Andersen GinnyHon GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this bill. We in the Labour Party agree that gangs cause harm in our community. We know that they cause violence and hurt not only within their own whānau and social circles but they also cause public hurt and in our streets as well. We know that the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine hits the poorest communities in New Zealand. It fuels retail crime it causes mental health issues and it drives violent statistics even further. It causes intergenerational damage and it destroys the very fabric and the building blocks of our community. We agree on that.But this bill—this bill—does not provide the solutions to that problem. Banning gang patches typifies the approach that this Government takes to law and order: it is cosmetic and ornamental. It would like to not see the problem and it thinks that if the problem is not seen then it goes away. But it fails to address the root causes of what drives organised criminal activity in New Zealand. It's for that reason that this bill is a failure.This Government has focused completely on looking tough and we've just heard the Minister say that he's put gangs on notice. But what I would like to know is what does this bill do to stop young people growing up in homes where they see and experience family violence on a daily basis? How will the banning of gang patches or the issuing of a dispersal notice make any difference in making our communities safer?Dispersal orders—let's take a look at those. We had a good look at those in the Justice Committee. So the way it's going to work is that if there's is a gathering of some gang members and they will be intimidating by being there—that's not OK. So the police officer or officers who approach that group will go up and say We're going to issue you with a dispersal notice and we're required to do that in writing. So could you give me your email please."; "mmm69@yahoo.com". "Oh you haven't got an email. Right so if you haven't got an email would you please be able to accompany me down to the station and I'll print one off at the office and provide it to you so you can take it home." I kid you not Madam Speaker this is the process outlined in this bill. Dispersal notices will be provided to gang members by asking them to provide their email address and if they don't have one they are then required to accompany an officer to the station to get a printed copy. You couldn't write it—but in fact they have and it's in legislation and we're debating it tonight.So what will happen is that there won't be an anything noticed there won't be any recording apart from in the police intel. And what will happen then if that is breached? Then that person is up for five years in jail. There is no other law in New Zealand that we can find or even overseas where someone who doesn't even get a written notice delivered to them is up for a five-year imprisonment penalty.So we already know that Police resources are stretched. We know that for sure because Police received a $107 million less in this Budget compared to the last Budget. The Police Association themselves have said that the risk of this bill is it threatens to undermine the credibility of Police when there are some parts of New Zealand where it just won't be able to be enforced. That is a real concern: there are parts of New Zealand where there are insufficient police and insufficient resources to be able to enforce this law. So it might work in urban areas but it definitely won't work in parts of rural New Zealand.The concern and the sad irony of this bill is while it's packaged to look like it's making our country safer it is in fact part of a range of policies that just take us backwards because you can't just take this issue in isolation. We know that. So what we've seen is the Minister of Police has written a letter to the Commissioner of Police—and he's very proud of that; he says it's the biggest thing he's done since being the Minister of Police. And he has said he wants more foot patrols more visibility and he wants gangs to be done to be controlled—no taking over the streets. That's very clear; he's said it a number of times.So Police have got $107 million less in the Budget and they've been required to be more visible. Well something's got to give. And it has—it's called family violence. There are 3000 fewer family violence investigations since December this year; in addition to that a 29 percent reduction where the victim has known the offender. So that's family violence—a 29 percent reduction in investigations.So this is my problem: why is it for this Government that public violence and intimidation is intolerable but it happening in our own homes is somehow different? That is my question. Why is it that our young people are left to grow up in homes where they witness and experience family violence and there is no one there to pick up the phone when they ask for help? No other social services have received funding. Police have gone and there's no one else coming. And this is what our answer is. What happens to those young people? Do we start up some more boot camps so that we can look after those young people in boot camps when they haven't received the support and care and love that they need because they're being exposed to family violence? This is the integrated problem that we're dealing with. And the solution that we've had is that we're going to email gang members and tell them to take their patches off.Right I'll just wrap this up Madam Speaker because we've only got a few minutes left. This is a Government that wants to look like they're delivering a safer New Zealand and in reality it is absolutely cosmetic. I mean I challenge the Government to show us in these speeches coming up and have a debate tonight about the types of ingrained issues that gangs provide to our community how that's interrelated with family violence and young people being exposed to family violence as they grow up the lack of social services currently available to provide that support and how we address those ingrained problems that we need to face up to in New Zealand.Treating gangs in isolation and demonising them and taking their patches off does absolutely nothing for the next generation of young people who need hope who need something to look and hold out for—that things will get better. Providing them answers like getting tough on gangs and putting them on notice and setting up boot camps for young people does nothing but drive these issues underground. It merely ticks a box that serves a purpose in a focus group to give a couple of votes or a couple of extra points to the National Party or to ACT or to New Zealand First to show that they're delivering and they're getting tough and they're going to show who's who and what's going to happen. But in reality there are no real answers.That is the sad part—that this Government has failed to provide any real answers or any real solutions to a problem that they campaigned so heavily about. If restoring law and order—if that's what it is—is taking off a gang patch and giving gangs a dispersal notice then I am deeply concerned for where our country is heading because it is going backwards. If that is the solution that this Government provides to an intergenerational problem of organised crime—the violence the havoc the drugs they deal—if that is their answer then I am absolutely dismayed at the lack of ability to fix a problem.This is a cosmetic solution that looks good on the telly that gives you a sound bite that might even get a TikTok video if you're Paul Goldsmith but it does absolutely nothing to make our communities any safer. I think that the Police will struggle to be able to actually enforce this law in parts. So we will watch—we will watch—from this side of the House to see what happens as this legislation is rolled out. Let's see what those operational instructions look like for the police service as they struggle to be able to figure out how to even deliver a dispersal notice and let's see—let's see—what organised crime does in response to a tick-box cosmetic solution to a problem that runs far deeper than this Government has given time to even consider."