Coleman Jonathan: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeColeman Jonathan: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 10 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:11887. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Defence):The Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill is a very good bill and it just amazes me that the Labour Party—I know it is the Opposition—could be opposing it because this is common sense. If you go out there and speak to any New Zealander in the street and you say: “Should gang members be able to come into a school or a hospital or a WINZ office with a gang patch on? Should they be allowed to?” people will say: “No of course they shouldn’t.” The fact that the Labour Party is arguing against this bill just shows how completely out of touch it is. This is actually the problem that the Labour Party has got—that it will oppose legislation like this.Andrew Little: Why would he say something that is not even being argued? This is how desperate his Government has become.Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN: Andrew Little is going ballistic over there because he is losing control. He is losing his grip on the prize of the Labour leadership. I would like to hear him get up and argue against a very common-sense bill.This is the difference you see between people like the National members and on this occasion I believe our colleagues in New Zealand First and the totally out-of-touch people representing Labour. Just like with the man ban they will argue in favour of something that makes absolutely no sense to the average New Zealander in the street. This is why those people over there are going to be in Opposition for a long long time to come.David Cunliffe got up and he said: “Tough on crime tough on the causes of crime.” Everyone at home would think “Well that sounds very good.” until they actually realised that that is a line directly plagiarised from Tony Blair’s 1997 UK “New Labour” manifesto. That shows what the problem is with these people. There is no substance there. There is absolutely no common sense. Who would say that the Mongrel Mob should be able to go into a hospital wearing gang patches? I tell you I have worked in hospital accident and emergency departments and it is not very nice for the staff and the rest of the public when these people come in wearing their gang patches and intimidating people.This bill sends a very good signal to gangs that yes you might be able to wear your red T-shirt or you might be able to have your facial tattoo but actually we are going to make it inconvenient for you if you want to come into a hospital a Work and Income New Zealand department or a primary school and try to intimidate excellent public servants going about their daily tasks scare kids cause inconvenience and basically try to be macho. Supporting this bill shows that we are not going to tolerate gangs and their activities in New Zealand but of course the Labour Party thinks it is fine.That is the problem with Labour. Labour members talk a big game but in the end they are prepared to tolerate all sorts of unacceptable behaviour because actually the Labour Party lacks any form of common sense on just about any issue whether it is the man ban whether it is gang insignia or whether it is power prices. If you want a really stupid solution ask this current crop of Labour MPs. They will be losing touch with the blokes out there who drive the white vans the guys on the building sites and the peoplewho basically have walked away from Labour in droves because constantly it comes up with stupid positions on common-sense issues. Even a schoolkid could look at this and say it is a very good idea to ban gang insignia in our schools in our hospitals and in the Work and Income New Zealand offices.So I say to the Labour member Andrew Little if you get your crack at the leadership try to turn those people round. We want some decent Opposition. National and the country deserve a good Opposition. We are not getting it from that party over there at the moment because it is not connecting with New Zealanders. There is a total lack of common sense from the Labour Party and it is exemplified by the fact that it would oppose this excellent bill that Todd McClay and now Mark Mitchell have brought before the House. I want to commend them for their very good sensible work. The National Party wholeheartedly supports this bill. Thank you.