Ardern Jacinda: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Jacinda: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2559] 
JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) 
: 
 I am pleased to rise and contribute further to the discussion around section 5D of the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill. 
As my colleague Grant Robertson has raised there are still questions over why 10 years is the appropriate time period for further review. I want to highlight that section 5C sets out an initial review period of 5 years. I even think that 5 years may in fact be quite a prolonged period for an initial review of a by-law. But after that point to set in place another 10-year phase of review is quite a lengthy one particularly given that the other mechanisms for residents of Wanganui to have their say—on whether they perceive that for instance the by-law is in the appropriate place or whether they feel that the appropriate gangs have been captured by the by-law—may be limited. In order to investigate that fully I think it might be useful to go back and look at the preceding period that impacts on the by-law being set. 
In the process of setting a by-law the Wanganui District Council—the provisions are set out in clause 5—may make a by-law designating the public place that the by-law will apply to and it also at that point identifies the organisation. In doing so it is required as set out in the Local Government Act to go through special consultative procedures to set that by-law and rightly so. 
Having said that I think it is important that this House consider who in our communities is the most likely to submit on such a process. When a local council goes out and seeks the view of its community in a full consultation period who is the most likely to have their say during that consultative period? I think that those from the lower socio-economic sections of our community or from socially deprived areas are probably less inclined to have their say in that process. I imagine that there will be very strong advocates in favour of a by-law applying to their particular leafy suburb; that is less likely from people from other particular areas. 
Having identified a particular issue a council goes ahead and sets its by-law. The people who are affected by that by-law will have to wait a good 5 years before they can go back before the council to assess whether the by-law has been working. If that slides through it will be another 10 years before it comes up again. I think that period is probably too long. I think it is right that Metiria Turei has pointed out that it might be too long and in that case I think it is important that we consider a reduction—a halving—of that period in clause 5D. As all the members of this House know 10 years is a very long time when it comes to by-laws like this and when it comes to setting down what might be relevant in our communities. 
Let us reflect back on where we were politically 10 years ago. In 1999 New Zealand was a very different place: it did not have KiwiSaver it did not have Working for Families and it did not have interest-free student loans. It did not have a lot of the genius things that the previous Labour Government brought in. A lot can change in a decade as we have seen. 
Carmel Sepuloni 
: A lot of improvements. 
JACINDA ARDERN 
: A lot of improvements as my colleague rightly points out. I would like to hear from Mr Borrows why 10 years is the secondary review period set out in clause 5D. I would like to hear the rationale behind that. Also are there any other mechanisms for review in that 10-year period that the local council could apply or would the community simply have to wait for that review period before it could adjust the two issues that the council has the ability to set? 
One of those issues is the area that is covered and the other is the gangs themselves that would be covered. I want to reflect on how prominent some of the gangs that we see now were back in 1999. I would question whether the Bloods and the Crips had quite the same presence in our communities 10 years ago as they do now. We have even seen recently in our papers that a gang associated with the Hell’s Angels has shown up in Nelson.