The ex-mayor of Whanganui – which has tried to ban gang patches from public places in the past – said the National Party's proposal to implement a similar ban nationwide won't change the fact that gang members are still in communities.
It comes after National leader and Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon defended the plan yesterday.
Luxon said he's "confident" police will be able to enforce the law, and "it's about intimidation".
Annette Main told Breakfast "gangs are in every community" and the National Party's plan wouldn't change that.
Main was mayor of Whanganui from 2010 to 2016. Whanganui District Council passed a bylaw in 2009 – before Main was in office – which prohibited gang insignia in the district, but that ban was later found invalid under national law by the High Court.
Asked if the ban worked, Main said: "It wasn't particularly noticeable.
"There were gangs in town already and that's where the gang patch ban arose from.
"They were still there, they just weren't quite as visible."
The ban was overturned after the Hells Angels sought a judicial review, and Justice Denis Clifford's judgment found the bylaw was too wide as it didn't specify which public spaces the ban applied to.
Main said the decision to overturn the ban made sense to her.
"Many people felt that, just because the gangs weren't visible, it didn't mean that they weren't there," she said.
"So not really a lot had changed. When it did change, there was a little bit of consternation, and we had people waiting to kind of see what would happen – and frankly, nothing much did at all.
"Life just carried on as normal. We can't ignore that gangs are in every community," Main said.
'New Zealand should be concerned' - lawyer
Lawyer Arama Ngapo has been hired by the Mongrel Mob to test the legality of National's plan.
She said the proposal "simply won't work".
"All it really is doing is criminalising a certain group of society," Ngapo said.
"I think that's something that the community and New Zealand should be concerned about, when we start identifying different groups within our community that are going to be prejudiced.
"How that prejudice is going to be implemented, I don't have any confidence that it will be done fairly."
She argued the policy would be illegal as it stands.
In response to National's suggestion the party may also ban gang facial tattoos, Ngapo was scathing.
"You can't Thin Lizzy this problem away," she said.
Gangs are 'taking over our streets' - National
The National MP-elect said gangs are "taking over our streets", defending his party's plan. (Source: 1News)
Later on Breakfast, National's Simeon Brown said New Zealanders are "sick and tired" of seeing gang presence in communities.
"[They are] taking over our streets, intimidating people, and the lawlessness that comes with that," he said. "This is part of our plan to tackle gangs, give police new powers, to send a message.
"Gang patches and the activity that these gangs are perpetrating in our communities is unacceptable."
Labour's Tangi Utikere said he didn't think National's plan would work, while Brown criticised Labour's approach during its time in Government.
"As Christopher Luxon says, there are rights and there are responsibilities in societies," Brown said. "These gangs want all the rights, all the freedoms of being citizens of New Zealand, but take none of the responsibilities and then impinge on other people's rights.
"We say that's unacceptable and this is part of our plan to tackle that influence in our communities.
"They're breaching people's human rights every single day," he added.
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