Harawira Hone: Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:638;Page:8135] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 This Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill is the thin edge of the wedge. I hear all this talk as to what people will do about the gangs that are running drugs etc. and as I look around the Chamber I see that most of the people doing the talking do not even know what they are talking about. The reality is that in this vague attempt to go after these drug gangs we are about to breach the principle that people are innocent until found guilty. 
 I know that as soon as we point out a member of the community and say that on suspicion we are taking that guy’s Dodge Ram and Harley Davidson everyone is going to think: “He done it.” regardless of whether later on he gets off the court case. Everybody in that community will think that he did it—and this Parliament is going along with that. That is criminal and insane and it is a breach of the principle that all people coming before the law are presumed innocent until proven guilty. 
Sure if at the end of the court case somebody is found guilty and the Dodge Ram and the Harley Davidson are taken then them’s the breaks. But it is also a principle that it is the job of the police to prove their case not just to throw out supposition by hauling in stuff on suspicion so that everybody thinks: “Oh we will go after this bugger now. Now we will start narking on him.” That is not the police proving their case; that is this House giving anybody the opportunity to take shots at somebody that he or she does not like. 
Once we start going down that track we open ourselves up for all kinds of other crazy laws—like Mr Ron Mark’s “Put Them in Jail When They Are 12 Years Old Bill”. Those sorts of bills are where this is going. In fact when I heard of Mr Mark’s bill I thought to myself why wait until they are 12? Why do we not arrest them when they are going to kohanga reo and grab them early? Then of course the next reaction is that we should not even wait until they are going to kohanga; we should arrest the mothers before they even have babies. Oh no no—we should grab the fathers before they have children. “Where have all the soldiers gone?” That is what this all ends up as. 
It goes round and round in circles until we get to a point where just on the basis of suspicion I go and grab this member’s flash TV his flash car his flash wife and everything else saying that he is part of a criminal class because he is part of this Government which has been ripping off Maori for years and years. So where does this all end? That is the point I am trying to make. 
We are opposing this bill because it is a breach of the principle that people before the law are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If we go with this legislation I would probably still be in jail for all of the charges that I have been up on. I once went up to court on charges that would have put me inside for 96 years. If we can do that just on the basis of suspicion where does it stop? 
This is a ridiculously bad law. It is a law based on fear and ignorance. I say ignorance because nobody in this House—except possibly Dr Sharples and my brother Nandor—has any idea about the real impact of drugs in any community and the effects that they can have not just on the communities but also on the families of those involved. But when I hear other people talking about it I suggest that it is the pontificating of the pious. People are going on and on about stuff they have no idea about. Talking about this bill going to a select committee in order to give people an opportunity to speak on it does not change that fact. 
I heard Charles Chauvel talking about maintaining protections and all the rest of it but once we breach that dam the whole lahar goes. That is exactly what happened on the weekend at Mount Ruapehu and that is what will happen if we let this bill go on in the way it has been proposed. On behalf of the Maori Party and on behalf of all intelligent New Zealanders I suggest that this bill be struck down at the earliest possible opportunity. Kia ora tatou.