Sabin Mike: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSabin Mike: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 12 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11115. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MIKE SABIN (National—Northland):How could that member—Andrew Little—seriously raise that issue in this debate on the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill which provides police with powers to arrest gang members with gang patches? He talked about putting lipstick on pigs? Honestly what is the member thinking? I am sure police out there will be horrified to hear the member making lipstick on pigs references in a bill that gives police powers to deal with gangs. [Interruption ] Well there you go—I am sure that is where the member was going with it. It is a fairly good indication of how the Labour Party is right off tangent. The lips are flapping—not something else that Andrew Little was mentioning—but the brain is not working.Gangs exist for very very few reasons. They exist predominantly for the perpetuation of drug supply because there is a population out there that is hungry for what they are supplying and the gangs get very rich from that. Prostitution drug-laundering and intimidation—that is the package. That is why gangs exist. They exist for no other purpose whatsoever. That is the intent of gangs. As a former police detective I worked in surveillance jobs and all that sort of ninja turtle stuff—electronic operations undercover operations—and I got to see how those mongrels unveiled themselves and unfurled themselves on the unsuspecting youth of New Zealand. They did it through methamphetamine predominantly because that was a drug that took the nation by storm and the gangs became multibillionaires out of it.If we think about what gangs are and what it means to be a gang member the single most important thing to a gang member is the patch they earn. They will earn that patch through robbery. They will earn that patch through causing grievous bodily harm—through beating the daylights out of someone until they are an inch from their death. They will earn that patch by raping people and in fact they will pack rape. They will get an immediate patch if they murder. That is what the patch means to them. That is what they will do to earn it. They will stop at nothing to prevent having that patch being taken off them.I have heard members on that side of the Chamber mention: “Oh we can do this already. Someone at a Work and Income office can tell them to take the patch off. A school principal could tell them not to come on to the grounds with a patch on.” Well I challenge any member in this Chamber to tell me how they would take a patch off a gang member who would rather die than give it up. I have tried and I can tell members I have come out on the wrong side of that equation. I have been in situations wheremembers of the public have indeed endeavoured to say: “Mr Gang Member you cannot wear that in here.” and they have been beaten to within an inch of their life. So that is just simply not workable. It is ludicrous to suggest it. I want any member who stands up and says: “Oh no they can already do this. This legislation is a waste of time.” to tell me how they would confront a gang member wearing a patch and tell them to take it off. The Mongrel Mob will kill members before it will let them be de-patched. That is how much it means to them.This bill is not a panacea and Mr McClay and other members right across this House have said that this is not the only answer but it is one of them. The real answer is to deny these mongrels the opportunity to exist and that is by having a population of New Zealanders who do not want to buy the drugs that they manufacture and supply. If we can start making some traction there—and I am sure this member here the Hon Todd McClay will be making some good inroads into that—then we will start seeing a difference.This bill is not a panacea but what it does do is go a long way towards what needs to happen because what it says is that the police have more tools. I can tell members here that there is nothing that enthuses a police officer working in organised crime more than the ability to get in a gang member’s face and make their life very uncomfortable. This bill provides that opportunity. It sends a message. It sends a message that gangs are not tolerated by communities. It sends a message that gangs are not tolerated by the Government. It sends a message that we will not put up with their intimidation and it reduces their ability to intimidate. If the member Andrew Little wants to see it happening on beaches bring it on. Throw a Supplementary Order Paper out there; I would certainly support it.The gangs are a disgusting parasitic blight on New Zealand—on all society—and anything we can do to push back on them to deny them the intimidation they can wreak all the better. I commend this bill.