Summarised by Centrist
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says her party is open to funding Mongrel Mob-linked drug rehabilitation programmes, despite the gang's involvement in the drug trade and violent crime, the NZ Herald reports.
Asked directly whether taxpayer money could go to the Mongrel Mob or its affiliates, Davidson replied: “We are open to funding what works, absolutely.”
National's justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith called the proposal a “sick joke” and “a slap in the face for all the families in New Zealand struggling with meth addictions”.
The controversy follows photographs of Green and Te Pāti Māori politicians smiling alongside patched Mongrel Mob members. Davidson defended the visits, saying the Greens would continue engaging with gang communities.
It would not be the first time public money had gone to a gang-linked programme. In 2021, $2.75 million from the Proceeds of Crime Fund was allocated to a methamphetamine rehabilitation initiative developed by lifetime Mongrel Mob member Harry Tam, who appeared with politicians in photographs this week.
ACT deputy Nicole McKee drew a distinction between rehabilitation and funding gang-linked organisations.
“There's a world of difference between helping people beat addiction and handing taxpayer money to organisations run by gang figures,” she said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins also condemned the politicians' behaviour.
“Gangs peddle misery,” he said. “They sell drugs into our communities that cause enormous harm.”
Hipkins has ruled out giving the Greens the police or corrections portfolios in a future government, citing fundamental differences in their approach to gangs.
Editor's note: Why should taxpayers pay gangs to help fix the drug problems gangs themselves help create?
Who initiated these meetings? What was discussed privately? Have gang figures requested funding or policy commitments? Have politicians sought their electoral support? What assurances could ever prevent public funding from benefiting criminal operations?
Davidson offered no specific evidence in the Herald interview establishing that a Mongrel Mob-linked programme would meet that standard.
Hipkins may have ruled out giving the Greens control of police and corrections, but that does not exclude them from influencing those policies through coalition negotiations or Cabinet decisions. Exactly how much gang involvement would Hipkins tolerate in a coalition government?
Re-published from the Centrist with permission
