The Gangs Act 2024: Tough on Crime or Just Tough Talk?
Will New Zealand’s Gangs Act 2024 Be Effective? Lessons from Australia’s Anti-Gang Laws
The Gangs Act 2024, which came into effect in November 2024, represents a significant shift in New Zealand’s approach to tackling organised crime and gang-related activity. The Act introduces measures such as banning public displays of gang insignia, granting police new dispersal powers, and implementing non-consorting orders to prevent known gang members from associating with one another. These provisions mirror laws that have been trialled in Australia, where multiple states have enacted strict anti-gang legislation in response to rising gang violence and organised crime.
The key question remains: Will the Gangs Act 2024 effectively curb gang-related crime in New Zealand, or will it follow a pattern of mixed success seen across the Tasman?
Australia’s Experience with Anti-Gang Laws
Australian states have enacted various forms of anti-gang laws since the late 2000s, targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) and other asserted criminal organisations. The three main powers provided by the laws have been:
1. Anti-Association and Non-Consorting Laws
Several Australian states have passed legislation prohibiting known gang members from associating with each other.
Under New South Wales’ (NSW) Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act 2012, individuals subject to control orders can be arrested for simply communicating with fellow gang members.
Similar laws exist in Queensland (VLAD laws once applied but were repealed and replaced with alternative organised crime laws), Victoria, and South Australia.
2. Banning Public Display of Gang Insignia
Queensland’s Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment (VLAD) Act 2013 banned gang members from wearing club colours in public.
Western Australia (WA) passed similar legislation in 2021, imposing severe penalties for defying insignia bans.
3. Police Dispersal Powers & Prohibited Gatherings
Some Australian states, such as South Australia and Western Australia, have granted police the power to disperse gatherings of identified gang members, a provision mirrored in New Zealand’s new law.
Has This Approach Been Effective?
The success of these laws in Australia has been highly debated.
1. Reduction in Public Gang Activity
Some states, such as Queensland and WA, have reported a visible decrease in gang insignia displays and public gatherings. It has been suggested that the bans have made it harder for gangs to promote their brands and recruit new members.
The then Queensland government claimed a significant drop in OMCG-related crime following the introduction of its VLAD laws in 2013. However, the VLAD laws were highly controversial for their overreach into civil liberties and were later repealed.
2. Gang Crime Adapting Rather Than Declining
Despite initial reports of success, what was clear from later prosecutions which came before the Australian courts was that many gangs or organised criminal groups simply adapted their operations, going further underground and using encrypted communications to avoid detection.
There was no significant decrease in organised crime, with many gangs moving their activities online or using associates without criminal records to conduct business in the open. If anything, it made suspected criminal activity more difficult to detect.
3. Challenges to Enforcement
Legal challenges have plagued some of these laws, with court’s ruling that anti-association laws could violate constitutional rights in Australia.
In 2016, Queensland repealed its VLAD laws after legal challenges and concerns over human rights violations. However, it was replaced by a different piece of legislation that enacted similar provisions to those in other states such as New South Wales.
Enforcement of insignia bans has also proven difficult, as gang members find creative ways to sidestep regulations, such as using coded messages or alternative symbols.
4. Unintended Consequences
In some instances, strict anti-gang laws pushed crime further underground, making gang-related activity more difficult to monitor.
Some critics argue that criminal organisations became more sophisticated, making prosecution even harder. Although it is arguable that this would have occurred regardless of the laws due to the significant advancements in encrypted technology.
Will the Gangs Act 2024 Be Effective in New Zealand?
Based on Australia’s experience, New Zealand’s Gangs Act 2024 may reduce public displays of gang activity, but it is unlikely to eliminate gang-related crime. The key takeaways from Australia’s approach suggest the following:
Potential Benefits:
1. Disrupting Public Gang Culture: By banning insignia and breaking up public gatherings, the law could make it harder for gang members to congregate, recruit and intimidate communities. However, gang related events are already heavily monitored and regulated by the Police.
2. Increased Police Powers: Police now have clear authority to disperse gang gatherings, reducing the visibility of gangs in public spaces.
3. Short-Term Reduction in Public Violence: If enforced aggressively (which it appears that it will be), there may be an initial drop in gang-related incidents in public areas.
Likely Challenges and Limitations:
1. Gangs Will Adapt: As seen in Australia, criminal organisations will likely change their methods, shifting towards covert operations and online communications. In large part, this has already occurred but may become more commonplace when the ability to publicly consort becomes more difficult.
2. Difficult Enforcement: Insignia bans require constant policing and monitoring, which can be resource-intensive and divert police attention from more serious crimes. Police resources are already stretched, and aggressively enforcing this legislation may worsen the issue.
3. Risk of Legal Challenges: The law may be challenged under human rights grounds, particularly regarding freedom of association and the right to wear cultural or symbolic clothing. Similar challenges were brought before the courts in most of the states where the legislation applied in Australia.
4. No Guarantee of Long-Term Crime Reduction: If Australia’s experience is any indication, anti-gang laws tend to suppress visible gang activity rather than eliminate criminal enterprises.
Final Thoughts: Will It Work?
One of the government’s primary purposes for enacting The Gangs Act 2024 was to reduce the ability of gangs to operate. These laws are highly unlikely to eliminate gang activity in New Zealand, but it may make public gang culture less visible depending on how aggressively and uniformly the legislation is policed throughout the country.
However, as Australia’s experience demonstrates, outlawing gang insignia and gatherings does not necessarily reduce organised crime—it just forces gangs to operate more covertly. This comes with its own issues, potentially making the detection and prosecution of organised crime more difficult.
Ultimately, the Gangs Act 2024 may provide the Police with the ability to disrupt public gang activity. However, on its own, it will not be a silver bullet for New Zealand in eliminating gang related crime.
About the Author
Steven Lack is a leading criminal defence barrister based in Auckland, specialising in serious crime, including drug offences, homicide, and financial crime. With a strategic and meticulous approach, he provides expert legal representation for clients facing complex criminal charges.
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