Richard Prebble
Columnist, former cabinet minister and ACT Party leader.
Commentators cannot understand the Greens and Te Pāti Māori’s courting of gang support.
The association between organised crime and political parties is hardly new. Politicians and organised crime have done deals from New York to Sicily, from Chicago to Mexico.
Politicians have done deals with gangs because they saw an advantage.
New Zealand has over 10,000 patched gang members and prospects.
In 2022, Police recorded 36,461 people with some form of gang association.
Then there are their families.
The 2023/24 New Zealand Health Survey estimated that 56,000 New Zealanders had used amphetamines, including P, in the previous year.
Research suggests about a third buy directly from gangs.
Since these numbers, wastewater testing reveals that P consumption has more than doubled.
Then there is the money.
Wastewater testing suggests annual retail sales of P exceeding $600 million.
Politics is money, people and votes. Gangs have access to all three.
Commentators who cannot understand why the Greens have not distanced themselves from gangs do not understand MMP.
The Waiariki electorate has one of the highest rates of P use. Te Pāti Māori is seeking the electorate vote and the Greens the party vote.
A recent Whakaata Māori–Curia poll showed Rawiri Waititi leading the electorate contest. The Greens polled 21 per cent of the party vote, up from just six per cent at the last election.
The politicians’ calculation is not simply how many voters are repelled by an association with gangs, but how many votes might be gained.
Under MMP, a party can outrage most of the country but win an electorate or secure five per cent of the party vote.
The gangs can make Te Pāti Māori and the Greens the kingmakers.
Do the maths.
This article was originally published by I’ve Been Thinking.
