THE PRESS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1987. Work scheme that failed

Press, 14 January 1987, Page 14

THE PRESS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1987. Work scheme that failed

Saxon Britain tried the experiment of paying gangs of marauding Danes, in the hope that the Danes would behave themselves. The experiment failed. Modem New Zealand has tried a similar experiment Part of the taxes paid by, working New Zealanders has been used by the Government to employ gangs of youths and young men under the Contract Work Scheme. The gangs have flourished; criminal behaviour can hardly be said to have declined. At last, the Minister of Employment Mr Burke, has admitted the failure and no new contracts will be made under the present arrangements. The scheme was well intentioned. Even when little work was done, it sometimes kept gang members off the streets, or kept apart gangs that were deep in violent feuds. Something new will be needed if the problem of violent gangs is to be tackled adequately. For many years, some gangs have become adept at milking the taxpayers. They have not been short of help from social workers and others whose livelihoods also depend on extractions from taxpayers. Gang members are sometimes artful at making themselves unemployable in normal jobs. To describe gang members as “disadvantaged” is not enough. The further questions should be asked — disadvantaged in what sense, and in relation to whom? Those placed at a disadvantage in relation to the gangs would include ordinary workers who have been paid less, for more reliable work, in jobs similar to those made available under the contract scheme. Also at a disadvantage are those unemployed people who have not banded together in gangs with criminal overtones. The “disadvantages” claimed on behalf of gang members sometimes turn out to be no more than a readiness to resort to violence and crime, or to live in self-induced squalor.

Gangs have been a growing problem in New Zealand for more than a decade. Their membership may be predominantly Maori, or part-Maori, but their behaviour is an insult to

the Maori people. Their readiness to resort to violence and other criminal behaviour, and the seemingly endless special assistance they have received, have done much to sour race relations in recent years.

Perhaps the worst feature of the Contract Work Scheme has been the extra support it has given to the gang structure. As well as financing gang activities, the schemes have helped to make gang membership seem desirable. If work, and incomes, are to be created or provided for gang members, ways will have to be found to ensure that it is individuals, not gangs, that receive the benefits.

At the core of, the failure of the Contract Work Scheme is a failure in supervision. Work done, or not done, has not always been adequately checked. The prices paid have not always been checked against the general rate for such work; nor has there always been adequate supervision of the way money has been paid out. Much of the blame must lie with the Labour Department which administered the scheme, although the department has not always had adequate or suitable staff to do the job asked of it. Those who award the contracts and pay out the money appear to forget too easily that the funds they disburse come out of the pockets of ordinary taxpayers.

Mr Burke has promised a "refined Contract Work Scheme” with the “administrative difficulties” ironed out and more protection for the public interest. That is surely the least he can do on behalf of taxpayers, who have so far provided nearly $5 million under the old scheme. Any new scheme should have the approval of the Minister of Police and her officers. The police have already had to spend much time exploring abuses of the old work scheme. To have scarce police resources tied up in examining the failures of other Government departments to do their job properly is absurd, as well as a further charge against the taxpaying community.