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The Government is considering adopting Australian anti-gang legislation in a bid to stamp out organised crime, gangs and drug labs.
Police minister Annette King and corrections minister Phil Goff this morning met South Australian Premier Mike Rann to discuss his state's adoption of the controversial legislation in July.
At a media conference in south Auckland, the ministers announced that they were looking carefully at the law's effects, to see if similar legislation should be introduced here.
South Australia's Serious and Organised Crime Control Act gives the Attorney General the power to declare a gang a criminal organisation.
Control orders can then be used prevent anyone linked to a criminal organisation associating with specific people or being in certain places.
Mr Rann said many gangs in Australia had become increasingly sophisticated, using top lawyers and moving drug labs to different locations more often.
He said that meant there was a need to increase the level of sophistication in fighting gang crime.
"We're not dealing with meatheads on motorbikes, we're dealing with sophisticated people.
The legislation has proved controversial in Australia, coming under fire from many quarters, a fact Mr Rann made no apologies for.
"Is it draconian? Yes. Do I think it's necessary? Yes."
Criminal gangs had to be considered as "terrorists within", he said.
Mr Rann said he visited the FBI in Washington DC several years ago for a briefing on how to deal with criminal gangs, which was pivotal in the development of the state's legislation.
The biggest lesson from the visit was the realisation that to deal with gangs you had to "follow the money tree", he said.
"If you're going to hit a gang, hit them where it hurts - that means the proceeds they are getting from selling drugs," he said.
Mrs King and Mr Goff acknowledged the similarities between Australia and New Zealand in terms of the people and culture, as well as the issue of gangs and drug-related crimes, which therefore gave good reason to address these issues in similar ways.
Mr Goff said: "Don't think that the kids getting involved are all from low income families. It's affecting kids all across the board."
Mr Goff said if similar legislation were passed in New Zealand it would compliment two pieces of legislation already before Parliament, both designed to disrupt criminal activity by gangs.
Mr Goff described the legislation as a "three strikes" approach by the government.
Gang members and those who did not get their hands dirty were targets of the laws, which would strengthen powers to confiscate the proceeds of crime and boost the penalties and sentences for being involved in organised crime and organised criminal gangs, he said.
Under the Australian law:
* The attorney-general has the power to declare a gang a "criminal organisation"
* Police can then apply to the courts for a "control order" on identified members
* A control order bans those members from associating with specified people, being in certain places and possessing particular items
* Police can also issue "public safety orders" restricting gang members from entering certain events or places
* People are banned from associating with someone subject to a control order more than six times a year with a potential five year prison penalty for a breach
* It is an offence for people with specified criminal convictions to associate with other people with the same convictions more than six times a year
* There are exceptions for the above two points for close family, or people living, training, or in rehabilitation with the gang member.
- With NZPA
