Mackey Moana: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2119] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I am happy to take a call on clause 5 because it is a very important part of the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill. The first question I have for the member in the Chair is: how vocal publicly have district councillors been about this bill? This is a serious question. We know that this is a big issue in Wanganui. The mayor has spoken out publicly very strongly about what he wants to do in terms of this legislation and I assume that district councillors also have spoken publicly about this. 
The issue I have relates to clause 5(2) which states: “In making a bylaw under subsection (1) the Council must use the special consultative procedure set out in section 83 of the Local Government Act 2002.” Part of that special consultative procedure requires that people show no predetermination of any decision and that they excuse themselves from any vote on any issue they have spoken out publicly on. I think this might be an issue. It is often the case when councillors do not necessarily know at the beginning that they are going to follow this procedure that they are very vocal about an issue. They then find themselves at serious risk of judicial review when they make a decision. People who do not like that decision may say that it is not fair that the councillors did not go into it with an open mind that they did not go into it prepared to consider both sides of the debate and that they went in with a predetermined point of view. 
In fact judicial reviews can overturn decisions made by councils on that basis alone. I do not say this lightly: currently a case is before the court awaiting the outcome of a judicial review on exactly this matter. It was taken by the Whakatane District Council against the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. The judge took specific interest in the fact that a number of public statements and actually private statements—she was prepared to listen to private statements that were made and conversations between individuals—suggested predetermination by some councillors and therefore she needed to consider whether those councillors should have to excuse themselves from the vote. 
Labour is opposing this legislation. When I read this part of the bill and saw that this particular procedure—which I agree is probably the right one—had been picked out I thought that there might be difficulties. The council needs to be aware that any appearance of predetermination real or otherwise may cause a problem for this legislation and may cause real cost for the Wanganui District Council further down the track. 
One of the issues that we have raised is the difficulty under this clause—where by-laws are able to be made to designate certain areas “specified places” where the display of gang insignia is prohibited—of our voting to pass this legislation without really knowing what the shape of this clause will be in Wanganui. It is very difficult because it is very much my concern that the poor communities in Wanganui will not get this by-law. It will be OK for gangs to be in these communities—not the wealthier communities which know how to go through the council procedures. It is not about being biased against the poor communities. The fact is that the wealthier communities are more likely to one know that there is a process going on two know how to engage in it and three know how to form a lobby group to make sure their part of the city is included in the by-law. Communities where people do not read the newspaper and may not listen to the local radio so they do not know there is a process going on and where even if they knew there was a process going on they would not know how to engage how to interact with the council or what they are meant to do—and may be too scared to do anything anyway—may feel that their point of view does not really count and that the council will not listen to them. That means it is likely that overwhelmingly the poorer communities will not get these by-laws and gang bans in their area while areas that are used to engaging with councils and that are used to having lobby groups will be able to have gangs banned in their area. That means that this bill is intrinsically unfair from the start and I do not think any member of this Committee would say that that is OK. I do not think anyone thinks that is fair; I think this bill should have tried more readily to address that. 
If this bill passes—and we are not sure now what will happen at the third reading; who knows—I really hope that the Wanganui District Council makes every single effort available in respect of these council procedures which are very foreign to a large proportion of many of our communities. These communities will be most affected and these communities are most at risk from having gangs come in to pick up prospects. The businesses in these areas will be affected. The by-law will undoubtedly make the central city a gang-free area but these people will be trying to run a business in an area that is not considered to be gang-free.