Labour MP Michael Wood has condemned honorary lifetime Mongrel Mob member Harry Tam after a video surfaced showing him using a Nazi salute, but he wouldn't rule out working with him.
The video, which was shared by the National Party on Wednesday, shows Tam telling a group of Mongrel Mob members not to vote for National. He also used the words sieg heil - a victory salute used by Nazis at political rallies.
During an interview with The AM Show on Friday, fill-in host Ryan Bridge asked Wood to react to the video.
"Well, it's a guy mouthing off about politics on social media so that's not especially novel and like about 75 percent of New Zealanders last year he didn't support the National Party. He's entitled to his views, I obviously don't agree with a lot of his views and his activities but I'm not particularly sure what the story is here, " Wood said.
After being pushed by Bridge on Tam's use of the phrase, Wood said he hadn't heard it but condemned it.
"I didn't hear him say that… that's appalling if he said that. Anyone who makes that kind of comment should be condemned."
But Wood wouldn't go as far as ruling out further funding for a Mongrel Mob meth rehabilitation programme which Tam is involved in.
"Well here is where we deal with the challenges of dealing with people on meth and other serious drugs. Sometimes to get to those people and to help them, you might need to work with some people who aren't exactly the upstanding paragons of virtue that you ideally would."
"The reality of this programme is it's a programme that's worked. It's got people off meth, 100 percent of people who have gone through it in the trial were drug-free at the end of it."
But National MP Simon Bridges, who was on the panel with Wood, disagreed, interrupting with "rubbish".
"I think the reality is in any other area, if this was a contractor in any other area they would be cancelled if they [the Government] saw this footage," he said.
Bridges also took issue with Tam telling people not to vote for National suggesting it was an organised event in support of Labour, despite Tam never mentioning Labour.
It's unclear when the video is from however in it Tam mentions an upcoming September election, suggesting it was filmed in early 2020.
"We know that come September this year there is going to be this thing called the general election and we all know the leader of the National Party is ganging up on us. Can you see where I am getting at?" Tam asks.
"All of a sudden we can turn into 20,000 to 30,000 votes, we are a lot more powerful than we care to think we are and I need you all to think about registering to vote because if you don't and that motherf**ker gets in, your life is going to be hell."
Two weeks ago Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced $2.75 million would be given from the Proceeds of Crime seized by police to the Kahukura programme, run by Hard2Reach, which aims to address drug-seeking behaviour through a live-in marae in Waipawa.
According to the Hard2Reach website, a pilot for the programme will be led by the Chaindogs - a group of people who are Mongrel Mob affiliated.
In 2019 the Mongrel Mob Kingdom vowed to stop using sieg heil after the Christchurch terror attacks.
