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Kōrero: Whanganui region

The mayor and the gangs

Image
The mayor and the gangs

Gang violence flared in Whanganui in 2006. Many people wanted the gangs’ presence in the city reduced, along with the drug dealing that seemingly accompanied it. Mayor Michael Laws sought to make gang patches unlawful on Whanganui streets. Tom Scott reverses the ‘dialogue’ in this cartoon, which has gang members trying to get rid of the mayor.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: DCDL-0001175

by Tom Scott

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Diana Beaglehole, Whanganui region – Government, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/cartoon/19076/the-mayor-and-the-gangs (accessed 24 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Diana Beaglehole, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009, updated 1 June 2015.