As National intensifies its campaign against the left for campaigning with gangs, Stuff has obtained a photo showing one of their own ministers apparently posing for a photo with patched Mongrel Mob members.
Christopher Luxon was asked on Friday if National would be open to engaging with gangs.
“No, no, no, no, no, absolutely no,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m not dealing with gangs. Sorry, sorry, I’m not. I am not tolerant of gangs at all. I have no time for gangs, and you’ve seen that with our actions.”
Responding to Kerrin Leoni’s resignation after pictures and footage emerged of her meeting with gang members at what she says was a family gathering, Luxon was scathing.
“I’m just saying to you, that’s the problem, isn’t it? That they actually think that that even their candidates think it’s okay to hang out with gang members and pal around with them. Clearly, it’s not. We don’t think it is,” he said.
A photo of Tama Potaka, Minister for Māori Development, Whānau Ora, and Conservation, has now emerged which shows him standing with gang members who’ve had their faces redacted by emojis.
Potaka: ‘One of those guys was a schoolmate’
Potaka told Stuff the picture was taken in January 2024 at the Hui ā-motu organised by the late King Tūheitia.
“One of those guys was a schoolmate of mine and wanted a photo,” Potaka told Stuff.
He said that was a very different circumstance to the candidates who’d been snapped alongside gang members during the campaign.
“That was at a public event prior to the gang patch ban,” he said. “I think you’ll find, Jenna, it’s a very, very distinct circumstance.”
Asked by Stuff on Saturday what he would do if one of his MPs was found to have engaged with gangs, Luxon said he wasn’t aware of any, before quickly correcting himself.
“Tama Potaka, I’m aware there is an image of him at a Kiingitanga event,” he said.
“Tama and National are under no illusion we’re tough on gangs.”
When he was shown the picture, Luxon said he had not spoken to Potaka about it.
“I’m just saying to you, he had a photo with a gang member at a big event,” he said. “He’s not campaigning. He’s not fundraising. He’s not raising funds for the Mongrel Mob. And go talk to Tama. He’s very much against gangs, like the rest of us in the National Party for sure.”
Senior minister Mark Mitchell then jumped in, saying he had spoken to Potaka about it and the picture was taken three years ago.
“So Tama was at, three years ago, was at the Kiingitanga for an event there, when that photo was taken, he wasn’t campaigning. He wasn’t engaging gang members to ask them to get organised to vote for the National Party,” he said.
“In fact, he was probably getting a hard time because we were implementing our gang legislation. There is a big difference between being at a public event and attending a public event, and have gang members approach you.”
Mitchell said Potaka was trying to be “respectful” by having the photo taken.
“We had actually been clear that we didn’t think that it was appropriate to have patched gang members there, and it’s obvious that he was put in a position where someone wanted to take a photo. I wouldn’t read anything into that.”
Kerrin Leoni holding a campaign sign alongside gang members. Photo: Supplied
He said it was not comparable to the left taking pictures with gangs on the campaign trail.
“We get thousands of photos every day of people in a public place. We don’t know every individual. We don’t know their background. We don’t know their history. That’s just the nature of public life. There is a huge difference between that and actively going to a gang pad.”
National had been urging other MPs taking pictures with gang members to ask them how they got their patch.
Swirling gang scandal
The gang scandal has been swirling for over a week now. On October 14, Te Pāti Māori MP Oriini Kaipara posted pictures of herself and other Green and Te Pāti Māori candidates at a Mongrel Mob gang pad.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins had strongly reacted, calling it unacceptable and had ruled both parties ineligible to hold law and order portfolios in a cabinet should he be Prime Minister.
Then on Wednesday night, his own candidate Kerrin Leoni appeared opposite Te Pāti Māori MP Oriini Kaipara at a candidates debate for Tāmaki Makaurau.
Kaipara had been fielding questions on campaigning alongside the Mongrel Mob, and Leoni said she had disagreed with the visit, to which Kaipara responded with a bombshell allegation that Leoni had herself attended the gang pad.
Leoni denied she had.
Footage of her emerged at what she referred to as a whānau function on October 3, where some of those present were gang members.
Leoni was wearing a Labour jacket, holding up an election hoarding of her and Chris Hipkins and encouraging people to get friends enrolled so they could change the government.
She resigned the next morning.
-Stuff
