New Zealand gang leaders are uniting against Covid-19 with a common goal to get their communities vaccinated and protect their families.
A new initiative going public today, which includes a two-and-a-half minute video from gang leaders stating their reasons for getting vaccinated, has some strong messaging.
However, despite Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson’s involvement, the initiative is not a Government programme but instead one that has been instigated by gang members around New Zealand themselves.
“The boss [Jacinda Ardern] and fellow ministers said, ‘oh well, you go for it and if you can get something going, then good luck’,” Jackson told Breakfast on Wednesday morning.
“This has been my background and I’ve got this love and passion for communities.”
Jackson said the initiative doesn’t use “one cent of taxpayers money” but hoped people will still support to project as it becomes more visible following its release Wednesday morning.
“We’ve been talking for some time in terms of whānau and community and vaccinations and we talked at that sort of level because there’s no point in going into their pasts and looking at their criminal records because we wouldn’t have gotten past first base,” he said.
“I hope it will inspire a lot of the younger ones who have turned their backs on society to go out there and get vaccinated.”
Jackson said there is still assistance through other domains to help get the message to harder to reach pockets of gang communities though.
“We aren’t going to put any dollars or resources into gang pockets but if the local Māori health provider can get some of these guys going and activate them, we’ll work with them,” he said.
“But I have to compliment them for doing the work that no one else wants to be doing, everybody runs a mile when they see these guys and I understand that…but New Zealanders want to see these guys vaccinated because this virus doesn’t discriminate.”
Jackson said that line of approach is why the debated decision to give exemptions to two senior gang leaders into Auckland last month was both the right call and an important one.
Mark Pitman says he wants to set an example for the thousands of people in the Black Power whānau around the country. (Source: Other)
“They were engaging with hard-to-reach people in South Auckland,” Jackson said.
“You can’t just roll up with John Campbell or anyone to meet with these guys – they’ve got to meet with their presidents or their leaders so we had to go out of our way to grant exemptions so they could get in their with young people who hate the system.
“We don’t regret that at all because you’ve got to try everything to keep Covid away from everyone’s doorstep.
“I’ll do anything and everything to get over this… people will benefit from this type of campaign.”
Opposition parties remain opposed to the treatment though with National Party leader Judith Collins telling Breakfast, "they're [the gangs] the people who sell methanphetamine, so don't try and make them look like they're victims".
ACT leader David Seymour agreed.
"This vaccine strollout has been a failure from start to finish, the only winners are the gangs who are getting great PR out of Willie Jackson and the Labour Party."
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