The Herald reports the government’s ostentatious reach for its new law pen to quell concern about body snatching, instead of enforcing existing law against body snatching.

It will not make a blind bit of difference, when the Police will not enforce existing law. One of the previous cases involved them standing aside despite an express court order.

And who can be surprised if some Maori feel that  laws will not apply to them, when we’ve had two decades of “sensitive handling” of illegal, ‘vandalous’ and contemptuous land and building occupations.

Though it did not excuse her in the slightest, there are officials and politicians who should have been in the dock alongside Donna Awatere-Huata, for a decade of not auditing, not enforcing laws that apply to others (like tax law) and thus reassuring her that normal rules governing trust and government money did not apply to her.

As to body snatching – I agree with Dover Samuels. It is flattering to be fought over. But it would be more flattering if the cost of being wrong was exposure to Police not scared (of lack of support from above?) to enforce the law.