeless. Those facts matter and should not be distorted.

The symbolism remains difficult to ignore and it is why New Zealanders must bring it up in conversation. It should not be ignored.

A person died outside the office of the minister who is promoting legislation designed to give Police greater authority to move vulnerable people from public spaces.

Where are people supposed to move to?

A Police order cannot create emergency housing.

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It cannot open a mental-health bed, provide addiction treatment, increase someone’s income or put a roof over their head.

It can clear a footpath.

That is about it.

There is public-interest argument around safety. Business owners should not face intimidation while workers and families should be able to use public areas without being threatened or harassed, and Police must have sufficient powers to act when behaviour becomes dangerous.

But begging and rough sleeping should not automatically be treated as though the person themselves is the problem.

They are often evidence of a much larger failure.

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When housing, health services and social support fail, the consequences become visible on our streets. Moving those consequences out of sight does not make the failure disappear.

Image: The death of a person outside Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s Auckland office is a confronting moment that should force the Government to reflect on what it says about the country unfolding beyond its doors. (Supplied)

Goldsmith has chosen the phrase “move-on order” for this legislation, and it is a phrase New Zealanders may remember.

Ministers carry responsibility for the judgment behind those laws and must answer for those decisions when the public eventually gets its say.

Come election time, New Zealanders will make their own judgment about who should remain inside the Beehive.

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