Kerre Woodham: How can Labour say they've been tough on gangs?

Labour's self aggrandising press release on police came through late in the show yesterday, so we didn't really get a chance to get our teeth into it.

The press release came from Chris Hipkins, well his office. A Labour Government will deliver a further increase of 300 additional frontline police officers, new ways to crack down on gangs, and strengthen legal protections against stalking and harassment, we will also continue to crack down on gangs.

Recently, we've seen communities disrupted and intimidated by dangerous gang convoys. “This is intolerable,” said the press release. Labour will introduce laws to punish this behaviour and develop new ways to target gang leaders and break their international links.

Seriously?

How can their speech writers deliver this stuff? How? Given the attitude that this administration has shown towards the gang since they first arrived, thanks to Winston Peters on the scene. How can Chris Hipkins, in all honesty, face New Zealanders and say, “Labour's been tough on gangs”?

This government's attitude towards gangs, towards working with gangs, towards giving gangs a seat at the table without them earning one, has resulted in the gang members and the gang leaders thinking they can have it both ways. That many of their members can grow fat off criminal activity and they get to be treated with respect, as respected members of the community.

Remember Paul? You might remember Paul from the show, hard working Paul, who rang me as he was heading off for a day's work on the farm in Opotiki. He rang because the topic was home detention and he said he himself had a bracelet, he was articulate, he was clearly hard working. Halfway through the conversation, he reveals he's a mobster for life and he had an extraordinary attitude about where gangs sit in the pantheon of New Zealanders.

So here you've got somebody who is who is articulate, hardworkin, mobster for life and truly believes that because prime ministers have roads closed for them, a long standing member of the mob in Opotiki should have the same respect accorded to him.

Where did that sense of entitlement come from? Do you and I expect roads to close, towns to shut down, and people to be inconvenienced because one of our family members died? It's happened all over the country. It’s not just Opotiki. The gangs do, They truly think that when one of their members, who they respect and they think is the man, when one of their members dies, everybody has to down tools. Everybody has to be inconvenienced. Everybody has to wait while they do what they need to do to show their respect.

Where has that attitude come from? It has come from Government contracts being awarded to gangs and gang sympathisers. From police, turning a blind eye to gang convoys. All the way through Covid we saw the gangsters hanging out of cars, gathering in far more numbers than rules allowed. I mean the rules were stupid, they were dumb, but the only way we were going to get through it is if we obeyed them.

To gangs, appointing PR personnel to argue their case on mainstream media. Good morning Louise Hutchinson. To orthodox members of the community turning up to Waikato Kingdom Mob hui, giving the event the sheen of respectability. While members of that same gang, senior members, the 2IC for God's sake, were still dealing drugs on an industrial level. Don Brash, Madama Davidson, respected academics all turning up saying, “oh yes, let's help give mob members a steer on alternative ways of being.”

I'm all for that, you know, giving people another chance. If people truly want to commit to being productive, hardworking members of the community and not make their living out of crime, afford them every possibility. But how can you stand there and say, oh, you know we're anti-drugs while your 2IC’s being sent away for 10 years for dealing meth and GHB.

Seriously, you've got management issue problems if your 2IC thinks it's okay to be dealing drugs on that level. Enough, enough, enough. If gangs want to keep what they're doing, raking in millions while peddling misery. Can we at least make it hard for them? I mean, at the moment we're closing roads to allow them to do what they do. Can we make it clear that most of us would rather work honestly than live the BS, chrome- flashy, “I've got my bitches at home working for me” kind of thing that these gangsters just seem to be so proud of. They do not deserve a seat at the table until they have earned it.

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