Worth Richard: Organised Crime (Penalties and Sentencing) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Worth Richard: Organised Crime (Penalties and Sentencing) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 01 July 2008. Volume:648;Page:17084. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr RICHARD WORTH (National) 
: 
 I last spoke on this bill on Thursday 26 June and indicated that National supports the legislation. It is legislation in short form—it barely occupies two sides of paper. It is no wonder we support it because it actually steals National Party policy. The bill makes amendments to the Crimes Act by increasing from 5 to 10 years the maximum term of imprisonment for the offence relating to participation in an organised criminal group. It also makes changes to the Sentencing Act—and this is the stolen policy—because clause 6 
amends section 9 of the Act which relates to aggravating and mitigating factors that the court must take into account when sentencing. The explanatory note states: “The effect of the amendment is to insert a new aggravating factor that relates to offending connected with participation in organised criminal groups.” 
On Thursday I made some comments about organised crime and gangs in New Zealand. I would like to continue on that theme for a moment. Organised crime as such is an amorphous term—individuals motorcycle gangs or transnational crime can come under that umbrella term. Its operations are highly organised criminal enterprises with budgets far outstripping those available to the police. I have listened with interest to the debate in this House during question time as to the number of people who are actually associated with these gang movements. The information available to me from the police indicates that there are nearly 6000 patched members and an estimated 60000 associates who hang around ethnic outlaw motorcycle and youth gangs in New Zealand. So they outnumber sworn police officers by nearly 8:1. 
There are those who naively believe that New Zealand gangs will eventually self-destruct through their exposure to methamphetamine and P or that senior members may actively discourage their own offspring from following in their footsteps. But I think the reality is that for every gang member who leaves there are many disenfranchised and alienated youths ready to take up the colours. Some gangs may not survive—I accept that. But their members usually merge into other more powerful entities. In a trend that has come straight from the United States Canada and Europe some of the stronger New Zealand gangs are patching over as it is called smaller clubs. Patching over as the name suggests allows the stronger club to absorb the smaller club into its membership sharing the stronger club’s patch in return for a share of the smaller club’s earnings. 
I think what is happening in the United States in the area of methamphetamine use is interesting. The United States now lists methamphetamine as its single biggest drug problem. Americans are beginning to count the drug’s huge cost on social services. My understanding is that the latest data available from the United States indicates that the cost to America of the methamphetamine scourge which is primarily driven by the gangs is approximately $400 billion each year. A similar study in Australia 5 years ago said that the cost to Australian taxpayers of illicit drugs was estimated at $1.7 billion. In New Zealand we are seeing gangs legitimise their wealth by buying into established businesses. Many senior members of gangs have given up their identifying patches and wear long sleeves in order to hide traditional gang tattoos so as to better blend in with mainstream New Zealanders. 
This legislation is important but it is only a small start on what is a major problem.