The Mongrel Mob, meth supply and a marvellous money-go-round – the PM giveth what the cops hath taken away

It is unlikely the $2.75 million given to the Mongrel Mob to fund a meth rehab programme will do much mischief to the public debt because much of the money may well have come from the mob in the first place.

We suggest this makes it a marvellous money-go-round – or an exercise in fiscal recycling – because …

• The money (according to a Stuff report) came from the Proceeds of Crime fund (or money seized from gangs and criminals by police) ; and
• The NZ Herald  last month reported that about $2m in cash and assets, including five residential properties, vehicles, motorcycles, jet skis, cash and the contents of various bank accounts were seized in an operation that targeted senior members of the Mongrel Mob in Hawke’s Bay involved in supplying methamphetamine.

This mention of the mob in Hawke’s Bay was part of a report on the smashing of another major drug ring, with more than $44 million in drugs seized as police surpass the $500 million milestone in confiscated assets from gangs and criminals over the past four years.

This should be comforting for those of us who are keeping an eye on cavalier government spending after the Treasury warned the government that its debt is on an “unsustainable trajectory” over the coming 40 years.

That’s because of an ageing population driving up superannuation and health costs.

The High Court finds fault with the Waitangi Tribunal (and a breach of The Treaty) while Jackson is congratulating it

Our Beehive bulletin

While Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson was addressing members of the Waitangi Tribunal,  the High Court was setting aside a tribunal decision to return $800m in state-owned land to an iwi because it had failed to follow tikanga Māori and breached the Treaty

Good grief!

The tribunal breached “the Treaty”?

Apparently so.

According to Newsroom:

Crucially, Justice Francis Cooke declared the tribunal had been in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi and not followed tikanga when it decided lands transferred to state-owned enterprises or in Crown forests in the central North Island should be returned to the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.

The disputed tribunal ruling on the $800m of public lands accordingly has been overturned (although the judgement may be appealed).

Jackson’s speech to the tribunal members, telling them what a splendid job they were doing and giving them an idea of the future work that lies in store for them, was posted on the Beehive website along with –

While colleagues are dishing out largess, Peters serves Meridian (belatedly) with a rebuke and demands an explanation

Latest from the Beehive

Police Minister Stuart Nash climbed on the diversity bandwagon at the same time as he was enhancing his government’s law and order credentials with a press statement highlighting the increase in police numbers on Jacinda Ardern’s watch.

Winston Peters, as Minister of State Enterprises, was sounding tough on another front.  He expressed “an equal measure of shock and concern” at the recent Electricity Authority Board’s preliminary finding that Meridian Energy was involved in an ‘undesirable trading situation’ during December 2019 .

His statement suggests Peters has a very slow fuse. Citing a preliminary ruling by the Electricity Authority, Stuff reported on June 30 that Meridian Energy had pushed up power prices in December by unnecessarily spilling water from its South Island dams that could have been used for generation.

It has taken more than a fortnight for Peters to huff and puff and declare:

“The Meridian Board Chair and Chief Executive have been told to front up to my office and explain themselves before the House rises on August 6.”