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One of the oddities of modern New Zealand politics is how the word accountability has somehow become synonymous with being harsh, punitive or uncaring. We’ve reached a point where expecting people to meet basic standards – in school, at work, in community behaviour and in the justice system – is framed as morally suspect.
But the truth is quite the opposite: accountability is one of the most compassionate tools a society has. It protects the vulnerable, strengthens communities and gives people a clear pathway to improve their own lives. What is actually cruel is pretending that people can drift without consequences and somehow still thrive.
The real world always has consequences – and policy should acknowledge that. Every parent, teacher, employer, coach and business owner understands a simple reality: without consequences, nothing improves. Children don’t learn boundaries. Workers don’t grow. Teams don’t perform. Communities don’t stay safe.
Yet in public policy we’ve adopted the fantasy that removing consequences is an act of kindness. School attendance is treated as optional, repeat offending as unfortunate but unavoidable and welfare dependence as something to be managed rather than changed.
This doesn’t help people – it traps them in a cycle that government then spends a great deal of taxpayers’ money on trying to fix. Consequences aren’t the enemy of compassion. They’re the foundation of progress.
True compassion looks forward, not just sideways. A consequence-free system often appears empathetic in the moment because it avoids difficult conversations. We worry about hurting a student’s confidence, we excuse repeat shoplifters because they’ve had a ‘tough’ life and we shy away from enforcing attendance, performance or behaviour standards because it might feel unfair.
But this short-term emotional comfort creates real long-term harm. It locks people into the very circumstances we claim to care about. Real compassion asks what future we are building for someone and if the answer is “more of the same”, we haven’t helped them – we’ve protected the problem.
Accountability protects the vulnerable every single time. A society without consequences doesn’t become kinder – it becomes unsafe. Victims of crime lose their livelihoods while offenders are told they simply need support. Students who want to learn are held back by systems terrified of discipline.
Hardworking families pay rising taxes for public services that cannot demand results. Small businesses carry the burden of crime, red tape and compliance, with no one held truly accountable. Compassion for offenders cannot outweigh compassion for victims, and compassion for bureaucracy cannot outweigh compassion for taxpayers.
A society that refuses to enforce standards doesn’t lift people up – it pushes the most responsible citizens down.
New Zealand doesn’t need tougher politics – it needs clearer expectations. We can debate left versus right, welfare versus work and softness versus strength, but beneath all of it is a principle that used to be commonsense: a society works when actions have consequences, and it collapses when they don’t. If we want safer streets, stronger families, better schools and a more productive economy, it starts with restoring the idea that responsibility isn’t optional – it’s essential.
Actions must carry appropriate consequences and the choices Kiwis make must mean something.
