Greens blame economic policies for Auckland's gang problem

South Auckland's youth gang problem has its roots in the economic policies of previous governments and needs urgent attention, the Green Party says.

Police and civic leaders are worried about escalating youth gang violence in south Auckland, and Counties-Manukau now has an "always arrest" policy for violence and weapons offences.

The party's social services spokeswoman Sue Bradford said today: "These are the children of Rogernomics and Ruthanasia.

"Their parents' generation was deliberately dispossessed of job security, secure affordable housing and any sense that the social and political system gave a damn about them."

Ms Bradford said it was wrong to "demonise" the young people involved.

"We should instead be looking at the underlying causes of young people getting into heavy crime...the Green Party believes that the root causes of poverty and alienation must be addressed by urgent government action."

She said there should be an immediate rise in the minimum wage to $12 an hour, benefits that were enough to live on, more state housing, more focused assistance to schools and a tangible commitment to ending child poverty.

Ms Bradford urged the Government to "wake up and join the dots" between its high-end economic policy and the on-the-ground impact of those policies.

- NZPA