Hawkins George: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — In Committee 
Hawkins George: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15326] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 This has been a very interesting debate and I thank those who have contributed to it. It is not often that we get parties working together at a local level. In Manukau MPs from different parties have come together because we want to solve a problem. 
I acknowledge the work of my colleagues. We do not always agree. I suppose I seldom agree with Judith Collins and people like Pansy Wong who have been working on this issue. I refer to my colleague Ross Robertson in particular and to Su’a William Sio—he has been here for only a few days but he has been working on this problem for a long long time. It is interesting to note that Dr Sharples and I have different views on graffiti but in some areas we come together. We have to steer youth some of whom may be gang members in a different direction. 
I said earlier that I do not think this legislation alone will solve the problem of graffiti. It is a very complex problem that involves young people having access to alcohol. I know of one dairy in South Auckland—and I have mentioned it to the police—that sells liquor to kids in school uniform. These are the same young people that we see running around the streets at 2 o’clock in the morning. Drugs come into it too and I think that is one of the problems. 
It is a very complex situation and we need answers. Of course what has happened is that people in Manukau City are frustrated by it. We see elderly people going to get the  
New Zealand Herald  
in the morning who see the tags of various people sprayed all over their fence and they do not have the money to get the tags removed. A large number of people in South Auckland in particular cannot afford to buy fence stain. 
I pay tribute to the Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust whose volunteers paint out other people’s tags. That shows us something about the spirit of Manukau which I think is really great and we can also see it in this Chamber where members from different parties have come together to try to solve the problem. 
I want to mention my gratitude to Dr Richard Worth— 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Are you sure? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Yes. I am sure he knows that I will be here longer than him and that I will keep my seat. I am sure that he is gracious enough to lend his vote to helping a community like Manukau. 
I do not know what happens to people who have their photograph on hoardings. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: I do! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Clayton Cosgrove did but I have never been bold enough to have my photograph on my hoardings and I have been lucky enough to have them left alone. 
Tagging is a community problem and I think that the media has to be more responsive to what is happening. Instead of just seeing it as a problem the media should perhaps be doing some research to see how the problem of tagging has been solved in other countries. I know that Manukau looked at what happened in Australia. 
The bill has taken some time to get through the House but I think that people like Mark Blumsky who has been the Mayor of Wellington and who along with other members came and saw the problem realise that Manukau is different from many other centres. That is because we have a very young population. We have to find ways of redirecting these young people and this bill is one short step on what I think is unfortunately a very long journey.