“The Police Minister has misled Parliament and must correct the Parliamentary record,” says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Nicole McKee.

“The Police Minister was asked a question in Parliament on May 4th about whether it was appropriate for Marama Davidson to visit the Mongrel Mob in her capacity as Minister for Family and Sexual Violence.

“Kris Faafoi answering for Poto Williams, said she had no responsibility for MPs visiting gang pads on behalf of their political party, meaning Marama Davidson was there as a Green MP instead of in a Ministerial capacity.

“The problem is, the visit was recorded in Marama Davidson’s Ministerial Diary, where only official ministerial engagements are recorded.

“Labour’s soft on crime approach failing New Zealanders. Instead of putting her hands over her ears and saying “la la la” about the worsening gang crime, she should have answered questions about what a Minister was doing at a gang pad coddling them.

“Gang numbers have increased by 50 percent since 2017, from 5343 to 8006. Instead of doing something, Ministers are playing nice with the gangs and the avoiding questions about it.

“ACT would hit the gangs where it hurts, in their pockets. Our policy increases the power of police to seize assets connected with gang activity and illegal firearms owned by gang members by introducing a new threshold for Police to seize assets. The threshold to seize assets would now be triggered if a gang member was found with an illegal firearm therefore committing an offence.

“If we don’t stand up to the gangs now, it’s only a matter of time before an innocent member of the public gets caught in the cross fire.”

© Scoop Media