Longtime Mongrel Mob member Harry Tam has defended Te Pāti Māori and Green Party politicians who attended a hui at a gang pad, questioning why meeting with gang communities has become a political controversy.
Photos of Te Pāti Māori MPs Oriini Kaipara and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, Green MP Hūhana Lyndon and Green Party candidate Michel Mulipola attending the health and wellbeing hui sparked criticism from National and Labour.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins described the visit as a “huge error of judgment” and ruled out Green Party and Te Pāti Māori MPs holding the Police or Corrections portfolios in a future Labour-led government.
Tam, who has spent more than 40 years working with gang communities, said meeting political candidates was a normal part of democracy.
“Those candidates that came to our Health and Wellbeing Day, they were just doing what politicians do,” Tam said.
“I’m disappointed in the ones that say that politicians shouldn’t be speaking to gangs.”
He also challenged those who questioned the timing of the visit.
“Well, I’d like them to tell me when is the right time to have this discussion?”
The controversy intensified following the circulation of footage showing Kaipara discussing Te Pāti Māori policies with those gathered at the hui.
The issue also surfaced in Whakaata Māori’s Tāmaki Makaurau election debate on Wednesday night, where Kaipara defended the visit and criticised media coverage.
She alleged Labour candidate Kerrin Leoni had visited the same place the week before and removed a social media post after the visit became public. Leoni denied going to the gang pad.
Tam also criticised Hipkins over his comments about Labour’s previous decision to fund a Mongrel Mob-linked drug rehabilitation programme.
The former Labour-led Government provided $2.75 million to Harry Tam’s consultancy, Hard 2 Reach, for the Kahukura rehabilitation programme, a decision Hipkins has since said was a mistake.
“And so they’ll say whatever they want in order to get power,” Tam said.
Tam has himself faced scrutiny over his history of violence, including a 1994 conviction for assaulting his then-wife.
He argued that the political debate was overshadowing wider issues contributing to gang involvement, including poverty, trauma and abuse in state care.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care documented how institutional abuse and neglect contributed to some survivors becoming involved in gangs.
Tam said the Government’s apology to survivors of abuse in state care was difficult to reconcile with politicians opposing engagement with gang communities.
He compared the controversy to the political debate over ram raids during the previous election, arguing that public attention on crime could distract from its underlying causes.
“We’ve had decades and decades of that where we just want to continue beating up on this group rather than actually find out what the hell is going on,” he said.
