National’s Task Force Raptor bullshit sounds good doesn’t it?
It plays to our fears and our anger over crime.
Gangs are despised the same way the homeless and beneficiaries are despised, their existence reminds us that NZs egalitarianism is a pretension, not a reality.
Gangs don’t exist in a vacuum, they occur because of social dislocation. The early gangs in NZ were populated by ex Army vets, wards of the State and the poor, they were a symptom of inequality, not the disease.
These explanations of course get washed away when white people get frightened and Simon Bridges is playing to that fear with all the nuance of a lynch mob.
The inconvenient truth for National of course is that the current Gang war tensions and eruption of gang violence started blooming when National won in 2008 and were exacerbated by the Australian decision to export their criminal class back to NZ from 2014.
Let’s not forget John Key declared a war on P back in 2009, so we’ve tried the get tough bullshit and it’s only made things worse.
It is outrageous that National are now claiming a bigger war is required.
National oversaw the rise of the gangs, National started a failed war in meth and National did jack shit nothing when Australia started exporting violent criminals to NZ.
How dare they attempt to paint Labour as soft on crime in light of that legacy, a legacy the mainstream media NEVER mention when giving National a free pass on this issue.
What do we need to do?
Quiet diplomacy is urgently required. We face an event unlike any other in NZs criminal history, never before have we had a situation where 1500 violent criminals have been dropped off into the country with zero ability to contain them.
This unique event demands a unique solution.
A secret round table meeting between Police and Domestic gangs where the following deal is hammered out:
1 – NO METH! There has to be a serious undertaking by the domestic gangs to no longer deal in meth in return, Government amends cannabis legislation to ensure the domestic gangs can grow and sell cannabis legitimately. Domestic Gangs will need to forgo illegal meth money for legal cannabis money.
2 – Domestic gangs turn all evidence about the the 501s over to the Police and aid in entrapping any, in return Police will organise an enormous one off event whereby the move against the entire 501 infrastructure and take them down in one move.
3 – Build special prisons just for the 501s with a focus on long sentences and heavy rehabilitation.
What we miss with the 501s being exported back to NZ is the utter unfairness of it. Many of these men left NZ as children or babies and have little whanau here so when they’re sent back, they have no community whatsoever.
One could rightfully argue that because these men were raised inside Australia’s culture, any criminality on their behalf is a direct product of Australian culture, NOT New Zealand culture and as such it is Australia who should own their problem, not export it.
What we also forget is that these men are renditioned here by force. They either accept a one way ticket to NZ or there are sent to draconian detention camps on Christmas Island where treatment is appalling.
That’s why Jacinda’s public ScoMo smack down reverberated. She spoke the ugly truth directly to the Aussies face in a way that their usual crassness couldn’t shrug off. Jacinda showed real leadership by calling them out and publicly shaming Australians.
Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison’s “Love Actually” moment. #auspol @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/neS6N6VRwB
— Chris Uhlmann (@CUhlmann) February 28, 2020
She made Bridges call to reciprocate exporting Australian criminals look as gauge as Australia’s original decision.
National have no moral high ground here with Gangs and their get tough rhetoric has simply made the situation worse.
When will the mainstream media remind voters of National’s own role in creating the very gang problem they are using to scare people with?
I’d point out that it is the NZ parliament that passes the crimes Act and the Evidence Act (or whatever it’s called), the Nz Government that appoints the Police Commissioner and sets policing priorities and policy, the NZ Government that appoints our Judges and approves the sentencing guidelines, and it is the NZ government that builds and runs our prisons and rehab schemes.
And it is the NZ Government that funds and direct the social services that provide integration for migrants and houses the homeless.
So how the deportees behave once back in NZ has a lot more to do with NZ politicians than we are comfortable admitting.
National couldn’t give a flying fuck about the “gang problem”. They conclusively proved that beyond any doubt over their 9 devastating and treasonous years in Government…aka rock star economy.
Bridges is not remotely interested in substance. His only goal is to “SCORE HITS”. It matters not one jot if the “HITS” are bullshit. His ethos is “throw enough shit at a wall, some will stick”.
If Bridges played darts like he plays politics he would throw 685 darts at the dart board hoping that at least one would hit a bulls eye and he’d then call that a win. He’s the most toxic, divisive and untrustworthy politician our beautiful country has ever been cursed with.
Truth and facts have limited value to the head latrine rodent. PERCEPTION is all that counts. Hit people over the head with the same message all day every day and at least some will eventually believe it must be true.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Jacinda Ardern is weak and incompetent. She’s destroying the lives of all hard working kiwis.
Hey Jacinda fan, the national party currently have poster up around the Hutt Valley about a meeting to discuss reducing predators but when driving past my partner said to me, ‘they are the predators’. And they also have posters up about a meeting to discuss public safety issues yet our police are running around or should I say speeding around with guns scaring people unnecessary and acting way over the top.
