- In 2024/25, at the Royal Commission on State Abuse, Luxon and Stanford were informed that gangs in Aotearoa New Zealand started from Abuse in Care victims, who had suffered violent sexual and physical abuse. This is not to excuse any criminal acts, but to understand the context and placement of trauma and abuse in society.
- It’s not enough to keep demonising and attacking gangs by itself. It’s important to find those pockets of people who want to leave gang life, and/or find a place that will facilitate rehabilitation.
- It was National that first thought of the idea of allocating funds for gang rehabilitation – but when Ardern implemented it, Luxon and Seymour used it to attack her as “giving money to gangs” – that was never the point, it was to facilitate the recovery from.
- If we’ve learned anything from the USA, it’s that punishment and violence is not the answer to punishment and violence. Circuit breakers must be multi-faceted, contextual and above all nuanced if we are to succeed.
- As John Key’s Chief Science Advisor said, crime is a multi-generational, complex issue that requires us to apply understanding and alleviate poverty, and that incarceration of one is the surest contibutor to their children becoming criminals later in life.
By the way, talking about gangs:
- Luxon and Mitchell artificially reduced gang numbers on the Register, while screeching “It’s not about the friggin’ targets” when asked about it
- Gang members now surpass police numbers, even with the culling, while gangs make doubled profits in a a rapidly escalating meth and cocaine crisis (200-300% up)
Last night, I watched a TVNZ news piece about the dire state of our hospitals. The reporter ended it with essentially: “This is a problem of decades and all political parties are at fault”
I couldn’t believe, but also could, she completely ignored the 12 month plus of doctor/nurse hiring freeze by this government, the funnelling of hundreds of millions to private healthcare while letting our public health get dismantled.
That’s “media” – and media driven by profs and advertising as its primary North Star. That all said, we all have our own agency, each of us, so if the National government gets in, I’ll be disappointed but not … disappointed in that Kiwis made our choice, for better or worse, this is it.
Really, the last 3 years have seen the coalition government; National/ACT/NZfirst, gang-banging the New Zealand public and saying, "It's for your own good!".
The gang thang isn't going to sway many voters.
Those that this influences were highly unlikely to vote for the good guys and you can only not vote for them once.
Agreed this is click bait however I would like to see a certain mob loose its charitable status.
Destiny church and their disrespect for our laws.
If you're including Labour in the "good guys" then that analysis is wrong. (If they're not the good guys then fair enough, but the other good guys still need Labour).
Swing voters who dislike the coalition for many valid reasons will need somewhere to go. If it's not Opportunity then Labour need them and those swing voters are making it pretty clear what they think of the photo-op screw-up.
The underlying story of crime and its causes is absolutely valid, and the subject of vast libraries of research, but let's get real. 3 weeks to election day is not when the average voter has much time for considering the "multi-faceted, contextual and above all nuanced".
Hipkins has had a change of heart.
Election 2026: Chris Hipkins says Labour was wrong to fund Mongrel Mob rehab programme – NZ Herald
What dishonest nonsense.
Two elections ago it was Sonny Fatupaito and Louise Hutchison of the Waikato Mongrl Mob Kingdom who were swearing that they were never involved in drugs and thay they really were just a bunch of misunderstood Maori in uniform. Well he's in jail and she's proven as another fucking tool.
In the 1970s there was about 1800 of them tops and confined themselves to a bit of dope and some small-town standover.
This is 2026. Our 9-10,000 gang member NZ citizens cause about 18% of all the serious crime in New Zealand. And their proportions for sex violence sentences, drug crime, and violent crime are of course way higher than that.
What the fuck the Maori Party and the Greens were doing having tea with a criminal cartel is up to them.
Presumably the moist left would make more of a fuss if they had a cup of tea and a selfie with the two supermarket chiefs.Where they can talk about the crime of tinned asparagus.
The best responses to gang impact in NZ have been Police operations Cobalt and Nickel, and the big Operation Avon which took out most of the Comancheros in the South Island and took out their assets as well. National's Proceeds of Crime Act from 2009 is internationally recognised as effective, and the income from it goes to drug rehabilitation to Helath and NGOs and others. Why not build on that Act and the 2024 gang acts?
Hipkins retaining the patch ban is the least he could have done.
While the left will never win the votes of Police families, they should be prepared to name gangs as the sources of evil that they really are.
Hipkins barely has a crime policy and he sure as fuck needs one now to generate more distance from this little mess.
Wake up Ad and smell the roses. Despite all the badness there still are some that smell well. Gangs are a feature of what could be classed as NZ problem, also you and I, and we have to contend with each other.
You are smart and know a lot of words and have stern attitudes and dismissive ones. If you have a better hole (gang headquarters) go to it, and sort out the problems, understand the so and sos, and that will make two fewer problems of the three.
Then there is just me left as one of life's problems, and I am trying to do something good and useful too. Just sneering at efforts to improve a seeming impasse doesn't achieve mimi.
You're not wrong.