McClay Todd: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMcClay Todd: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 15 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:9956. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua): I moveThat the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill be now read a second time. The bill restricts the display of gang insignia in central government and local government premises. It makes the display of gang insignia in government premises an offence and empowers the police to arrest the person who wears it and to seize the offending article. I would like to thank the chair and members of the Law and Order Committee for their work on the bill and for the amendments they have recommended to include every school and police building and their grounds and premises in New Zealand in the scope of this legislation.Gangs are a scourge on society. Every political party in this Parliament recognises this. Gangs commit crime peddle poisonous drugs to our children and create victims in vulnerable communities. The gang patch is not a patriotic flag or a symbol of honour and respect; it is a symbol of intimidation by gang members who wear it. It announces to the world that they engage in criminal behaviour and that they are proud to intimidate law-abiding citizens.The select committee heard from submitters throughout the country. I want to touch briefly on some of the submissions the committee heard and I do hope members opposite will listen. The Murupara Area School made the forceful point that children at school do not need to be exposed to gang insignia: “they need to be protected from it.” Ōpōtiki District Council said that the bill sets the right boundary to reduce gang intimidation of our communities. Whakatāne District Council told the committee that the bill will help reduce levels of intimidation of the public. The Whitireia Community Law Centre in Kris Faafoi’s electorate of Mana spoke courageously about the chilling effects of gang violence and intimidation in Porirua. It has been at the coalface of protecting victims of crime from gang harassment. It said that members of the public have a right to visit Government premises without fear.I call on Mr Faafoi who received that submission in the committee to listen to his own community which is telling him to support this bill. You see the Labour Party has said that it does not think the bill is necessary. Phil Goff talked boldly in the dying days of the last Government about banning gangs but when it comes to supporting measures to do something important Labour’s voice falls short. Phil Goff and Kris Faafoi sat on the select committee. They heard the submissions from the Kawerau District Council which said: “A legislated ban will not only protect frontline staff and customers fromthe intimidation ... but will also prevent intimidation of ... staff who may otherwise have initiated and/or had to enforce such bans case by case.”It is wrong to put the onus on Work and Income case officers or a school teacher to issue a trespass notice to individual members of the Mongrel Mob after they walk into a public building. We need to recognise the gang patch for what it is. It is an intention to intimidate. A blanket ban that criminalises this intimidating behaviour protects our hard-working public officials as well as the citizens who use our public services.I call on the Labour Party to put aside this rhetoric and listen to the evidence that was presented to the select committee. I call on it to get back in touch with the people on the front line. They deal with the consequences of gang violence gang intimidation in vulnerable communities and gang recruitment of young people. These communities are asking us to introduce these measures.Across the world from Britain to the United States to Australia legislators are acknowledging the problems that gangs create and are empowering their law enforcement agencies to take action against them. Just last month Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced across the Tasman plans to crack down on gangs. Some of these measures including the confiscation of proceeds of criminal gang activity are already available in New Zealand. Australia realises the threats that gangs pose to society and unlike other parties in this Parliament here in New Zealand is prepared to take action.Over the past 4½ years putting the interests of victims of crime and law-abiding citizens first has been the guiding principle of this Government’s law and order policy. We have increased sentences for our worst offenders. We have improved victims’ rights. We have put 600 more police on to the front line. We have made it harder for offenders to get bail. We are giving the police the technology to spend more time on the beat and less time at their desks. Police patrols are up by 70 percent. We have improved technology to intercept gang communications and we have the powers to dismantle gang fortifications. These policies are successful because we are now seeing the lowest levels of crime for some 24 years. Violent crime has dropped by 17 percent in the last 4 years after steadily increasing under the previous Government.There is not much about the Mongrel Mob that my electorate of Rotorua is proud of but we were proud that the first ever seizure of assets under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act involved the Mongrel Mob in Maketū. Valentine Barclay Nicholas the local chapter boss who had violent criminal convictions going back some 30 years had all of his beachfront property seized. Nine cars and his treasured Harley-Davidson were confiscated from him. Just a few weeks ago we announced the seizure of $150 million from criminals since the Government passed this very important legislation. For the first time ever gangs are starting to hurt and it is because we are arming our enforcement agencies with the right tools.At the same time we must be aware that gangs will change and adapt. There are indications that gangs are becoming more sophisticated in their transportation and manufacture of drugs and in how they transfer assets how they intimidate people and how they communicate with each other. But criminals are not always very smart. The police are now using their powers effectively to intercept communications between gang members—their phone calls their text messages and their emails can now be intercepted. For those criminal masterminds who freely parade their gang patches on the internet it is not just their Facebook friends who now know what they are up to. As a Parliament we cannot stop technology but we must be vigilant about how gangs are using technology and we must support the fine work the police do by giving them the tools to respond to this. We must constantly update these tools.This bill will make it harder for gangs to intimidate New Zealanders. It is not a silver bullet to ban gangs in New Zealand but it is another important tool to make law-abidingNew Zealanders feel safe in their communities. I look forward to the House supporting this bill through to the Committee stage. Thank you.