Tauranga's by-election candidates are split on how to tackle the city's crime.
Tauranga parliamentary election candidates, National's candidate Sam Uffindell, Labour's Jan Tinetti, and Act's Cameron Luxton. Photo: RNZ
They're going into their final day of campaigning, with law and order a key election issue.
Part of the reason crime is front and centre isn't just that it's happening, it's also that politicians don't stop bringing it up.
Crime is the National Party's topic du jour.
Even someone who's not even an MP yet has got his lines well-rehearsed.
"People here have just had a gutsful," says National's candidate Sam Uffindell.
"Gangs outnumber police here two to one. We've got more gang members than any other region in the country. People want their roads back, people don't want to be intimidated anymore."
He has made going after gangs his campaign priority, even preparing a member's bill to put in the ballot box, should he enter Parliament.
It would crack down on gang members riding in convoys, fining them or impounding their bikes.
It's a safe play to National's base, but he hopes to sway voters on the fence.
"We think this will make a real difference, and give the streets back to the law-abiding citizens of New Zealand and Tauranga," he says.
National's police spokesperson Mark Mitchell has joined Uffindell's campaign trail.
He's keeping a close eye on the bill.
National's candidate Sam Uffindell out and about yesterday. Photo: Giles Dexter/RNZ
"As a local candidate, he identified what was an important local issue to the people, and he's brought forward a solution to that. It's actually a really good solution, and there's no reason if it works here that we can't roll that out nationwide," Mitchell says.
But even if the bill gets drawn, it's got to get through Parliament.
And with Labour's majority, opposition bills don't tend to make it very far.
Uffindell's Labour contender, Jan Tinetti, doesn't think the bill is up to scratch.
"We know that it's not likely to work, we've had these sorts of solutions in the past, and they haven't worked. Unfortunately, this is a rhetoric that just keeps this issue going over and over, and and I say to these people, cut the rhetoric, so you can be part of the solution, not part of the problem," she says.
Tinetti believes working with communities is key.
Jan Tinetti's supporters make their presence felt. Photo: Giles Dexter/RNZ
"Bringing the community together, bringing the government organisations together, having those conversations which people tend to shy away from, because they think that that's being soft. Actually, that's being hard, that's making a decision where you are going to take a line in the sand and say 'enough is enough, we are going to develop a solution together. And we're going to stick with that solution.'"
ACT's Cameron Luxton says he's heard plenty of stories of gang intimidation, and people feeling unsafe.
But he believes simply saying you'll ban something isn't good enough.
"We need to actually make people feel safe in our communities because they are safe, not just because of some catchphrase, 'fix the problem by banning certain behaviours'. We need to go after the fundamental causes, which in our community is the policing of drugs, and the stopping the importation of drugs."
Tauranga is home to New Zealand's largest port. It's the centre of the region's opportunities. And gangs see it that way as well.
"We've got a port in the centre of our city, which is a major importation hub. And that's why the gangs are trying to take over Tauranga, we need to address it at the cause," Luxton says.
