Given the rising rate of crime around Auckland, National party leader Christopher Luxon announces a new policy that will affect the way gang members are seen by the judicial system in NZ.
Ian Wright says New Zealand has got to the point where the justice system is broken because of rampant crime and it has to stop.
Wright is the property manager of the historic Queens Arcade in downtown Auckland, where last week an ugly altercation took place with an aggressive group of six youths, leaving one woman shop-owner with a badly bruised arm and swollen eye.
Wright joined Christopher Luxon on a walkabout of the arcade yesterday, along with his Justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith, ahead of the National leader announcing tougher sentencing measures for gang members.
Labour’s police spokesperson Ginny Andersen labelled the announcement a “lazy” rehash of old National policy and said there was already a provision to consider gang affiliation during sentencing.
Wright said gangs are not a problem for businesses in the Queens Arcade, but National’s approach to gangs was a step in the right direction.
Wright acknowledged the complex issues of dealing with crime and the fantastic jobs being done by community groups, police, and the judiciary, but said the current system does not allow them to operate effectively.
“The system is broken, that’s the starting point. There has got to be change and there have to be consequences,” Wright said.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to live in a society as it is now. I don’t believe we should accept that.”
Coming back to Queens Arcade, Wright said there is everything from youth crime, aggressive behaviour, assaults, and robberies, and across the central city, there are recidivist offenders not being held to account, and “that’s not good enough”.
Marina, the shop owner who was assaulted by youths - some believed to be under the age of 10 - spoke with Luxon about the incident and anti-social behaviour at the arcade.
National leader Christopher Luxon (right) in Queens Arcade in downtown Auckland, announcing an election policy of tougher criminal sentences for gangs, alongside Justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Alex Burton
She told the Herald that a few months ago the same youths broke a toilet and caused other damage in the arcade before coming back last week and spitting from the first floor on customers on the ground floor which she filmed, that led to the altercation.
She, too, wants to see tougher laws for crime, but also groups like Māori Wardens helping the families of youths committing crimes.
Brendon de Silva has been in business in Queens Arcade for 10 years as a tailor, making made-to-measure suits and garments, and said that mainly homeless people cause petty crime.
The tailor said he does not like the idea of gangs and would rather they weren’t around, but was unsure about Luxon’s policy of making membership in a gang an aggravating factor in sentencing.
He believed the Proceeds of Crime law was good at targeting gangs and would like gang members have to carry a receipt for their “very nice motorbikes” to account for how they purchased them.
“If they rode round on 125cc [bikes], that might strip some of that tough image away,” he said.
Bernard Orsman is an Auckland-based reporter who has been covering local government and transport since 1998. He joined the Herald in 1990 and worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years.