National are just as responsible for gangs as they are for the inequalities that current exist in our country today. Nationals polices exacerbated poverty and we all know there is a strong correlation between poverty and crime. Who knocked down thousand of social homes without a decent plan to home those displaced. And who replaced these social homes with 800k apartment like places, who cut funding to public schools, social services agencies and public health. And who are there to help the poor and at risk vulnerable populations, who brought in private prisons and private social services provider who are more interested in profit than rehab. And who brought in a million immigrants to take peoples jobs creating a huge pool of cheap available labour. It is bad enough people can’t find somewhere decent to live then they cant get a job so what do you expect? When you take something away should you not put something in place to deal with the fall out nah! not national they will continue to put the boot into the same people and then set about playing people of against one another. They are masters at the blame game.
National IS the gang problem.
We’re now deeply hooked on debt after the Natzo’s pimped us out to foreign banksters and Jonky, the littlest mafioso, now works for ANZ which took about a billion out of our economy in net profits in one year. And there are at least three others doing the same.
Ban the foreign banksters from trading here then asset strip them down to the bone and return the 6 billion dollars in net profit ( Plus the re integration of their asset values which are ours anyway.) back into the economy and pay those most at risk a living wage while at the same time decriminalise all illegal/recreational drugs.
And cigarettes!? For God’s sake! A packet of 25 is more than $37.00 No wonder Dairy owners get rolled every now and then.
And don’t anyone dare say ” Ya should quit then.” Fuck off! When you’re down on your luck and you need a little frisson, a fag ( Cigarette just to clarify.) can work wonders. ( Personally, I quit years ago thank Christ but I do empathise with those who need that kind of risky hit. )
There ya go? I’ve just sorted our ‘gang problem’ out and I know fuck all about quite a bit and you didn’t need to pay me $ix figure$ plu$ entitlement$ and expence$ to sit on my fat arse to look as mean, over stuffed and ugly as the Natzo’s do.
P.S. Adern getting pissy with ScoMo is like shooting a big pink fish in a barrel with a bazooka. Every AU hates him after the bush fires fiasco and since, thanks to Natzo’s policies, half of AU is Kiwi then most of us do too.
So, a meh from me on that one too, I’m afraid.
Special prisons and long sentences? Take a look at how that approach has played out overseas. Not well is the short answer.
Addressing inequality would be a better place to start. More jobs by limiting immigration to essential skills, demanding foreign corporations invest in NZ as opposed to financially strip mining it and taking the proceeds off shore. Better rates of pay and improved conditions of employment.
Proper social services funded by making big business pay its fair share of taxes. Getting rid of deals like the TPPA would help with this and refusing to sign up to more RCEP. Plus a focus on better education with special schooling for those falling behind, as is often the case with kids from families under extreme social and economic pressure.
So until this happens all we are doing is slapping a harsh band aid on the problem and worse still sending the message to the desperate and needy that all they can expect is more punishment on top of lives that often know little else.
absolutely.
The difference between National now and National then is the background of the leadership:
National then: Key (banker) English (gentleman farmer)
National now: Bridges (crown prosecutor) Bennet (Westie welfare recipient)
So maybe a bit more focus on the social issues this time around?
Andrew,
Bridges and Bennett focused on Social Issues? Surely you jest. That would be a first. Social Issues invariably involve the feral enemy who will never vote National if they lived 5 life times. National would rather feed their supporters raw meat by kicking the enemy while they are down….not helping them. As for Gentleman Farmer Bill as you describe him. Child Poverty and the gap between the rich and poor reached new record levels under National and everyone knew about it yet Gentleman Bill remarkably only discovered child poverty 10 days out from the election.
National and focus on social issues are never in the same sentence except in the run up to an election. More chance of me winning Lotto three weeks in a row and I don’t buy lotto tickets. National care passionately about …………..themselves, being in power and their bank balance. Bridges only interested in smearing Ardern and being PM ……at any price.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAGnKpE4NCI
So until this happens all we are doing is slapping a harsh band aid on the problem and worse still sending the message to the desperate and needy that all they can expect is more punishment on top of lives that often know little else.
Very much agree.
National are talking about coming down hard on gangs but the impression I get is National will ONLY FOCUS on local gangs and not on overseas gangs.
I am sure National will claim the overseas gangs that now have a foot-hold here in NZ are too well established and too big to deal with and so coming down hard on them would be ‘wasting Police time and NZ tax payers money”. In other words Tui billboard time when it comes to National and overseas gangs/cartels.
But I am of the opinion the overseas gangs are probably considerably smaller here in NZ and yet considerably richer and wealthier in dollar terms that the local gangs. A few thousand dollars here or there into a politicians’ bank account and a blind eye is turned.
And so National will turn a blind eye to the wealthy overseas gangs because perhaps in some perverted way/manner or form those overseas gangs have been helping line the pockets of the NZ National Party in the form of political donations.
And so if National, by some misfortune of votes, gets back in I could say there will be a return to the Dawn Raids like in the early 80s when there was another previous National government.
And National will be having their hands out for whatever donations come their way no matter how ‘interesting’ the source of the donations have been.
“One could rightfully argue that because these men were raised inside Australia’s culture, any criminality on their behalf is a direct product of Australian culture, NOT New Zealand culture and as such it is Australia who should own their problem, not export it.”
Not necessarily. These criminals were raised — OK, in Australia — but by NZ parents. Some Aussies aren’t necessarily pleased to have the dropkick parents of these crims let off the hook, while they are blamed for having provided the supposedly causative “culture”.
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