Mongrel Mob honorary life member Harry Tam has accused Chris Hipkins of throwing Dame Jacinda Ardern “under the bloody bus” after the Labour leader said it was a mistake to fund a gang rehabilitation programme.

In 2020, when Ardern was Prime Minister and Hipkins was a senior minister, Labour approved $2.75 million in Proceeds of Crime funding to go to Hard 2 Reach, a consultancy run by Tam, so it could deliver the marae-based rehabilitation programme Kahukura.

Following a recent political uproar over Green and Te Pāti Māori MPs and candidates photographed posing with Mongrel Mob members at a “health and wellbeing election hui”, Hipkins told RNZ’s Morning Report yesterday “that was a mistake”.

“Supporting meth addiction is absolutely something governments should do, but giving the money to the gangs is wrong,” Hipkins said.

In an interview with podcast Big Hairy Network last night, Tam said the backlash against the election hui with Mongrel Mob members “reeks of fascism” and called out Hipkins for his position on the issue.

“We pride ourselves as a democratic country and that we’re strong on human rights internationally, right? However, when it comes to us participating as a citizen in the voting process, we’re considered to be undeserving,” Tam told hosts Pat Brittenden and Mike “Chewie” Bennett.

“All the attacks from the right is basically saying these people should continually be marginalised because of nothing else, because of their affiliation. And there’s something really, really reeks of fascism there.”

“It’s so bad that Hipkins threw Jacinda under the bloody bus today [Tuesday]. And I think, how extreme can you go? All I can say is that he cannot be trusted because what he’s doing is political expediency to get votes so he can stay in power. That means if he’s in power, he could change his mind when the wind blows the other way.

“And of course, we’ve seen a history of that from labour. You know, Closing the Gaps was one of them. Foreshore [and] Seabed [Act] is another one. But why would you trust him? You just can’t.

“I’m a left-winger myself, but I’d rather have the Opposition in front of me, at least I know what I’m fighting. But friends like Hipkins, I don’t need.”

Tam, who has previously worked as a public servant providing policy advice on youth, penal policy and criminal justice issues, said his organisation Hard 2 Reach applied for the Proceeds of Crime funding after “a number of suicides within the mob community in Hawke’s Bay”.

“There’s always a correlation between suicides and an increase in meth use. And so it took us some time to get the leadership around to understand that we needed to do something about it, and we did.

“I don’t condone gangs violence, but I understand the genesis of where that violence comes from. I understand how intergenerational trauma has had a huge impact on a group of bloody people that struggle to get by, that gets no help, they get constantly demonised for political expediency so people can make gains and profits out of it, and that’s the sad part.”

He said it was a “rigorous process” to get the $2.75m funding and there was no “cost-benefit analysis” on the success of the scheme.

The funding was pulled in 2024, with Police Minister Mark Mitchell describing initial decisions by Labour to support the programme as “perverse”.

A report into the programme’s final intake said a “significant” number appeared to stay clean in follow-up testing three months after it finished.

Hipkins previously ruled out Te Pāti Māori and the Green Party from holding several major ministerial roles if they came to form the next Government. He labelled the Mongrel Mob election hui a “huge error of judgment”.

He also committed to no funding being given to gang-led programmes after Green co-leader Marama Davidson said she was open to supporting services like the Mongrel Mob-led meth rehabilitation programme that was funded in 2021.

Hipkins said such a move would be “like asking the arsonists to put out the fire”.

This bloke has been named, and his far left extremist action's and views have been outed all over X.

Another rabid climate and palestine activist.

Have a whinge about your day, a spaz about the prick that cut you off, a shoutout to the legend whom brought you a coffee, advice about your check engine light, gardening tips, or any mischievous thoughts or gossip.

Don't be shy 😉

Editor’s note: In April, Davidson defended Mulipola after posts surfaced showing him calling police “pigs”, ripping up the New Zealand flag and insulting a government minister. She said his candidacy brought different expectations: “As a Green candidate, he knows that we have a standard of approach and language”.

Now that same candidate is attending a Mongrel Mob hui, and Davidson is unapologetic.

Voters are entitled to ask what those promised standards mean in practice. Kaipara says attending does not amount to endorsement. Yet publishing friendly photographs with patched gang members creates a political message that deserves scrutiny.
Goldsmith’s question brings victims back into that discussion. The parties have explained why they wanted to engage with gang members. What did they say to those members about the harm gangs cause—and what accountability did they demand?

https://centrist.nz/green-candidate-who-called-police-pigs-joins-mongrel-mob-hui-1792041081729

Time to go you excuse for a CE

Less than two years after being celebrated as a police recruitment success story and receiving a leadership award on graduating from police college, a former constable has admitted stealing a Glock pistol while in the force.

Last year, Steven John Karehana was the face of a New Zealand police recruitment campaign, sharing how he had overcome earlier mistakes and hoped to inspire young Māori to consider a career in policing.

