NZ First pledges to end gang boxing
Pseudo boxing events held between rival gangs will be outlawed by NZ First, with candidate Shane Jones calling out gangs for hiding what amounts to a ‘‘recruitment drive’’ behind positive spin.
Jones is pledging changes to the Boxing and Wrestling Act following a weekend bout that drew gangs from across New Zealand to Portland, just outside Whangarei, to duke it out in the ring under the premise of keeping the violence off the streets.
But Jones says the event was simply a recruitment drive and ambiguities in the law left police powerless to prevent it or even regulate it.
‘‘Obviously I’ve discussed it with my dear leader, and I’ve pledged that we’re going to solve that particular problem. Quite apart from introducing legislation that will end all criminal events.’’
In New Zealand, all boxing events must obtain a permit to be held, but the act does not cover mixed martial arts, he said.
‘‘Therefore the cops are not able to prevent the event from happening.
The prospect of the event happening again next year fills them with horror.’’
Jones did not buy the claims from gang organisers that the event would go some way to reducing inter-gang violence in New Zealand communities.
‘‘My key point has always been, that the people who have been murdered - gang members and associates murdered - up to four of them in the north, they didn’t lose their lives in the boxing ring.’’
In the past year, four Northland men have been killed in separate incidents; Tribesman John Henry Harris, Tribesman Kimble Moore, Northland man Lee Rata, and Head Hunters member Moses Mahanga.
Drugs were often at the centre of gang violence, Jones said, and gangs were doing little to progress the end of that trade.
‘‘So what is particularly galling about their narrative is that OK, they want to have an event, they want the gangs to sort out their differences in the ring, they don’t want anyone to go home in a box, so that they stop the killing of each other,’’ Jones said.
‘‘Yet at the same time they’re still peddling, manufacturing and selling P, which is having the effect of killing people in the community.
‘‘This particular event is a recruitment drive and it’s a chance to glorify that gang culture, because they’re able to circumvent that legislation without having any overarching commitment at all, to walk away from the P trade.’’