Collins Judith: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — Third Reading 
Collins Judith: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:646;Page:15739] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 I would like to take a call on this bill and endorse every sentiment that George Hawkins has just said in this House. I think that George Hawkins has shown remarkable courage and tenacity in promoting this bill. It was first referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee on 7 December 2005. It is now April 2008. I understand that this is the very first time that a bill has gone to a select committee been roundly thrown out of the select committee—dissed by the select committee—and survived to end up becoming law as this bill will become this evening. That has a great deal to do with the tenacity and drive of George Hawkins and his ability to work with other MPs across the House and to put Manukau City issues first. I congratulate him on that. 
When I look at the report from the Local Government and Environment Committee I see that there are 5½ pages of text about why this is a bad bill. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: You’re joking? 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: I am not joking. There are 3 paragraphs on why it is a good bill and those paragraphs reflect the views of the National Party and New Zealand First. Those were the two parties that supported this bill and the efforts of George Hawkins. Unfortunately the Government did not support the bill but George Hawkins just kept on—and I say “Good on George Hawkins!” With him too I give my congratulations to the city of Manukau and to the people and ratepayers of Manukau of whom I am one who live with this scourge of graffiti. I congratulate the judge—although we should not really bring judges into the debate—whom George Hawkins referred to today who stood up against these dreadful vandals. I say “Good on him!” but I say “Bad on the Children’s Commissioner!” who says that graffiti is art and some sort of legitimate resistance activity. 
The people of Manukau City and South Auckland are good people. They are people who care about their environment and they care about their families. In some cases not all they are people who do not get a lot of choice in life. They are the people whom George Hawkins talked about: the people on fixed incomes and the people who often live in situations where they have to watch every single penny. They are often people who do not have expensive burglar alarms or expensive insurance policies. They are people who simply cannot afford anything other than the absolute basics. They need to know that although this bill will not solve all of their problems it at least sends a message. That message is that this Parliament cares enough to say that enough is enough and that we have had enough of the behaviour that has escalated over many years. It has got to the stage where people have had enough. 
Like George Hawkins I too say that it is very sad that a family in Manurewa lost its child. It is also incredibly sad for the family of the person who is accused in that case. It is extraordinarily sad for the whole area. But I also say that it is about time this Parliament showed leadership. That leadership should be saying that it is not OK to break into the offices of a non-governmental organisation; that it is not OK to graffiti all over someone’s house. That is not art. We have people in my area who graffiti over the footpath. At Kirks Bush in Papakura there is lovely bush but one can go along and find graffiti all over the trees. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Oh no! 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: There is and I am happy to show members. That is what we put up with but why should we? A couple of years ago the police in Papakura took real ownership of this issue and they got the taggers out cleaning up the graffiti. I say “Good on them!” and the people of Papakura said “Good on them!”. But what happened? Some namby-pamby QC from somewhere or other came waltzing through and decided that that was an infringement on the rights of those taggers. Well I have some news for her—if she comes anywhere near us again we will talk about infringement of rights. We will talk about the infringement of the rights of people who should be able to live without fear in their own homes and who should be able to go about their business without having their property destroyed and defaced. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: It’s intimidating. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Mr Auchinvole is quite right; it is utter intimidation. It is about saying whose patch it is. Well I have news for those taggers—it is actually our patch. It is the patch of the people of Manukau; it is the patch of the people of Papakura. It is our patch and I tell them to get out of our patch.