Blumsky Mark: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — In Committee 
Blumsky Mark: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:646;Page:15315] 
MARK BLUMSKY (National) 
: 
 I thought that that was an incredibly poetic speech from the previous speaker Mr Ross Robertson. I agree with a lot of what he said and it was a wonderful commentary. But the thing that he missed was that this bill entered the House in 2005 and bugger me it is now 2008. What has happened? Hearing the member’s wonderful speech about people wanting this measure and that it has to be done and about dogs lifting their legs and everything else I would ask why Labour members voted against the Manukau City (Control of Graffiti) Bill when it came through the select committee process. The National Party supported it but members on the other side of the Chamber voted against George Hawkins’ bill. I would suggest that there is a huge amount of hypocrisy in what we are hearing here. I just cannot believe how long this bill has taken because graffiti is a very serious problem. Graffiti is a cancer that destroys our society. It destroys our landscape because we do not see it spreading and it is vandalism—total vandalism. It affects how safe people feel it affects trade and it affects property prices. It is a very destructive cancer. 
In 2004 Sir Barry Curtis wrote to the president of Local Government New Zealand and said that he had a remit to take something through the local government conference in 2003. That remit started this whole process. That was in 2003. I have to take my hat off to Sir Barry Curtis because if he had not started this and if George Hawkins had not picked it up on his behalf then we would not be here debating this bill today. I would say to Sir Barry that he has got his act together incredibly well and Len Brown is following him very much so. I really do congratulate him on his attitude to attack graffiti. 
I also take my hat off to Bob Harvey because Bob and his team at Waitakere are also committed and have been from day one in the fight against graffiti. I had the pleasure of being taken round Waitakere with Bob’s team and I tell members that we have to take our hats off to the energy and commitment those people put into cleaning up graffiti. They know what graffiti is doing and they know how bad it is. Bob might not be able to write good letters to MPs but he can sure as hell do a good job on tackling graffiti—and that relates to a bill that progressed further through the House earlier tonight. 
When I walk around even the streets of Wellington I cannot believe how much graffiti is taking off and is becoming uncontrolled. I know that the Manukau City Council has spent millions of dollars on fighting graffiti. The Wellington City Council is now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on fighting graffiti and it is just a shame. It is just a disgrace. Judith Collins talked about the skate park in Manukau. I can tell the member now that we opened Waitangi Park in Wellington—as Chairperson Hobbs knows—and it is a wonderful piece of city space with a very good facility for kids to do their skateboarding but blow me down taggers whacked it with graffiti on day one. We just need to walk around the city of Wellington to see graffiti on doors buildings and everywhere. It has to be stopped. 
I say to George Hawkins that his bill has been the catalyst for what is going through the parliamentary process as we speak. This bill needs to be bigger than Manukau. The member needed to start it at Manukau and he has started it at Manukau. The rest of the country owes him a debt because of the fact that he has done this but the Government also needs to be ashamed that it did not support the member. It did not support the member’s bill. Government members did not pick up this legislation in 2005 and a cynic would say that maybe they thought they should do something because someone was killed recently. Maybe they thought: “Oh my gosh! Maybe we should do something about this graffiti.” and they have. But they have gone just halfway. The bill that is going through the other select committee is not good enough. It will not fix the problems. Members should go and talk to mayors like Kerry Prendergast and ask her what she thinks of the legislation going through the House and whether she thinks that it will make a difference to graffiti. There is something missing here; there is no country strategy. What has happened is that there has not been the input that is needed into this because George Hawkins’ bill was not picked up. The Government has been too slow and it should be ashamed. But I thank George Hawkins for this bill.