‘They just need someone to listen’ - hīkoi leader calls for input in gang kōrero

Gang members head down the Southern Motorway near Newmarket for the funeral for former Hells Angels president Doug Jay. Photo / Dean Purcell.

A 10-person-strong hīkoi from Northland to Wellington has reached the drenched Tai Rāwhiti, the latest stop on its mission to raise awareness of anti-gang policies ahead of the election.

Hīkoi leader Matilda Kahotea says the week-long journey so far has been “fun” and full of waiata, laughs, and most of all “inspiring”.

“We’re quite overwhelmed actually. And what I was expecting actually took a different turn but a beautiful turn. So even though these [potential] laws and legislation were making the whānau uneasy, the kōrero is around the solutions to two issues that are arising.

“It’s been great, it’s been positive and I’ve learned a lot from our whānau out there.”

Matilda Kahotea is heading a hīkoi to Parliament in opposition to National and Act’s proposed gang policies. Photo / Jason Oxenham.

The hīkoi is primarily in opposition to proposed measures put forward by the National and Act parties to control gangs and the associated crime that is carried out.

National has released a policy that includes a ban on gang patches and insignia, preventing gang members from gathering in public, accessing guns or associating with each other.

Leader Christopher Luxon and justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith have also said gang membership would also be an aggravating factor in sentencing. ActT has also promised to crack down on gang members and associates.

‘Non-association is non-whakapapa’

Kahotea says the hīkoi set out to have a kōrero with gangs and whānau about what those policies could mean to them. She believes they would be detrimental to whānau, particularly those who are already looking to turn their lives around or who get caught up simply by association.

“The likes of non-association, I believe is non-whakapapa. It will see our whānau severed from each other. They can’t get together at tangihanga, they can’t gather at social events. Our family are our healing spaces.”

National corrections spokesman Mark Mitchell has said he would be open to meeting the hīkoi when it arrives at Parliament, but he told NZME he “completely rejected” the claim that the anti-association policy would tear whānau apart.

Kahotea is hoping to meet with politicians in Wellington and raise the concerns shared by whānau and ask they be included in discussions around solutions to the issue of gangs.

“There’s not enough research or kōrero, I believe, being made where they are finding who the best people are to do that with to come to solutions. The best people are our whānau.

“I want to say to him [Mitchell] come to the table with our family and have a kōrero with them. Because what we have heard all the way from up north down to here has been absolutely inspiring.

“It’s all about looking to better pathways for the future and even about solutions they’re implementing right now for whānau for pathways for education, rehabilitation. There are a lot of great solutions in there. They just need someone to listen to them.”

Kahotea is a founder of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre north of Auckland, Ngā Kete Wānanga Solutions. The residential facility caters to people, mainly gang members on bail, to undergo a 12-week programme including drug and alcohol addiction services. Residents pay up to $19,000.

Police raided the facility in 2022 and found a pistol, ammunition, $5000 cash, 500g of methamphetamine and 1kg of pseudoephedrine used to manufacture methamphetamine. A patched Head Hunters member was arrested and charged with firearms and drug offences.

At the time, Kahotea who has over 20 years experience as a teacher, said she felt her facility was targeted by police due to her own links to gangs, including three sons who are senior members of the Head Hunters East chapter.