Turia Tariana: Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Turia Tariana: Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:4096] 
Hon TARIANA TURIA (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Tena tatou katoa. I would like to join with some of my other colleagues in the House and congratulate Metiria Turei on her appointment as co-leader of the Green Party. Tena koe Metiria. 
This bill that we are talking about today introduces a new offence—the offence of cruising. Of course cruising is not a new phenomenon. Even in my day there was a fascination for the young in driving hotted-up cars through the main street. It depended on what one was driving: mum’s Morris Minor hardly stacked up against a Mark II Zephyr but there is a big difference between idling down the avenue in second gear and the horrific speeds and risk-taking behaviour that we are responding to in this bill. This bill responds to the alarming data that in the period between 2003 and 2007 there was an average of 101 crashes per year from street racing and related activities. The estimated social cost of such offending was over $30 million. We should not minimise this behaviour or this issue. For those crashes we have a roll-call that must be attended to—that is an average of 10 deaths 46 serious injuries and 125 minor injuries each and every year. Those deaths have resulted from the sheer reckless disregard for human life and about 10 people every year have lost their lives because of the illegal street racing that has been going on for far too long. When it comes down to it the choice is the destruction of a car or the loss of a human life. There is no choice. 
There are vital public safety issues at the core of this debate that we cannot ignore. The Maori Party is pleased that this House is giving time to this issue to ensure that no more injuries and no more deaths result from such antisocial behaviour. This bill amends the Land Transport Act to increase the powers available to councils and police to disrupt deter apprehend and prosecute drivers who are street racing. By far the most vivid representation of why such a bill is necessary was seen just last week in Christchurch when a hundred-strong group of young boy racers threatened a lone female security guard—surrounding her smashing the windows of her car and causing general havoc at the Christchurch International Airport. The attack occurred at 10.30 p.m. in the middle of a routine check on behalf of the Aviation Security Service. I can only begin to imagine the fear that woman must have felt when her vehicle was blocked in the windows were smashed and she was then attacked. 
I want to raise the question of why this subculture appears to have taken root in Christchurch. The bill fails to throw any light as to the psychology or the profile of these boy racers; the remedy is focused instead on a punishment for the vehicles they drive. Yet many questions are left unanswered as to the nature of the membership of this community. I am curious as to why there appears to be a disproportionate amount of offending of this nature taking place in the South Island. In the top eight areas for which the police received complaints regarding boy racers four alone were in Christchurch City and the other was in Nelson. The only areas in the North Island that appear to be problem areas were the Auckland motorways Henderson and Tauranga. 
Then when we break down the total number of fines handed out by the police in the last 12 months between March 2008 and March 2009 we find that the results are quite staggering. For the offence of operating a motor vehicle causing sustained loss of traction only 89 such offences were recorded in Greater Auckland but a massive number of 342 cases were recorded in Canterbury. But the phenomenon is even more curious when we learn that these racers are predominantly male aged between 16 and 28 employed and middle-class. They are also often without—supposedly—a criminal history although they have received a number of fines for driving offences. However I suggest that some of the results of their behaviour and driving have certainly been criminal. 
Even more of interest to the Maori Party is the analysis from Paul Beere of Waikato University who suggests that there is no distinctive dress music political stance socio-economic group or other readily identifiable badges to mark these individuals. In fact if no one noticed I tell them that the only usual variable missing from this list is that of ethnicity which one would think would be worthy of note. In an article in the  
Press  
earlier this year: “Boy racers: What makes them tick?” a direct association was made with what the article referred to as “a skinhead ‘white pride’ group”. That article suggested that conflict was brewing amongst that community in reaction to tighter policing—conflict that erupted in open hostilities in Wigram late last January when a lone policeman was targeted by several hundred boy racers bottling his patrol car and taking pot-shots with an air rifle. 
The antisocial nature of these pack attacks goes beyond horrifying. We are not talking about recreational activities or young boys playing around with an imitation Grand Prix. Christchurch mayor Bob Parker declares: “This is embarrassing and it is ugly.” Our greatest concern must surely be that these cowardly attack on individuals will escalate and when combined with alcohol consumption stunt driving and excessive speed we are looking at horrendous injuries and large-scale damage—and we have heard about a lot of the horrendous injuries. 
So we welcome this bill insomuch as we welcome any interventions that will assist in protecting public safety and indeed in protecting these young people themselves from themselves. In addition to the new offence of cruising there is a raft of legislation to give councils the powers to create by-laws in relation to illegal street racing and cruising. Yet the spectacle of boy racing is so region-specific that I had to ring my son to find out where the boy-racing circuits in Wanganui were located. His response was reassuring even if it raised more questions. He told me that although there were definitely groups of young people in Wanganui who might constitute this category apart from a few fast drives at the top of the avenue it was not really commonplace. There is the odd wheelspin on the grassed areas out at the beach where I live but very little of this behaviour goes on thankfully. 
His answer left me wondering about the need for such wide-ranging by-laws and powers of seizure and for the impounding of cars breaching street racing and cruising by-laws when it appears that the extent of the problem across the land is variable. Even more puzzling to me is that although all the additional provisions introduced in this bill will inevitably impact on the tools of trade for the boy-racer industry can we be convinced that it will really create the enduring solutions that we need? Questions that we will be seeking to find answers for during the select committee process of this bill are: what are the outcomes we seek to ensure that boy racers are prevented from offending? How will we support these young people to desist from using their cars as vehicles for self destruction? How will we support the families of these young people to encourage the young people to take active responsibility not just for their passengers but also for those who may come into their path? How do we invest in communities to develop enduring solutions and to create environments in which boy-racer traffic-offending is no longer viable? The Maori Party will support this Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill to go through to the select committee in the hope that these more complex issues will be able to be explored. Kia ora.