Introducing tougher gang laws in New Zealand would simply drive crime further underground, an Australian crime expert believes.
The Government is assessing the effectiveness of a new South Australian law aimed at stopping gang members associating with each other.
Under that law, gang members can be banned from talking to each other and from certain places and events.
The law allows gangs to be declared criminal organisations, and control orders to be issued stopping members from communicating with each other. Breaches of the law are punishable by up to five years' jail.
Andreas Schloenhardt, from the Queensland University School of Law, told Nine to Noon on Tuesday that the immediate effect of the law in South Australia will be the displacement of crime.
Dr Schloenhardt says some gangs will cross state borders, while others will simply attempt to operate more clandestinely.
He is listing a number of faults with the law - including that the criteria is so vague there is nothing really preventing the attorney-general outlawing the opposition party, or the local tennis club.
Dr Scholenhardt says law and order issues are popular, and he hopes they will be calmly considered in New Zealand after electioneering is over.
Meanwhile, a patched Mongrel Mob member from South Auckland told Nine to Noon that there is no way to get rid of gangs in New Zealand.
He says they have always been around and they always will be - so such attempts are only likely to make people rebel and add to the problems.