KEY POINTS:
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says New Zealand has got itself into a "moral panic" over gang culture and should start listening to the gangs' own ideas for change rather than focusing on social control of them.
Is she right? Here is a selection of Your Views:
Ngati Porou
After the last debacle that happened in Wanganui shopping centre, no we should not bow down to those mongrels there. I bet they wont be paying the shop keepers for the shop signs that were pulled down to be used a shields or pay for lost revenue on customers entering to buy something. Oh no, please NZ dont bow down to people who dont want to live peacefully here, I have always said and will also say, that all the prisoners in prison and gangs should be taken to IRAQ to really know what fighting is about and leave them there, Bring back our boys who because of duty fight for their country. Send those mongrels to IRAQ, I bet they wont know what to do with a rifle when a sniper comes up behind them, they will probably piss their pants.
Ms Auckland
Turia is absolutely nuts. About time we had a general election so we at least can get rid of that strange woman. Next we also have to ask paedophilies, child murderers, rapists, wife bashers, murderers and similar scumbags for their 'valuable' opinions, according to the weird Turia.
Chippy (N.Ireland)
If you don't talk to people, understand where they are coming from and what motivates them to join gangs then you can't hope to eradicate or control the problem. Dialogue with gangs shouldn't be about capitulating to their 'wants', it should be about them taking a more constructive role in their own communities, helping define and direct their community by bringing them in from the fringes and giving them a direct stake in the area they live, rather than letting them do that from the outside where they are free to ruin their communities and the police are powerless to stop them. Giving people a stake and giving people a say empowers them and can change outsiders into constructive insiders, NI is a good example of this. Of course some won't want to, as they make too much money from drug peddling or whatever but you can start to undermine them and isolate them within a community by persuading those with some sense into community leaders. That's my tuppence worth.
Beany
Turiana once again is shooting her mouth off and she thinks that gangs should be able to be heard. Gangs are there mostly to try and intimidate so should be dealt with as criminals.
Ron
Asking the gangs what they would like is like asking a drug addict or alcoholic the same question.
Mercedes (Auckland)
We elect people to office hoping that they will bring insight and skill to the position. Instead of doing the hard yards this whacko just wants to give up and take advice from gangs. Disgusting. The sole purpose of a gang is to make money from selling drugs, prostitution, identity theft, embezzlement, theft and benefit fraud. Gangs do not exist to benefit the community. Do you think America would let Tony Soprano run the country and turn a blind eye to how his money was made? (Well, they might, but that's another topic.) It's like prostitution - the police were too busy to enforce it, so we just legalised it. Why don't we legalise everything under this logic? Paedophiles, drugs, theft, fraud. I'm sure the gangs would have lots of ideas about how to "help" the country. What does she expect to hear from these people - "drugs are ruining the Maori community, please do something about it?". Are gangs going to want the government to crack down on them and solve the problems in their community? Don't you think this would be a slight conflict of interest? They're probably just going to whinge about the Chinese and Korean gangs coming in and creating a market they didn't have the idea for first.
Andy (Auckland)
She's right. There is something to be learned. Let's ask the thieves to protect the banks, the drug addicts to distribute pills at the clinics, the paedophiles to teach primary school children, and the gangs how to stop problems created by their entrepreneurial ventures. I am sure NZ would really learn something from that experiment. Just kidding. Don't give gangs legitimacy by making them a part of government decisions regarding society. Don't make them feel important by opening a line of communication between them and MP's. Just deport all that can be deported now-without question.
Hamilton
This is exactly why this woman should not be in politics! There is no place for gangs in our society.
Karl (Massey)
Another gem from Tariana 'holocaust survivor' Turia. This woman should be put out to stud - the amount of bull that comes from her would keep the dairy farmers of the Waikato in stock for generations. So singling out the gangs has just been a ploy to distract us from "rocketing interest rates, bureaucratic bumbling or insider trading", has it? Last I heard, interest rates, bureaucrats, and insider traders didn't finance the illicit drug trade or shoot babies. If people choose to belong to a gang, they do it to give the one fingered salute to decent citizens and a harmonious society. They exist to cause trouble and take pride in violence. That kind of thinking does not belong on our streets.
Chook (Auckland)
Tariana Turia should be strongly condemning gangs and their anti-social and criminal behaviour, and sending a message to young Maori that society have had enough of these thugs and their associates, and not be advocating talking to them and considering their views for change. She should push for a change from the way Maori embrace the gang culture and its members, evident by gang presence on marae and at Waitangi.
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