Garrett David: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
Garrett David: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2094] 
DAVID GARRETT (ACT) 
: 
 I have been invited by Labour to stand and state our position on this bill. I have to say that it is not easy to do because there has been considerable debate among our party among our supporters and among our caucus on our position on the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill—and for very good reason. I am afraid that as much as I like and respect my new colleague Mr Bridges I cannot agree that it is a good bill. It is not a good bill for a number of reasons. It is not a good bill because it does not clearly define what gang insignia is. It is not a good bill because it does not spell out exactly which areas in the Wanganui District Council district can be designated as gang-free zones. 
Before continuing I would like to take up Ms Turei’s point. I find it rather saddening to have to say for about the fourth or fifth time I have spoken in this House after Ms Turei that it would be very helpful if she actually read the bill that she was debating. She just stated that there is nothing in the bill that prevents the entire Wanganui District from being designated a specified place. I thought she had trained as a lawyer—I did so. If the member read clause 5(5) she would see that it specifically states: “A bylaw must not be made under subsection (1)(a) if the effect of the bylaw either by itself or in conjunction with other bylaws made under subsection (1)(a) would be that all the public places in the district are specified places.” So there is one point that is completely incorrect and it would be very very helpful if those who were going to debate this would actually read the bill. 
The second point that Ms Turei made that I am afraid I must take issue with and quite strongly—and I will explain why in a moment—is this absolute nonsense that the bill is aimed at Maori gangs. The bill specifically refers to a number of gangs including Hell’s Angels the Mothers and the Magogs. During the adjournment week I was contacted by text by one Shagger Gilmour—he was stupid enough to write it—of the Magog Motorcycle Club. He made some fairly carefully veiled threats to me over speeches I had made on this bill earlier. Shagger is a senior member of the Magog Motorcycle Club which despite his claims to the contrary is either entirely or at least mostly a white gang. He claimed although he would not name who the member was that a Maori had been a founder member for 32 years and he suggested that I in fact knew nothing about it and had never been there. I named a few of the members and he went a bit quiet. Hell’s Angels is also wholly or almost wholly a white gang. So the claim that this bill is aimed at Maori gangs is absolute and utter nonsense. Perhaps Ms Turei during her next call may wish to refer to Rooter Johnson Smasher Harris or whoever is a Maori and a member of those named gangs. 
But I get on to the guts of the bill. As I said I am afraid I cannot agree entirely with my colleague Mr Bridges or I am afraid with my colleague Mr Borrows. There are a number of things wrong with the bill. It will not make a noticeable difference to the criminal activities of gangs. It will not sadly make much difference to their presence in Wanganui. I have to say in all fairness that I agree with the point made by Ms Mackey and others—and again I feel rather bad about having to say this—in relation to the killing of the young fellow with the wrongly coloured hoodie: the bill is likely to cause and not to solve that kind of confusion. 
The bill is a measure of the desperation of the Wanganui community. They have had enough. As a society we have been frozen in the headlights like a possum or a deer for 30 years over what to do. Norm Kirk—well before Mr Hughes was born I suspect—said he was going to take the bikes off the bikies. It did not happen so we have had the problem since at least 1972.