Jones Shane: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Second Reading 
Jones Shane: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1661] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 Kia ora ano tatou. Greetings to you Mr Deputy Speaker. Firstly I rise and acknowledge the member for Whanganui for bringing forward this local bill the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill. I acknowledge his effort and the angst of the citizens of Wanganui over the scourge known as gangs. Unfortunately it blights my part of the world as well and although it causes me some consternation I acknowledge the effort expended—forlornly I fear and hope—by Michael Laws in bringing the bill to the House. 
This bill I genuinely believe will worsen the gang situation in Wanganui. This bill will provide a platform for a greater level of notoriety amongst a predominantly younger group of members who are attracted to the wilder side of life. They will now know as a consequence of this bill that it is cool a rite of passage and actually a measure of distinction not just to the gangs but to the wider community to poke one’s fingers at a stupid bill that will never be fully implemented. It will enrich legions of lawyers as they move away from the Treaty trough into the gang insignia trough. 
That is why I do not support this bill but I acknowledge that there was no doubt a bit of soul-searching in the mind of Mr Borrows. As a former policeman he knows a heck of a lot about gangs but in his heart of hearts he must know that passing an Act giving the ability to the council of Wanganui to regulate what the Maoris—predominantly the Maoris—of Wanganui can wear and where they can wear it is not a good recipe for productive race relations in Wanganui. 
Secondly gangs are fed by criminality. One does not get into a gang unless one is prepared to do serious harm. The reality however is that this bill will not bring an end to those offences. This bill will not bring an end to the harm those people do to their own children to their wives and to what is left of their parents. This bill is a gesture designed to mollify the anger of the people of Wanganui but it will not deal with the scourge of gangs. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon SHANE JONES 
: Kia ora. Greetings Mr Deputy Speaker. You are back from a satisfactory meal no doubt. Let me pick up on what I said earlier. We thoroughly understand why the Mayor of Wanganui and the member for Whanganui felt obliged to respect the fears and anxieties of certain segments of the Wanganui community and bring forward this bill. It is important that we state that. It is not important that we buy into what Mr Ardern was saying—he prattled on about referenda etc. Mr Laws held a referenda to murder what is left of the Maori language in Wanganui and I do not see on the other side of the House a great deal of interest in continuing Michael Laws’ agenda in that respect. I say to members opposite that they should be very careful about using referenda for purposes that potentially create as much harm as good. 
Rodney Hide stood in this Chamber and said he would never support this bill. Voices associated with the Sensible Sentencing Trust have said the opposite. Fortunately the more that ACT members talk about law order and justice the sooner we will see them go. 
However I will come back to the bill. The problem it is trying to deal with—gangs—is a very serious menace. A lot of the Pakeha members in the House possibly do not realise how deeply infiltrated gangs have become on marae and at major events and hui. I know that some of the gangs in Wanganui are not all tangata whenua not all Maori. For example when I was at Waitangi this year I saw a Hummer—the vehicle that Schwarzenegger drives around in—advertising a fight club. The fight club is only a façade and a front for the Headhunters—who I understand Hone Harawira is rapidly supporting because of their interest in kickboxing. That is another mark against my relation. The Headhunters are an example of a gang who do not wear insignia or a symbol but who peddle menace. They trade in drugs and a disagreement over a small deal can lead to 2 weeks in hospital. In fact I am beginning to fear for Mr Paul Holmes’ life given the strong stance he has taken against that particular gang. That gang is undoubtedly connected to the gangs in Wanganui. 
We may stop the wearing of insignia in a certain area but lawyers will rock up and have a debate about that. A lawyer may rock up and say on behalf of a gang that the gang is no longer calling itself the “Dogs” but is now the “Kuris” and all the Maori and a host of other people in Wanganui will know that it is the same gang with a different name and label. It is a dangerous precedent to incite fear anxiety hatred and hostility and to give people a false sense of belief that this bill will solve a very very serious and hurtful situation. 
I would be the first to agree with the people of Wanganui that a lot of the gang behaviour there has no place in any settled society. But the reality is that this bill in the hands of clever recruiters will be a new device for recruiting young gang members. How will they establish new credibility? They will get arrested for wearing their colours. Where will they be arrested? It will be in an area that will be defined after a long debate. I fear that ratepayers will have to absorb the cost as lawyers pound away at the local council as it seeks to define the area. 
As a slight aside a number of the herehere—the prisoners from the whare herehere the prison that is not very far from where I live at Ngawha—occasionally go to the Kaipara to dig kumara. They have to do something and there is a labour shortage in that regard. I am of the school of thought that if one wants to redeem oneself then kia kaha. We should put out our hands to support such people. But if those people are going to constantly punch me in the nose then I say “Goodnight Irene.”—they should stay in the hinaki for as long as they like. Those people are not allowed to wear gang insignia when they go to the Kaipara to dig kumara. So what do they do? They all go with a red handkerchief or a red T-shirt or a red ring or some other symbol that will not be described in this bill. 
This bill is an understandable response to a source of menace in the local community but unfortunately it will not—and I am disappointed that members on the other side of the House have not seen it for what it is—remedy the problem afflicting that area. 
I tell the people of Wanganui that the majority of their gang members are rangatahi young Maori. The people of Wanganui should not give the gangs a new platform from which to recruit further amongst themselves in order to make people’s lives more miserable. This bill is a nice try but we have a better answer. Kia ora tatou katoa.