Cam Slater: Who Do You Trust More to Deal to Gangs?

After the lawlessness and pathetic policing in Opotiki last week, two political parties have made an attempt at convincing voters that they are tough on crime and will deal with gangs.

One party announced something on Thursday, and the other announced something on Saturday. Let’s look at the two announcements, only one of which the mainstream media covered.

The first announcement is this, from Winston Peters:

The Prime Minister needs to officially designate the Mongrel Mob and all other known gangs in New Zealand as official ‘terrorist entities’ under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2022.

If the Prime Minister, as Police Minister last June, with support from the Police Commissioner, can designate the ‘American Proud Boys’ terrorist entities, they can do the same for the Mongrel Mob and every other gang in New Zealand today.

Police will then have the resources and powers to properly enforce the law and prosecute any gang member, person involved with any gangs, anyone funding, supporting, or organising gangs will automatically be facing up to seven years imprisonment. They should be wiped off our streets.

The continued increase in gang violence, shootings, intimidation, peddling of meth, and utter lawlessness must end.

The Prime Minister has the power under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2022 to designate individuals or groups as terrorist entities.

Gangs are a blight on our society and do nothing but seek to profit and power off the misery and intimidation of law abiding kiwis. They continue to terrorise kiwis and we have had a gutsful of the deterioration of law and order they bring with them.

In June last year the Prime Minister, backed by the Police Commissioner, designated the ‘American Proud Boys’ as a terrorist entity. We are facing domestic terrorists of our own right now in New Zealand with the Mongrel Mob taking over Opotiki this week.

They descended on Opotiki in their thousands and blocked roads, barking like animals, carrying firearms, and made the town shut down its essential public services. This is madness. This is intimidation. This is terrorism.

This terrorism is not isolated to just Opotiki. We have seen deterioration of law and order across the rest of the country over the past few years with increased gang violence, intimidation, and influence.

The Mongrel Mob and other gangs seem all too ready and willing to take away the rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens – this needs to stop right here, right now.

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And the second announcement is this:

National will make membership of a gang an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing, so gang members convicted of an offence face tougher consequences for their crimes, National Party Leader Christopher Luxon says.

“Gangs have been an unwelcome part of New Zealand’s criminal landscape for decades, but in recent years, their numbers and the level of violence they perpetrate have seen a significant and alarming rise,” says Luxon, the MP for Botany.

“Just this week we have seen gang members effectively take control of the town Opotiki, forcing schools to close and bus services to be cancelled. This is unacceptable.

Since Labour took office in 2017, New Zealand has witnessed a staggering 66 per cent increase in gang membership, amounting to more than 3500 new members, Luxon says.

“New Zealand now has 8900 gang members, compared to 10,700 frontline police officers. Alarmingly, gangs are now recruiting around twice as fast as the police, and in five police districts there are now more gang members than police officers.

“These gangs pose a grave threat to New Zealand society. They thrive by preying on the most vulnerable individuals, peddling addiction, intimidation, and widespread misery wherever they set up shop.

“That is why a National government I lead will make gang membership an aggravating factor in sentencing so that gang members will face tougher consequences for their crimes.

“Aggravating factors acknowledge that, in some cases, the circumstances surrounding a crime may inflict greater harm upon their victims and so warrant stronger sentences.

“National believes the visible presence of gangs in communities can lead to prolonged fear and intimidation for victims who have suffered at the hands of gang-related offences.

“By making gang membership an aggravating factor, judges will be required to consider this when determining a sentence. In practice, it means offenders who are known members of criminal gangs will likely face tougher sentences for crime.

“National’s message is clear: If you choose to align yourself with a criminal gang and engage in criminal activities, you will face more severe consequences.”

Times Online

The mainstream media haven’t covered the first announcement, but they have covered the second.

But now that you know that two political parties have made anti-gang statements, who do you trust to actually do something material against gangs?

The first solution can be implemented in a matter of minutes; the second solution will take months if not years to meander through the parliament.

The first solution is emphatic and direct; the second solution hands discretion to judges, by only making gang affiliation an aggravating factor that a judge has to “consider” when gangsters finally get before a court for their crimes. And we all know what judges do with such laws: they ignore them.

National had a chance to look tough, but decided to go weak and wet.

All we need now is David Seymour to say ‘We will bring three strikes back, and gang membership will automatically increase your strike count by three.’


Until he does, we only have two announcements to consider. One is tough, and one only appears tough. Which are you going to choose? Who are you going to trust to deal to gangs?

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. This article was first published HERE