Paul Tamatha; Tuiono TeanauTAMATHA PAUL (Green—Wellington Central): Kia ora Mr Speaker. I grew up in a town called Tokoroa where there are many gangs blue and red all different colours. I have whānau and friends who are in gangs and I know I'm not the only one in this House. Maybe you are ashamed of your whānau but I know that you cannot choose the family or the place that you are born into. I know that this isn't a black and white issue. People aren't good or bad. People are products of the society that we in this House have created and maintained.This week I did something that I'm pretty sure nobody on the other side of the House has done and that's actually talk to people who are former and current gang members about what is happening in the House this week. Because talking to the people directly affected by the bills that go through this House is a basic principle that we all agree to except when it's about gang members. I heard stories about the violent abuse that these men experienced when they were meant to be safe in State care because their home environments were too dangerous. But instead of being safe within the State they were abused—physically mentally sexually abused by people that were meant to keep them safe.If you look at the royal commission inquiry into abuse in State care you find testimony after testimony about the horrendous abuse experienced by people who would go on to join gangs. And guess what! It was that abuse in State care that taught those children to be aggressive antagonistic and violent. So it's no surprise that they would go on to join gangs. These victims of abuse in State care joined gangs in the first place because it was the only group in society who they could talk to and relate to about the cruel and callous treatment that they experienced as children and safety in numbers after being abused by people who are meant to care for them. But this bill further marginalises further excludes and further radicalises a group in society for whom nobody claims responsibility. We are all culpable. We can't and won't arrest ourselves out of the gang problem. Throwing people into prison does nothing but further marginalise people. It doesn't make people reflect on their actions or the harm that they've caused. People in prison are the most marginalised most disenfranchised one of the only groups in society who are not allowed to vote for the people that are meant to represent them and the most exploited people in this country who contribute enormous amounts of free labour. And the majority of those people are Māori. A majority of those people have been abused at the hands of the State. A majority have got physical disabilities and mental health and addiction issues and a majority come from the most impoverished deprived and neglected communities in New Zealand like the place that I grew up in: Tokoroa Whakatāne Kawerau Whanganui Hawera. These are the communities where gangs are born and it's no surprise when you look at the neglect that they experience.From the cradle to the grave this Government continues the cycles of colonisation by imprisoning institutionalising and objectifying our people. It was colonisation that caused our people to be displaced without a kāinga without a home to live in without whenua to thrive on and without our tikanga to guide us. We as a people have a natural longing for whānau; it is intrinsic to who we are. When everything we have known has been stripped away from us it is only natural to seek comfort by creating a whānau that can understand our unique trauma and our unique struggle. I'm not trying to undermine or minimise the real harm that is created by gangs. But what I am trying to say is that we do have an obligation to take an evidence-based approach and address the issue at the root cause. Bills like this create more gang members they fill our prisons they increase tensions with police and ultimately they make our communities less safe. That's just not my opinion; that is backed up by what the Minister's own officials told him recently. It's also a slippery slope. Banning what people wear and banning them from meeting together. What's next? You can't do this can't do this can't do this? Because that is exactly the slippery slope that you're going down.These things aren't innocuous. It is us that proscribe meaning to those things. And the worst thing that I learnt this week is that gangs were already having that conversation. They are aware that patches are intimidating to people. They were already having conversations about moving on and stopping wearing patches. But this just increases hostility and it's actually going to have perverse outcomes in making the issue a lot worse.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The member's time has expired.