Greens want to bring back Labour's cash for gangs

"Labour handed nearly $3 million seized from criminals to the Mongrel Mob, now the Greens want to do it again," says ACT Deputy Leader Nicole McKee, responding to Green co-leader Marama Davidson saying she is open to restarting funding for the Mob.

"Chris Hipkins is scrambling to distance himself from his would-be coalition partners, who are spending this campaign cosying up to gangs. But the Greens' latest idea is almost identical to the one Labour ran when Hipkins was last in government. Their radical agenda isn't so different after all.

"As Associate Justice Minister, I took the money Labour was sending to gangs and redirected it to victims and to preventing violent crime.

"There's a world of difference between helping people beat addiction and handing taxpayer money to organisations run by gang figures. New Zealand has plenty of dedicated frontline providers doing the hard work of rehabilitation without a gang patch on their back.

"Anyone who thinks being soft on criminals will make them soft on us has forgotten six years of Labour.

“New Zealand needs a Government that takes gangs seriously, not one that endorses the very organisation that created the meth problem and whose members commit horrific acts of violence to earn their patches.

"Just last month I announced $2 million for Pet Refuge, so people can escape violent relationships without abandoning their pets. I’ve also put millions more into frontline initiatives to stop gang recruitment, cut meth harm and back the victims Labour and the Greens seem to have forgotten about.”