Shane Jones: Gangs don’t respect the law, time for the Government to unleash the police response

OPINION

Apparently, our upcoming election will be about the cost of living. Interest rate rises and cruddy roads and floods.

Voters however don’t need to wait until writ day for that. No, the red October won’t be down to the price of cabbage. For legions of Kiwis, it will be law and order breakdown, Tiriti victimology and woke mania.

Coincidentally the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal turns 48 years old during the upcoming election period. It needs serious surgery before the big 50. Who would have known its lifespan would rival the five decades from the Allied invasion of Germany to the first Gulf War?

It continually depicts the treaty as a magic carpet, capable of whisking hapu and iwi back to some type of cultural garden of Eden. Meanwhile, negative Māori statistics rise by the week - ram raids, truancy and gang violence. The tribunal now focuses on kaupapa, policy claims, such as self-government, housing and taxation. These are political matters for parliamentarians, not judicial officers.

An electoral stocktake is overdue but it will not take place with the present Government. Too many Māori MPs has created a parallel universe of tangata whenua tokenism and anti-growth, woke-ish programmes.

They should be leading a new covenant for their community. One denouncing gangs and stressing duty rather than rehashing indigenous rights and devaluing the ethic of service.

Police control traffic during the funeral procession for murdered Mongrel Mob leader Steven Taiatini. Photo / Andrew Warner

Sadly the legacy of the Te Pāti Māori, Greens and Labour is co-governance and the diffusion of te reo names such Te Whatu Ora, the health agency. The name of a thing does not matter as much as the quality of a thing. Tossing about Māori nomenclature does not lead to superior health outcomes.

This identity crusade has happened at pace. For many Kiwis, it is regarded as the close-lipped revolution - a ride they never bought a ticket for. Much of this momentum is driven by the bureaucracy and rooting it out will be harsh.

The current administration is unwilling to bring the hammer down on crime. They dither over the hardcore ram-raiders rather than lock them up. They prefer tikanga tonics that only make sense in the capital beltway.

The next political regime will need to swing the axe. The police will need a significant re-boot, as the new generation of gang offenders does not fear the law.

Deterrence is both an invisible boundary and a linkage, it supports the soft infrastructure underlying a community. To this end, sentencing guidelines need to be tilted further in favour of community safety rather than defendant mitigation.

Māori are 42 per cent of all criminal apprehensions, nigh on half of the male inmate population are the nephs. They are the ones who need reprogramming - numeracy and literacy, not just tribal proverbs.

Prison life does not guarantee rehabilitation, it does however spare the community from further intimidation and violence.

The brazen display of Mongrel Mob colours and coercion in Ōpōtiki shows how far our standards have sunk. It is offensive that these yelping pups think they have a right to destroy our national qualities of industry; blood, sweat and tears. Their code is death and destruction and it was odious to see misguided locals trying to rationalise their standover tactics due to a tangi.

Shane Jones. Photo / Tania Whyte, File

Our police have to be bolstered and let off the leash to deal with the gangs. Although it is said that politicians cannot direct officers, the public expects robust action - not passive photographic responses. The barbarians now know how easy it is to take over any highway or town.

The Terrorism Suppression Act has to be amended. Society needs the option of declaring patched criminal gangs as domestic terrorists. Join a gang; forfeit your key rights.

Last year, our Police Commissioner authorised the gazetting of an obscure American group, the Proud Boys, as a terrorist organisation.

So, why won’t Labour do the same to the Mongrel Mob and Headhunters? They are crypto-fascist groups willing to intimidate a population.

- Shane Jones is a former Labour MP and NZ First MP and was the first Minister for Regional Economic Development.