A stabbing death at a suburban bus station has shone a light onto law and order issues in New Zealand's election campaign.
A 16-year-old was charged with murder late on Monday after an attack in the north Auckland suburb of Albany earlier in the afternoon which took place in front of commuters.
The victim was taken to hospital but died from their injuries.
The death continues an uptick of violent crime in New Zealand, with public safety surging up the list of issues that matter to Kiwis ahead of the October 14 election.
Issues monitoring agency Ipsos puts crime second only to cost of living.
Opposition National has campaigned relentlessly on the issue over the past two years of Chris Luxon's leadership.
"Today we acknowledge the pain and suffering of that family and the grief that they're going through," he said.
"It's symptomatic of an environment where we have a government which is very soft on crime."
Mr Luxon said government settings had "encouraged increasing numbers of violent crime, retail crime and gang membership".
"We see incredibly gratuitous and more violent crime across New Zealand ... it is something that is unacceptable," he said.
National is promising an unapologetically tough regime on offenders, including military-style bootcamps and ankle bracelets for repeat offenders as young as 10.
Mr Luxon and police spokesman Mark Mitchell have railed against the government's target to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent, saying it has produced softer sentences at odds with community sentiment.
In the face of rising outrage, Labour leader Chris Hipkins is holding the line, saying the government is "getting tough on the causes of crime" with wraparound services to young offenders.
"Putting these kids back on a pathway to a more constructive future is the way we're going to tackle this offending," the prime minister said.
"The work were doing to turn the lives of these kids around is so important and we cannot afford to turn back."
Mr Hipkins, a former police minister, points to higher police numbers and 50,000 gang-related charges under an operation started under his tenure.
He claims success in a more methodological approach, but more time is needed.
"Intensive support and supervision to repeat ram-raiders has resulted in 70-80 per cent of those going on and not re-offending," he said.
"By contrast, kids who went to the National party's pilot bootcamps when they were last in government, 80 per cent of them reoffended within six months of them being released.
"I know which one I would choose.
"We're dealing with the underlying causes of the offending ... we're not trying to put a band-aid over the top of them or do things that are actually going to make it worse in the long run which is what the National party is doing."
Both Mr Luxon and Mr Hipkins paid tribute to the victim's family from the Albany death.
