The closure of Ōpōtiki schools for up to a week because of gang tensions in the town is a graphic and shocking illustration of the extent of lawlessness in parts of New Zealand, National’s acting Police spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says.

“Today is a day of shame for the Labour Government.

“Labour’s inaction and hand-wringing has allowed criminal brazenness to take hold to the extent that a gang can now shut down a town.

“This morning, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins didn’t even have a comment to make beyond saying that this situation is “unacceptable”.

“This situation is a direct result of Labour having no plan to deal with gangs. Gang membership is up 66 per cent since this Government came to power six years ago.

“Instead of getting tougher on organised crime, Labour has given large sums to gang associates to run meth programmes. Labour’s only target in justice is to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent, irrespective of the level of crime In New Zealand’s communities. This has encouraged a culture of excuses for crime and emboldened gangs.

“The tragedy in Ōpōtiki underlines the need to crack down on those peddling misery, intimidating towns, and harming the Kiwi kids who will this week miss out on even more class time.

“National has already said it will give Police the power to issue dispersal notices to stop gang members from congregating in public where they often intimidate, threaten, and sometimes assault innocent people.”

Unlike Labour, National is backing frontline police officers to tackle gangs. A National government will:

• Ban gang patches, which have been the recent fuel for the worst gun violence seen in New Zealand.
• Give police non-association powers to prevent gang members from communicating and planning criminal activity.
• Allow police to issue dispersal notices where gang members come together in public to intimidate, threaten, and sometimes assault members of the public.
• Give police the warrantless search powers they need to take the guns out of the hands of violent armed gang members.