bashed a man<\/a> and assaulted the victim\u2019s two children \u2013 aged 13 and 9 \u2013 as they tried to intervene to stop the assault.<\/p>\nHe was convicted and given home detention for that ordeal.<\/p>\n
Hawkins said he had turned his life around after his last conviction, and he wanted to give back in a sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve definitely taken a bit from the community, in terms of the issues that I have caused … and I\u2019ve had a change and just want to serve the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He now runs a small internet services company based in Te Hauke.<\/p>\n
He said that during his rehabilitation he had been surrounded by good people, including a Christian community he was now involved in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has really changed my life in a big way. It\u2019s made me have a different outlook on life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve come a long way from where I\u2019ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawkins said he had relatives that associated with gangs, but had not been a gang member himself.<\/p>\n
He said that in his view, his life experiences made him a good candidate for Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy areas of focus \u2013 justice, Corrections, and business \u2013 are all areas that I have been involved in.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t send a mechanic to do a dentist\u2019s job, you wouldn\u2019t send a chef to go do a plumber\u2019s job, so who would you send to fix the Corrections system?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would send someone who is experienced, who is qualified in that area, even if it\u2019s my lived experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he wanted to improve support for people reintegrating into society, following time in custody, with more \u201cwrap-around services\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also wants to improve job pathways to help businesses.<\/p>\n
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokeswoman Louise Parsons said she questioned whether Hawkins should be standing.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, New Zealand law does not prevent a violent repeat offender from standing as a candidate, unless they are currently in prison serving a sentence for longer than three years, something the Sensible Sentencing Trust would have thought appropriate for his past offending,\u201d she said, of Hawkins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s little prospect of Hawkins getting many votes from the good people of Tukituki.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we do hope he is true to his word and doesn\u2019t reoffend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sociologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert, who runs Independent Research Solutions, said Hawkins\u2019 past shouldn\u2019t disqualify him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to rehabilitate into society and, I guess, this is an example of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people are open and honest about their past, then the voters can make an informed choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a range of views was also good for democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a general point, when people commit crimes, part of the justice system is to rehabilitate them, so they re-enter society and don\u2019t reoffend, because that creates fewer victims.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if people change their lives for the better, we should be embracing that as a concept because it is good for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The official date for candidates to be nominated or to register for the upcoming election is September 7 to October 8, after which the official list of candidates will be released.<\/p>\n
Hawkins has a mountain to climb to challenge the likes of Tukituki incumbent Catherine Wedd (National) and high-profile NZ First candidate Taine Randell.<\/p>\n
Wedd won the seat in 2023 from Labour\u2019s Anna Lorck. A Labour candidate for the seat has yet to be announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawkins believes his experience, including his troubled past in the justice system, makes his voice useful for improving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,13619,25207,5903,17515,3597,2082,1976,692,5838,78,185,5158,111,43,139,69,28703,1523,24637,4517,8442,143429,8808,2687,312,1238,6211,121079,1237,20424,102,1530],"class_list":["post-405484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-convictions","tag-corrections","tag-election","tag-experience","tag-fix","tag-for","tag-hawkes","tag-he","tag-help","tag-in","tag-is","tag-man","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offending","tag-over","tag-parliament","tag-past","tag-prison","tag-rehabilitated","tag-running","tag-saying","tag-says","tag-serious","tag-system","tag-tukituki","tag-two","tag-violent","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}