Top cop casts doubt on government's gang plan
The feasibility of enforcing the government's new gang laws amid police staffing shortages has been questioned by the Police Association president
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, February 26, written by Anna Rawhiti-Connell.
In today’s edition: Questions over short submission window for pseudoephedrine bill; Māori Health Authority could be scrapped before Waitangi Tribunal hearing; Ginny Andersen publically apologises to Mark Mitchell; but first, Police Association president says very few police districts outside the main centres would have enough staff to enforce new gang patch laws
A gold-plated photo opportunity
On Friday, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and police minister Mark Mitchell posed in front of machinery and watched on as six gold-plated Harley-Davidson motorbikes seized from the Comanchero motorcycle gang were crushed and turned into scrap metal. The bikes were seized in 2019, and legislation passed by the previous government last year enabled them to seek a court order to have them destroyed. The news release, photos and video about the destruction went out at 9am yesterday and was shortly followed by the government’s announcement about the introduction of legislation to ban gang insignia in public places and gatherings in groups.
New laws come with $5000 fine or six months in prison
The proposed legislation will be introduced to parliament in the next few days. Under the legislation, wearing a gang patch in public would come with a fine of up to $5000 or up to six months in prison. The ban extends to funerals and tangi. Mitchell said New Zealanders deserve to feel safe in their homes, communities and public places. “For too long gangs have been allowed to behave as if they are above the law. There is no tolerance for this behaviour and these new laws will support Police to take action against it,” he said.
‘Very few’ police districts outside main centres would have enough staff to enforce new laws - Police Association president
Mitchell cited a well-publicised and often-used example from last year, where schools and roads were closed in the Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki for the tangi for Mongrel Mob Barbians leader Steven Taiatini. Sunday reporter Kristin Hall went to Ōpōtiki for a story that aired last night and spoke to Senior Constable Pete King, who’s been off work since being diagnosed with major depression in 2021. King is deeply concerned about police staffing levels in the town. As Hall notes, it is rare for cops to break rank and speak candidly to media. “Our staff here are just overwhelmed with work, they just cannot do it all, it’s as simple as that. We have to prioritise our work to the point where a lot of crime is just getting left, it’s just tossed aside, pretty much… We just haven’t got the staff to deal with it… to the point we’re making our staff sick.” King is backed Police Association president Chris Cahill who told Hall that, “outside of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, there’d be ‘very few’ police districts that would have enough staff to enforce the new rules on a group of gang members in patches.”
Frontline police already stretched
The opposition has also raised doubts about enforcing the laws. Labour’s police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said frontline police were already stretched, and turning them into the “wardrobe police” would not help matters. Mitchell said frontline officers would have more time for “core policing” through a proposed plan to have police step back from responding to family harm and mental health callouts. Mitchell had to formally correct the record in parliament last month after saying the government would deliver 500 additional officers over three years. The National/ NZ First coalition agreement states the delivery timeframe to be two years. It was framed as a misspeak and a mistake by Mitchell, but Jarrod Gilbert says (paywalled) Mitchell was absolutely right in extending the timeframe. He notes that police have been on an extended recruitment drive for several years, and the “well of potential recruits is simply running dry”. “The fact that politics has trumped practicalities here has dangerous implications,” he wrote.
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Questions over short submission window for pseudoephedrine bill
David Seymour, associate health minister with responsibility for Pharmac, introduced legislation last week to reclassify pseudoephedrine from a restricted medicine. The bill, which Act campaigned on, will allow the public to purchase it from a pharmacy without a prescription. Submissions on the bill opened last week and close tonight. Casting his eye over the bill in response to concerns raised on Twitter/X over the short submission window by Edward Willis, an associate law professor at Otago University, lawyer Graeme Edgler wrote, “It's an improvement over all stages urgency. And the bill is nine clauses. I have considered the bill since seeing your tweet and consider it sufficiently clear in enacting its intended policy that it should pass.” In December last year, Jarrod Gilbert described the original pseudoephedrine ban as “brilliantly simple, and equally idiotic” (paywalled). Citing basic laws of economics, Gilbert wrote that the “thoroughly unintended (although certainly foreseeable) consequences” of the ban have forever changed the criminal underworld in New Zealand. “Reversing the policy now will not change that,” he wrote.
Māori Health Authority could be scrapped before Waitangi Tribunal hearing
Crown lawyers have told the Waitangi Tribunal that a bill to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, could be introduced as early as this Tuesday. An urgent hearing into a claim brought by Lady Tureiti Moxon and Janice Kuka was set to start on Thursday. Because the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to consider issues before parliament, the hearing could be dismissed. As Newsroom’s Matthew Scott reports, Lady Tureiti said there was no prior indication from the Crown that the legislation could be passed this soon. “There is no good faith in what the Crown has done,” she said.
Click and Collect
Labour’s Ginny Andersen issues on-air apology to police minister Mark Mitchell about comments she made last week.
Last week’s 1News Verian poll also asked about the government’s plan to roll back smokefree legislation - 60% of people are opposed
Sentencing in the Whakaari/White Island case begins today.
This NYT headline about the first US vehicle to land on the moon since 1972 feels applicable and relatable beyond its historical context.
Opening on a street where Putin planned a conquerors’ parade two years ago, the existence of Kyiv’s newest book store speaks of optimism. But an air of resignation prevails.
Feeling clever? Click here to play 1Q, Aotearoa’s newest, shortest daily quiz.
Duncan Greive details the end of Stuff Circuit and the multi-year investigation, which will be its final work – if it makes it out at all. Aucklander Hayden Donnell begs Wellington city council to stop the capital from growing. Mathew Nash reveals how the New Zealand badminton team got sport’s worst nickname. John Summers shares some thoughts about cats, death and remembering in the Sunday Essay. Tommy de Silva sits down with Stan Walker to kōrero te ao Māori and his new waiata ‘Māori Ki Te Ao’. Mark Richardson reveals his surprising TV crush for My Life in TV.
Sporting snippets
Mitchell Santner admits Australia has an edge over the Black Caps but he’s confident that can change.
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“God bless instamoms”
As far as a catalogue of what ails us goes, this New York Times investigation into child Instagram influencers, “momagers”, and Meta’s complete failure to stop predatory interactions, is right up there.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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What a waste of time and resources over a piece of clothing. Not to mention the potential for abuse (or worse) Police will receive trying to in force this. The patch is the least of the problem when it comes to gangs. Absolute joke.
No doubt the govts gang plan will have exemptions for sports clubs and service clubs, like rotary and lions, to enable wearing of branded clothing. So...Mongrel Mob Sports Inc?