Mark Ron: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — In Committee 
Mark Ron: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — In Committee 
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RON MARK (NZ First) 
: 
 I do not think I can let tonight go without mentioning one person in particular. 
Hon Shane Jones 
: Shane Jones? 
RON MARK 
: I think we will hear a lot more about the Hon Shane Jones over the next few years I say to the member. I will mention a lady by the name of Lindy Palmer. I say to her and to all of the residents in Tuakau that help is on the way; there are some people in this House listening. Specifically the work that the Hon George Hawkins has done thus far with this bill the Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill is an indication that some people are listening. 
The reason I mention Lindy Palmer is that she is one of a number of residents in Tuakau who have written to New Zealand First saying that at the end of the day they are simply terrified of living in their own neighbourhoods because of taggers who are defiling their property. She described to me an incident where her fence and her neighbours’ fences were tagged. On the couple of occasions when she and her neighbours actually confronted the young people who were doing this work they were physically threatened. On one particular day a group of young girls were out in front of her home simply picking all the blooms off her roses throwing them straight on to the footpath and crushing them. She told them to stop it and the response from those young girls was: “Bleep bleep bleep. You can’t tell us what to bleep bleep do. If you do we’ll smash you over.” Now this is a middle-aged lady—a mother with children—in her own home being threatened by young people on the footpath. Imagine how terrifying it is for a woman such as her to wake one morning and find there is a tag under her bedroom window. 
I just ask Dr Pita Sharples to think about that for a moment. How would he feel if a female member of his family were threatened in such a way? How would he feel if a female member of his family lived in a neighbourhood where young people who were running riot with their tagging were so bold and so brazen that if anybody objected to their behaviour he or she was threatened with physical violence? How would he feel if a female member of his family were to wake up one morning and find tagging under her bedroom window on her home? Does Dr Sharples think that would make her feel a part of her community or safe in her community? Would Dr Sharples feel that he should be loving caring and sharing to all these young brats that are up and down the footpath destroying his neighbourhood? Here is the irony. It is not just our neighbourhood; it is their neighbourhood. I draw a comparison with what has happened in Hampshire Street in Christchurch over the last few years—that is in Lianne Dalziel’s electorate. I ask members to consider Hampshire Street as it was a few years ago and then look at it as it is now. 
I say to members that this bill does not obliterate all of the good projects that are currently in hand be it Project Legit Stop Tagging Our Place or the flying squads. The bill does not in its passing say that we shall not do any of these things; no one is saying to not do the good work of which members have spoken. We are saying that we should do that and do this because this is necessary. 
I think one of the greatest tragedies is that we seem to have people in our midst who do not like putting in boundaries to protect our young people. The great irony is that if members talk to young people they will hear that one of the things that young people do not respect is adults who are weak who do not show them boundaries and who do not act when they cross those boundaries. Having been a young person myself not so long ago I too pushed boundaries. I think there are many members in this Committee who in their youth pushed the boundaries to see how far they could go. It requires a strong community and more than that strong Government strong local government strong leaders of those communities and strong members of Parliament who are prepared to say to these young people: “We will help you in doing some of the things you want to do that are non-destructive and productive and that keep you occupied and give you pleasure. But we have boundaries; should you decide to cross them we will not hesitate to act.” That is what this bill seeks to do. 
But I also say that this bill actually seeks to protect some young people. Some people cannot help themselves. If they can get access to things like spray-cans knives bottles and alcohol they will self-destruct. As responsible legislators we cannot ignore that fact.