Labour has a gang problem. But not in the way you might think

The first casualty in the no-nuance storm around campaigning with gangsters has arrived. If only the Labour Party knew how to have a hard conversation in the first place.

Spare a thought for Kerrin Leoni. The Labour Party’s now-former candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau must have had sweat forming on her brow as she watched her party leader cry foul over allies in Te Pāti Māori and the Greens posing with patched members in a gang pad. For Leoni had an awkward conundrum of her own: she’d committed a similar electoral sin a week before.

The Greens went underground, cancelling media stand-ups in Auckland to instead taste-test some ice cream in Christchurch. But Te Pāti Māori MP Oriini Kaipara, at the centre of the firestorm, held her ground on what she saw as an electoral responsibility. And during a Tāmaki Makaurau debate on Tuesday night, Kaipara was keen to remind fellow candidate Leoni she too had been campaigning among gang members.

That was denied by Leoni, who admitted she had gang whānau but said she hadn’t campaigned at any specific gang pad. She maintained in the days following there was a familial distinction at play, and could it really be considered campaigning? Until the video evidence emerged, a photo of Leoni with patched members holding a hoarding of herself and Chris Hipkins was released, and Leoni ultimately resigned.

Suffice to say Leoni is no savvy political operator. At her worst, she was dishonest to her party and to the electorate. At her best, she was showing up for whānau.

Just when it was all looking so promising for Labour, this wee October surprise pops up. Appearing teary-eyed during a stand-up at the Hawke’s Bay A&P show today, Labour leader Chris Hipkins wasn’t keen to brand Leoni a liar – she just hadn’t “given the full facts”. She’d also “paid a very high price” for what was “a clear violation of very clear standards”.

At the same time, “There is an element of racism in all of this as well, which is just ugly,” Hipkins said. “Māori MPs are held to a different standard… I really regret that.” So true; an estimated 77% of gang members whakapapa Māori, and it wouldn’t be impossible to believe at least one of the 32 current Māori MPs has an estranged cousin in a gang. It’s just unfortunate that these criminals are identifiable by their patches, while others hide under a white collar. How do you enforce a separation here?

But Hipkins overlooks his own struggles in trying to make this a nuanced conversation about families, and the role of the government in curbing cycles of violence perpetrated by the state. On Monday, in an interview with RNZ, Hipkins called his predecessor Jacinda Ardern’s decision to hand $2.75m in funding (sourced from the proceeds of crime fund) to a Mongrel Mob-led addiction programme “a mistake”. But he made no mention of the fact that that programme was actually quite successful; reports on the scheme obtained by the NZ Herald found a “significant” number of participants stayed off methamphetamine following the programme. Some believed being among other gang members aided their recovery.

That would have been a pertinent point to make, if Labour really did recognise the difference between being tough on gangs and having something useful to say about them. It was certainly a slap in the face to those who benefitted from the programme and had enjoyed a working relationship with the former prime minister. Lifelong Mongrel Mob member Harry Tam, whose consultancy had received the funding to run the programme, described Hipkins’ move as throwing Ardern “under the bus”.

Perhaps some will appreciate the optics from Hipkins here. He gets to reinforce his leadership through real punishment, a route less travelled by our prime minister. But it’s been over a week of this carry-on now. That’s about nine days Labour has spent with headlines involving their party focused on gangs instead of the cost of living. Even the voters who didn’t give a shit about this at first will surely be annoyed that the party hasn’t been able to get itself out of this mess.

And what will Māori voters make of this palaver? It’s been difficult for some to see the supposedly progressive party shy away from its co-governance commitments from when Labour was last in government. In trying to protect itself from some of the hot topics that may have contributed to the tanking of their 2023 campaign, Labour risks alienating loyal Māori in favour of centrist swing voters.

Labour needs to move on from this as soon as humanly possible. Ideally, a week ago. If it can’t outrun it, the party can at least try to be the grown-up in the room when it comes to gangs.