“Gangs wear patches to scare Kiwis – so we’re going to lock them up for it”

Wearing the colors and patches of gang members in public becomes a criminal offense and can be punished with up to six months in prison or a fine of up to $5,000. The majority of gang members are Maori.

Under the new regime, expected to come into force in November, police will be given new powers to stop public gatherings of gang members and ban certain gang members from contacting each other for seven days. They can also issue traffic orders banning certain gang members from meeting or contacting each other, privately or in public, for up to three years.

Exceptions are made for immediate family members, even if they belong to the same gang. Gang membership is made an aggravating factor in sentencing, which should result in longer prison sentences.

While Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith acknowledged that the new legislation restricts freedom of expression, he added: “We also believe that it is a fundamental human right to be able to go about one's business without fear and intimidation.”

The coalition of National, Act and New Zealand First has a majority in Parliament, so the bill is expected to pass despite opposition from the Labour Party and Maori leaders, who have warned that the bill will increase tensions between the police and the Maori community.

The coalition is convinced that it is worth taking this risk.

• Tougher policing “does not solve gang crisis in New Zealand”

Many New Zealanders have had enough of men displaying their gang colours and riding around in motorcycle convoys that regularly block roads even in quiet rural areas, usually to attend funerals or “patch ceremonies” for new recruits.

During last year's election campaign, the progressive Labour government – led by Jacinda Ardern until its final months – was accused of being too soft on gangs and crime in general.

Opposition representatives pointed to Labour's key policies of reducing prison populations by 30 per cent, its focus on offender rehabilitation and its controversial decision to pay out millions of dollars to help gangs set up methamphetamine rehabilitation programmes, despite these groups being deeply rooted in the drug trade.

Although exact figures are not known, the number of gang members in the New Zealand Police database has risen by about three-quarters – about 4,000 – to 9,180 in July since the Labour government took office in December 2017. If this trend continues, the government warned, they will soon have more gang members than police officers on the front lines.

Labour pointed out that gang membership numbers had been rising rapidly under the previous National government, which was in office from 2008 to 2017, long before Ardern came to power.

However, the number of violent crimes has increased by a third in the last five years, many of which are gang-related. Thirty-seven percent of prison inmates are gang members.

The escalation of violence is partly blamed on Australia's deportation of hundreds of New Zealand-born criminals, including prominent members of feared Australian biker gangs such as the Comancheros and the Rebels.

The stakes have risen as rival gangs have expanded their operations and more drugs – particularly meth – have flooded into the country. Labour has derided the Government's anti-gang strategy on clothing, calling it superficial and a waste of resources.

Ginny Andersen, Labour's police spokeswoman, said: “Frontline police are already overstretched dealing with criminal activity, so we need to look at how best to use their time. The role of clothes police is certainly not the aim.”

However, Mitchell believes the new powers will allow police to make life even more unpleasant for gang members and deter potential new recruits. “It's a great tool for the police to continue to harass and monitor the gangs and it sends a clear message from us in the country that we will no longer tolerate this.”

“They take to the streets in large numbers with their patches to scare and intimidate people. A big part of what we want to do is reduce the presence and visibility of these criminals in the public.”

Countries around the world have taken drastic measures to crack down on gangs. The Dutch government was the first country to ban the Hells Angels motorcycle club in 2019.

New Zealand's new legislation is modeled on laws introduced in Western Australia in 2021, which are considered the strictest in the country.

Mark Mitchell says banning gang colours and patches will make gang members less intimidating to the public

AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS/ALAMY

Police in Western Australia have hailed their anti-sex trafficking and anti-motorcycle badge laws as a success, saying they have disrupted the activities of illegal motorcycle clubs while making it harder for them to recruit new members.

Although there is no evidence that the legislation has actually reduced crime, it has made gangs less visible. It has also arguably made gang life seem less glamorous. A heavily tattooed senior member of the Rebels motorcycle club was charged and fined for displaying his gang tattoos at a birthday party in a hotel. The New Zealand government has failed to copy Western Australia in criminalising the public display of gang tattoos because of the important role tattoos play in Maori and Pacific Islander culture.

In the first two years since its introduction, 93 “bikers” in Western Australia were charged with displaying their gang tattoos in public and police issued 436 eviction notices, banning members of outlaw motorcycle clubs from associating with the people in question for seven days.

Three of Western Australia's most notorious gang members have been given restraining orders banning them from having any contact with a long list of other gang members for the next three years.

But Mark Lauchs, a gang crime expert and lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, says it is not yet clear how effective these tactics really are.

He said: “The New Zealand and Australian police are getting better at detecting and stopping drug smuggling. Maybe they should just focus on that. The New Zealand government should consider whether filling the courts with guys wearing gang patches isn't the best use of its limited resources and police time.”