The Government's harshest sentencing rules begin today. Rules like capping the maximum discount that a judge can apply at 40 percent, with some exceptions.

There will be no repeat discounts for youth offenders, those aged 18 to 25. No discounts for remorse, if you're sorry again and again and again, you only get to be sorry once, because Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said repeat discounts had allowed for lenient sentences.

A new aggravating factor has been introduced for offences against sole charge workers and those whose homes and businesses are interconnected. So basically your corner dairy and that's part of the National-ACT coalition agreement.

A sliding scale for early guilty pleas has been implemented. There's a maximum discount of 25 percent, reduced to a maximum of 5 percent if the guilty plea is entered once the trial has started.

I think there should be a discount for early guilty pleas saving us all the cost of a trial, all for that - but once the trial started and you're playing silly buggars and then decide yeah, I did do it, minimal discount.

The use of cumulative sentencing for offences committed while on bail and custody or on parole will be encouraged to denounce behaviour that indicates a disregard for the criminal justice system, and this was part of the National- NZ First Coalition agreement.

Why have these tougher changes been made? Because that's what New Zealanders in the main wanted. We were fed up with seeing instances like this - a teen mongrel mob member who broke into the home of a pregnant woman, didn't know her, tried to friend her on Facebook, she wasn't having a bar of it - so he broke into her house and indecently assaulted her in the bed she was sharing with her child. This teen (was actually 19), but teen offender was sentenced to 12 months home detention for breaking into her house and for indecently assaulting her in her bed.

Judge Gordon Matena said he had to hold Stevie Taunoa accountable but also had to take into account his youth at the time of the offending. He noted that Taunoa had spent seven months in custody, had been on electronic monitoring bail since the charges were laid.

He acknowledged that Taunoa had used drugs from a young age and that his offending had been motivated by drug addiction. He also noted his lack of cultural identity and his membership in the Mongrel Mob before sentencing him to 12 months of home detention. Taunoa said “thank you, judge. I appreciate that”, then laughed like a drain as he entered the police cells and yelled out to all and sundry “cracked it”. All that remorse, eh?

In the meantime, the poor woman said she didn't want to live on her own anymore. She was terrified of the dark, she was terrified to sleep and because of his youth, because he was a druggie, because he lacked cultural identity, because he was a member of the Mongrel Mob, all of that meant that he got his sentence discounted. I was fed up with seeing things stories like this.

This is only one example. There are hundreds and hundreds. And how can you be sorry 3, 4, 5 times? I'm really sorry. I violently assaulted this person. I'm really sorry I sexually offended. Not once, not twice, not three, four times I'm really sorry. No, no, no, enough.

Again, if the Justice Department could show me that all of these discounts applied to violent offenders to sexual offenders to young offenders, if these discounts meant that they realised they'd had a lucky escape from prison, that this was an opportunity to look at another direction in their lives and take it, if you could show me that it worked I'd be interested in talking. Doubt that you can.

The Government's also looking at longer prison sentences for people who assault prison officers or on duty first responders such as paramedics and firefighters. This is so overdue. The proposals will create a new, specific offence for assaults on first responders.

For those who have family who work on the front line, I know a number of you were terrified about your loved ones going to work. You really hope that you got to see them again, fit and healthy when they came back through the door.

Does this give you a greater degree of security? Probably not, because the offence has to happen before they're punished. But at least, I hope, it gives you the confidence to know that the first responders are valued, that you're recognised. That we know what you do is walk into danger while other people are running away from it.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Hawke’s Bay-based motorsport legend says a plan by the Ministry of Transport to remove the full-licence practical test is nothing short of “ludicrous”.

In April, Minister for Transport Chris Bishop announced a range of suggested changes to the licensing system, including removing the full-licence practical test and introducing safety mitigations for people on their learner or restricted licence.

The Government is proposing the changes to make the process “more accessible, efficient and affordable”.

Greg Murphy, V8 Supercar icon and Bathurst-winning driver, told Kerre Woodham that nearly 10 thousand people have died on the road in the last 25 years, 2500 of them between the ages of 15-24.

He says this discussion with the govrnment has provided an opportunity to reassess and reevaluate the licensing system, and we can’t afford to stuff it up.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two stories today, one from Hawke’s Bay, one from Nelson, and they have a horrible, horrible intersection.

Motorsport legend Greg Murphy has slammed plans by the Ministry of Transport to remove the full license practical test. Back in April, the Minister for Transport Chris Bishop announced a range of suggested changes to the licencing system, including removing the full licenced practical tests. There are loads of people driving around on their restricted and he wants them to get their full licence.

A group of Hawke’s Bay teens spoke out, saying they thought removing the full licenced practical test was a really good idea because it would remove stress and anxiety. They argue that the restricted license practical test is already so difficult, so complex, that it leaves the full test unnecessary. One of the young women spoken to, said “I was so worried about having to do separate things right that I wasn't able to do it because I was forgetting other things, it just wasn't natural”. This is the young woman that had to sit her restricted four times before she passed.

And she's not alone, there are plenty of young people who've had to do it time and time again because they don't get it right the first time. It is complex, it is difficult. After Greg Murphy read those comments in the local paper, he said driving is possibly the most dangerous thing that people do every single day. He said if you think the test is too hard, you're in la-la-land. The tests are basic and simple – if you do the right amount of preparation, just like you do in a school exam or any kind of test in your apprenticeship or at university, you will be absolutely fine.

Greg Murphy, who's a V8 Supercar icon and Bathurst winning driver, says New Zealand has so many drivers who aren't prepared for the roads and who don't have understanding or awareness of their driving environment or the distractions that afflict them. He said we've got this culture and this belief that an accident won't happen to me. I won't be the one who's dead. I'm not going to be the one that's seriously injured. I'm not going to be the one where my life is turned upside down at the age of 18.

And in a cruel, cruel piece of synchronicity, there's a terrible story that absolutely underscores his argument. This time last week, a Nelson family was dealing with the news that one of their sons was in hospital fighting for his life, paralysed from the waist down; his good mate and brother-in-law, who was in the car with him as badly injured with a fractured neck, broken ribs, two broken shoulders, facing a long recovery and a baby due in a matter of weeks. Another man, the man that the car smashed into, the sole driver of the other car was left seriously injured. And the 18-year-old driver is at home having to live with the fact that he was driving the vehicle that crossed the centre line that caused so much damage to so many people. As his mum put it, Izayah’s got a lifetime of knowing he was driving in an accident that crippled his brother.

The 18-year-old was the sober driver, picking up his brother and brother-in-law in the work ute, taking them into town to get KFC. He hadn't been drinking, he was he was doing the right thing, picking up his brother and brother-in-law who’d had a few drinks. So the 18-year-old gets into his work ute, picks up his brother and his brother-in-law, they're driving into town, and then all of a sudden a moments inattention or inexperience, and he's ploughed into another car, seriously injuring that driver, his brothers paralysed and his brother-in-law has got a broken neck, broken shoulders, and won't be able to pick up his baby when it's born in a matter of weeks.

I agree with Greg Murphy. For most of us who aren't involved in forestry or farming or a dangerous industry, driving is the single most dangerous thing we'll do every single day. If those kids think that sitting a test is stressful, you try living with the knowledge that you've destroyed another person's life.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.