Paraone Pita: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — First Reading 
Paraone Pita: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:628;Page:643] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 Like the previous speaker I want to declare a vested interest in the bill being a resident and a ratepayer of Manukau City. So I would support any legislation that would ensure the ratepayers of Manukau City are not burdened by the costs associated with the problems that this bill intends to address. While I am speaking I want to remind the Manukau City Council that although it feels great about discussing such issues with elected members of Parliament it does have one or two list members resident in its city and it would not go amiss to have them considered in such deliberations. 
However putting that matter aside I stand on behalf of New Zealand First to say that we will support this bill going to the select committee. I must say that this bill which I suspect will be passed will make Manukau City the first one in New Zealand to have strict anti-graffiti laws. But it also poses the question that if it is good for Manukau City then it should also be considered for other local bodies throughout the country. Perhaps during the process of this bill through the different processes that are available to the House submissions may be received from other local bodies that wish to do something similar for their city. 
 The bill raises one or two issues that I think ought to be considered during the select committee stage. Although it mentions crayons and spray-paints only several businesses in the local community of the part of Manukau City that I reside in recently had the windows to their shop fronts subjected to etching. Although reference to etching is made in passing in the bill I think that it ought to be given more prominence. 
It also raises another issue about how the agency that is charged with law enforcement decides intent. As we heard from the previous speaker the people who are committing those acts against their local community are quite clearly not just confined to the youth of our city but are also adults and those people whom one would consider to be of a mature age. If one is apprehended in Manukau City going about one’s own daily business while carrying a crayon a marker or even a spray-can how is intent to be measured? That is one of the issues that will need to be considered. 
Of course the bill recognises overseas evidence that suggests deterrent legislation is necessary to combat this problem. Enforcement is currently a weak link in the anti-graffiti campaign in Manukau. The bill is cognisant of the “broken windows” approach to crime introduced in New York City under the mayoralty of Mayor Giuliani in 1994 which was based on the theory that neighbourhoods that neglect minor signs of decay and disorder open the door to serious crime. That zero-tolerance approach to even low-level crime resulted in a dramatic drop in overall crime rates in New York especially serious crime. 
I say that notwithstanding the results the local area command is having in terms of law enforcement its task would be made much easier if the “broken windows” approach that I have alluded to is adopted in order to address this serious issue. Graffiti is seen as a huge ongoing antisocial problem in Manukau which has an adverse impact on the city’s image. The member in charge of this bill certainly alluded to that issue. He also alluded to the fact that it is costing the council hugely in terms of money and resources that it would prefer to direct towards positive community projects. 
This bill seeks to address the escalating nature of the problems associated with graffiti. Therefore on behalf of New Zealand First I stand to indicate our support for this bill being referred to the select committee.