Documents related to a controversial state-funded Mongrel Mob-linked rehab scheme reveal police supported it, a trial showed promising results, and the programme will have to meet specific targets.
The Government came under fire in July after it was revealed $2.75 million had been granted to a trust called Hard 2 Reach, of which Mob member Harry Tam is co-director, to fund the Kahukura meth rehabilitation programme for gang members.
The Ministry of Health confirmed at the time it supported the Kahukura proposal to receive funding under Proceeds of Crime, which is administered by the Ministry of Justice. The programme received $2.75 million over four years.
The National Party was outraged, with MP Simeon Brown describing it as "a sick joke", but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern defended signing off the funding, pointing to a trial she said had shown promising results.
Documents released by the Ministry of Justice show a pilot run from September 29 to November 12 in Hawke's Bay with 10 men from the Mongrel Mob resulted in a 100 percent drug test pass rate.
Participants had weekly counselling sessions for trauma and addiction, including relapse prevention planning, and the documents show obligations were met by the participants, including court appearances and meetings with probation officers.
Ardern said the scheme had backing from police. The documents show police "supported the recommendation for funding this initiative from the Proceeds of Crime Fund".
Police said the programme "closely aligns with the work already underway in the region to develop community-led initiatives to address the harms of crime, including the methamphetamine trade".
The Police Association clearly does not support the funding, however. The union's president Chris Cahill revealed in July that a police officer "likened it to the most successful money laundering scheme he'd heard".
He explained: "Police take $2m of dirty money - as they recently did from the Notorious chapter of the Mongrel Mob in Operation Dusk in Hawke's Bay - and the Government returns $2.75m in clean money to people so closely linked to the same gang."
But the Mob-linked rehab scheme will have to meet specific targets to keep receiving funding, according to the documents.
Participants will have to show 50 percent improvement in drug test results after six months and 20 percent improvement in self-assessed physical health by three months.
The programme must also show a 20 percent reduction in convictions, by comparing six months before engagement with the programme to six months following. There must also be a 20 percent improvement in education, training and employment participation.
The programme also includes an "aspirational target" of no suicides, as reported by community leaders. It will compare the number of reported suicides every six months, to see if there has been improvement.
The documents go into detail about what the Kahukura rehab programme is about and why it was seeking taxpayer funding.
"Due to the nature of the initiative and the population it serves there are realistically limited alternative opportunities for funding," the documents say.
"This initiative is unlikely to attract charitable funding, and while applications can be made to funds held by agencies such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Development and Te Puni Kokiri, we are aware that these funds are often oversubscribed.
"The Proceeds of Crime fund has been identified as this initiative best fits with this fund's purpose and criteria."
The programme is described as "a marae-based rehab initiative" developed by the Notorious chapter of the Mongrel Mob in the Hawke's Bay known as the Chaindogs.
It's based on the Hauora initiative, run by the Notorious leadership of the Mongrel Mob and delivered by the Salvation Army, that ran from 2009 to 2017 under the previous National-led Government.
"Kahukura is a community-based rehabilitation initiative designed to reduce crime and harm to the community by addressing meth dependency, facilitating and supporting trauma recovery, and enhancing positive whānau and identity development and resiliency."
