The "law and order"argument is all good and fine, but crime was/is falling anyway, and despite hysteria (media fueled), NZ (even Auckland) is a very safe place to live by international standards.
Having lived through a decade of hysteria about the "Red Threat" - much of which was based upon criticism of how those (totalitarian) regimes surveilled their citizens - compared with "western freedom" - it does surprise me how positively this is being received.