The National Party is continuing to mock Labour for funding a methamphetamine rehabilitation programme rather than mental health advocate Mike King's Gumboot Friday.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday $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
It's been criticised relentlessly by the National Party as giving money straight to the Mongrel Mob.
National MP Chris Bishop posted a meme on his Facebook page mocking Labour for funding the rehab over Mike King's Gumboot Friday, and Simeon Brown posted the same meme on his social media.
The meme shows a car labelled 'Labour Government' pulling off a highway towards a sign labelled "2.5 million to the Mongrel Mob", ignoring a sign straight ahead which reads "Mike King's Gumboot Friday".
Political commentator and former National Party campaign manager David Farrar also posted a meme - a side-by-side comparison of Ardern and National leader Judith Collins, where Ardern says she is giving millions to the Mob, while Collins says "crush them".
Another meme posted by Brown on Wednesday showed Ardern as a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, choosing to give funding to the Mongrel Mob instead of "kids at Starship", "overworked nurses", or "Mike King's Gumboot Friday".
Mike King himself lambasted Ardern's decision, saying it was "silly".
"When I asked you to have a conversation about it in the Koru Club, you looked me in the eye and you said, 'Mike I cannot get involved in this, we have a fair and equitable system and I cannot be involved in funding decisions.
"Yet today you stood at the press conference and you took credit for signing off $2.75 million to the Mongrel Mob. I don't get it. Where is the fair and equitable process? Where is the honesty and transparency? For me, it's lost and you've been making these silly decisions for a long time now."
King's funding was declined as he applied outside the cutoff period for consideration.
