General Debate

Dr Pita Sharples; Co-leader of the Maori Party

Wednesday 9 May 2007

In a period of crisis, people pull together to find a pathway forward.

Me kimi te ara totika hei oranga mo te ao
Seek the right path to benefit your world

In Whanganui, the local newspaper and District Council have stood up to host a ‘Love this Place’ public rally this coming Friday.

And in that same town, the Black Power President has called out for people to come forward and take full responsibility for the crisis that resulted in the death of a two year old child.

We must exercise that same calm approach, that commitment to solutions as we in this House exercise judgment over how best to respond to the gang drive-by shooting in Whanganui which killed Jhia Harmony Te Tua.

I join with all members of this house in condemning this horrific event.

The outrage that has been expressed throughout the country, is testimony to the fact that New Zealanders are no longer prepared to accept gang warfare.

I stand alongside those calling for that Mongrel Mob chapter to give up the actual perpetrators responsible for this shooting to the police.

But what of a way forward from here? How can we stop gangs from taking up arms in the public arena against other gangs? It is not about a magic solution that we strip these guys of their insignia, and gangs will willingly seek to address the actual offending they commit. A law banning patches will not work, neither will aggressive policing – they will simply serve to drive gang activities underground.

I deeply regret the shooting of Jhia Harmony Te Tua – a young life has been taken – and that can’t be replaced.

But also, I regret the shooting because gangs for the first time in 37 years have begun meeting together to determine the means by which they could co-exist without violence.

After years of continual fighting these meetings constitute a major breakthrough in the culture of gang conflict. Responding initially to the charge that they themselves were responsible for establishing the culture of street violence, which has now been adopted by the new youth street gangs – these traditional groups gathered together to consider how they might cooperate to eliminate violence.

Leaders representing such gangs as Black Power, Mongrel Mob, King Cobras, Highway 61, Hells Angels, Storm Troopers and many others sat side by side in the same room in discussion about how to initiate change.

Members, this is an opportunity that we cannot ignore. A strategy to assist gangs to discard their violent activities is required by us. We have here a real chance to make a difference.

Even if there follows some form of utu (retaliation) for the Whanganui shooting I believe we have turned a corner on the culture of gang fighting – and we must follow this up with a well thought out plan involving the community, the agencies, police and the gangs themselves.

In the mid-late 1970s when the gang warfare was at its worst with a killing happening each week in some town or other in New Zealand – we began a process of creating work programmes for two of the most notorious gangs.

Working with Auckland Mayors we created 71 jobs for the one gang in the West and 50 jobs for another gang in the East of the city. Gang hits immediately decreased and ultimately ceased between those two groups.

We can not let this opportunity pass. If we work with these leaders and others in supporting their desire to bring up their children in a non-violent environment, we will effect change.

It will take time to enrol all branches, all chapters in these programmes but I feel the door is open for meaningful intervention. I urge all members to support this proposal, this idea.

For close to forty years now, we have not been able to crack gang violence. Now, gang leaders themselves for the first time want to eliminate this violence. That to me is a major, major, move forward that we cannot afford to turn our back on.

ENDS

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