Mob calls Ombudsman

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 3

Mob calls Ombudsman

PA Wellington The Ngati Muri Mahi Trust, registered two years ago to manage employment, accommodation, education and recreational needs of Dunedin’s Mongrel Mob, has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman about the disclosure of information relating to contract work schemes.

The trust claims that publication of the information has breached sections of the Official Information Act and section 13 of the Labour Department Act, which forbids the publication of any information obtained by the Minister or any departmental officer. The complaint runs to 14 pages and is supported by 70 pages of appendixes, the “Dominion” newspaper reports.

The complaint also includes harsh criticism of the four-month investigation by South Island police into gang funding which said there was no evidence of any criminality involving contract work schemes administered by the Labour Department.

The trust says the investigation was unwarranted, politically dangerous and reflected general prejudice toward gangs, work trusts and unemployed people.

"That the Labour Department has not released the names of individuals does not in any way soothe our concern; the trust is a client of the Labour Department and requires the protection of its confidentiality in the same way as an individual does,” the complaint says.