Connell Brian: Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Connell Brian: Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4586] 
BRIAN CONNELL (NZ National—Rakaia) 
: 
 I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Being a new member here I do not understand what you mean by the cross benches. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The cross benches are at the back of the Chamber. 
Hon Paul Swain 
: Those ones that go across. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: I thank the Minister for his help. I have a question for him so he should stay in the chair. People are tending to read this legislation or history backwards. District councils and city councils have bent over backwards to try to accommodate boy racers by providing off-street facilities. What has become very clear is that these hoons have very little interest in driving their cars in a dangerous way unless they have an audience. In fact the police in New South Wales report that the threat of impoundment has resulted in a reasonable uptake of alternative venues provided by clubs and local authorities. I think there is a message here for members of this House—if a deterrent is put in place if councils provide off-street facilities they may not be doing that in vain. 
I have a question for the Minister and it is not a question to try to trap him. As I was mulling over this legislation during dinner it occurred to me that I did not know what would happen if the impounded vehicle is leased subject to a hire purchase agreement or financed through a bank. 
Hon Paul Swain 
: It doesn’t matter. 
BRIAN CONNELL 
: Maybe the Minister could take a call and tell me why it doesn’t matter because I do not know the answer. Just how will that situation be dealt with? 
The second issue I would like to raise is that the police respond to public concern. That is where they put their resources. If they are overstretched at the moment it is because this issue has high public interest. If one thinks it is an issue just for urban areas it is not. This is an endemic problem that stretches from the deep South Island to the North Island. I have an email that I would like to quote from: “Vehicle noise pollution is becoming a very insidious problem nationwide. What on earth would a scrubby-arsed 1.3 litre car need a 150 to 200 millilitre tailpipe on a car other than to make lots of noise and be more of a damned nuisance?”. That is an issue of public concern and something that needs to be addressed. 
As I cast through the commentary on the bill from the select committee I note that it states: “We note the New Zealand Law Society and the National Council of Women submitted that if the police were resourced adequately and if they treated the issue as a priority the existing law would be sufficient to deal with the issue. However the police note that street racer activity tends to peak during the hours of darkness at the weekends when other more serious crime is also peaking.” The issue then is whether the police are resourced adequately. On reflection notwithstanding the commentary on the bill which I accept I was a party to I am not certain that they are. It might be something that we need to address in this Chamber to make sure that the police do have the resources to deal with an issue that has as I said become endemic. 
I said that councils have bent over backwards to try to assist these people to pursue a legitimate interest in drag racing and of course some have taken up that opportunity. Councils report that around 20 percent have taken up that opportunity. The bulk of the facilities though are left unused and particularly when this activity is peaking there is no one on these drag strips. They prefer to go to town harass people block off roads and cause huge problems. They destroy people’s quality of life. As I said before people have petitioned me in their droves to take action to do something about this problem. 
The commentary also notes that penalties imposed for these offences do not seem to act as a deterrent. People tend to get their fine deal with it at the police station and come out and wave it around as a badge of honour. Current law does not easily identify offenders.