Tauranga byelection: Christopher Luxon and Sam Uffindell on gangs, bus violence, Covid and the Queen

Sam Uffindell and Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mead Norton

Tauranga byelection candidate Sam Uffindell says former gang members support his bid to ban gang convoys on the city's roads.

Uffindell made the comments alongside National Party leader Christopher Luxon during a walk through downtown Mount Maunganui on Friday.

At the Mount Ocean Sports Club, Uffindell told reporters his idea for a member's bill to ban gang convoys from Tauranga roads was supported by former gang members.

The bill idea was labelled "utterly ineffectual" by gang expert Jarrod Gilbert.

Uffindell said a couple of former gang members had told the party the bill would help remove gangs from the streets and stop convoys being used as a recruitment tool.

Tauranga byelection candidate Sam Uffindell and National leader Christopher Luxon during a walk through Mount Maunganui. Photo / Mead Norton

Luxon said National also wanted a dedicated gang task force, firearm prohibition orders to be able to go after illegal guns in New Zealand and a review of the police pursuit policy.

Uffindell said he and National MP Mark Mitchell spoke to Tauranga bus drivers at a public meeting on Monday about the recent spate of violence and aggressive behaviour at the city's bus stops.

In the latest incident, a bus driver was punched after asking a youth boarding the bus to put a face mask on, leaving the driver concussed and traumatised, according to a union representative.

Uffindell said the bus drivers they spoke to were terrified. Some of their colleagues had been beaten up and they spent every day working in fear.

"People shouldn't have to go about their lives living like that."

Sam Uffindell and Christopher Luxon in Mount Maunganui, speaking to Josie Land and son Rome, 9, with their dog Boogie. Photo / Mead Norton

On four new cases of the Omicron subvariant BA.5 and one case of BA.4 being detected in the community, Luxon said the challenge was to have a risk-adjusted approach.

"As each variant comes up we need to understand what it means and put the right mitigations in place."

The National Party leader said he planned to watch some of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee on television.

"The Queen has been an outstanding public servant for New Zealand and Commonwealth and an inspiration to many people around the world."

Luxon said he was comfortable with New Zealand's current constitutional arrangements as part of the Commonwealth.

"The reality is there is no appetite for change."