A year earlier, he received the Commissioner’s Leadership Award when his wing graduated from the Royal New Zealand Police College.

Then, on February 11 this year, Karehana stole a police firearm worth $1204 in Whanganui.

Karehana, of Marton and posted in Whanganui, was charged with theft and unlawful possession of a firearm arising from the same incident.

The Glock was provided to an associate and sold for $10,000.

Today, he appeared in Whanganui District Court, where he pleaded guilty to both charges and his interim name suppression lapsed.

He faces a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment for theft and four years for unlawful possession of a firearm.

Karehana will appear in court on December 4 for sentencing.

NZME understands he has resigned from New Zealand police.

In the recruitment campaign, Karehana described his path to policing as far from straightforward.

At the time, he told NZME that when he first applied 20 years earlier, he was turned down because of a criminal charge from his youth that was dealt with by way of diversion.

He said he was encouraged to gain more life experience and stay out of trouble before reapplying.

When he was finally accepted in 2023, he said it felt “surreal”.

Karehana said he wanted to inspire the next generation.

“I’ve come from a background where, in my family, they don’t get on with police, and I wanted to try and change that narrative,” he told NZME.

“If I can inspire one young Māori boy, then, you know, it’s worthwhile.”

His advice to recruits was to “bring your authentic self”.

“Don’t change to fit the organisation, because the organisation wants you for who you are,” he said.

A police statement announcing the October 2024 graduation of Recruit Wing 378 said Karehana had received the leadership award.

Steven Karehana appeared in Whanganui District Court, where he was convicted of theft and unlawful possession of a firearm.

“This is the beginning of our journey in the New Zealand Police, but for all of us graduating, there are many people who have sacrificed and worked hard to allow us to be here, and we are very grateful. We could not have done it without you,” Karehana said at the time.

“The call to service is one few answer, but it is a selfless sacrifice to put community above self and by graduating today we have all joined a proud and selfless organisation.”

Police in court

Karehana is one of several police employees or former employees before the courts, charged with criminal offending.

Also in Whanganui, Senior Constable Peter Elliot Gray, 61, has been accused of tipping off suspected drug dealers about planned police search warrants.

Gray, who is suspended on full pay, faces a charge of using a computer system for dishonest purposes and a representative charge of wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He is also charged with possessing a cannabis plant, two glass pipes used for smoking methamphetamine, and a pipe for consuming cannabis.

In June, New Zealand police announced three constabulary staff had been charged after a rapid internal review of staff internet use following the Jevon McSkimming scandal.

Matthew Rogers was one of two Auckland-based officers charged and has pleaded guilty to a representative count of possessing an objectionable publication. The other officer, who cannot be named, has pleaded guilty to the same charge.

The third officer, who also cannot be named, has appeared in Wellington District Court charged with 10 counts of possessing an objectionable publication.

Other recent Auckland cases include a former police officer found guilty of 14 charges relating to assaults on three women while he was in the force; another who pleaded guilty to making and possessing intimate recordings of three women; and officer Amanuel Molla, who was stood down after being charged with doing an indecent act on a child under 12.

“Labour’s own release says the duty would ‘protect Kiwis from harmful content’. That’s every New Zealander, not just children. ‘Harmful’ isn’t defined, and it doesn’t have to be illegal. A state regulator will decide what it means. What started as discussion of an “under 16 social media ban” is increasingly looking like a government power grab over adults’ right to speak freely online.

“A duty of care backed by fines gives platforms every reason to over-censor. They’ll be punished for leaving something up and never for taking it down, so anything borderline goes. Contested political and moral opinion will be the first to disappear.”

“Labour is fast-following an idea nobody has tested. Australia hasn’t passed it, the plan has been dogged by censorship concerns there from the start. and the regime it already has isn’t working as promised.

“Australia’s bill was only introduced to Parliament on 15 October. The Albanese government has already had to drop a power that would have let the minister define new categories of harm, after concerns it could be used for political censorship. The Opposition says it cannot support the bill and one of its senior senators has called it ‘unsalvageable’. Labour is promising to copy a law that is still being fought over in Canberra.”

Heather says the Free Speech Union has no problem with parts of the package.

“Giving people the choice to switch off the algorithm and see only the accounts they follow is a good idea. It puts control with users, which is where it belongs. Go after the conduct that does real damage: scams, child sexual abuse material, and sexual deepfakes made without consent. Enforce the laws we already have, and fund the police to do it.

There are sensible ways to address content on social media that target conduct rather than opinion. None of them require building the apparatus of online speech censorship.

“The government has no business standing between adults and lawful communication. That is a red line and Labour’s plan tramples over it. New Zealanders vote in less than three weeks. Whether or not we have a Labour-created “internet police” is now a live election issue.”

Ends