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Story: Whanganui region

The mayor and the gangs

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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.

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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.

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How to cite this page

Diana Beaglehole, Whanganui region – Government, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/19076/the-mayor-and-the-gangs (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Diana Beaglehole, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 June 2015.