November 02, 2023
Gang tatttoo ban mask for racist response
A Māori law professor says the incoming Government is likely to run into some serious legal problems with its proposed anti- gang strategy – including conflict with the Treaty of Waitangi.
Khylee Quince from Auckland University of Technology says while National’s police spokesperson Mark Mitchell is technically right when he says can circumvent the Bill of Right Act to ban tattoos and gang patches, the policy could trigger a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into whether it breaches treaty rights to active protection of taonga.
She says the proposed measures and anti-gang rhetoric are a thinly veiled cover for being anti-Māori.
“So when they’re talking about gangs here they’re talking about gang paraphernalia, gang patches and tattoos, all of the iconography and imagery they show in the media is of what those people might call Māori gangs but of course this should apply to all people – white supremacist gangs, motorbike gangs that aren’t ethnically based, but all of the media makes it a Māori issue so that also triggers tiriti implications for a racist response that’s sold as an anti-gang strategy,” Dean Quince says.