Prosser Richard: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Prosser Richard: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 15 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4465. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
RICHARD PROSSER (NZ First) 
: 
 I am pleased to rise on behalf of New Zealand First to speak in support of this bill the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill. It is a bold and commendable initiative from our fellow conservatives on the opposite side of the House whose resolve I might say with regard to some matters of social policy we have had cause to be concerned about in recent times—in very recent times at any rate. Mr McClay has done much to allay certain of our fears where this direction—or perhaps I should say lack of it—is concerned with the introduction of this admirable and very necessary bill. I am gladdened—fortified indeed—by the knowledge that Mr McClay brings this bill to the House with the blessing and who knows perhaps even at the direction of his party’s leadership. 
 It is a comfort to those of us on this side of the House who count ourselves as traditionalists that the National Party has chosen to send such a powerful message affirming that its old-time stance on social issues is indeed intact and alive and kicking. We look forward to that stance being reiterated particularly by the National Party’s leaders in respect of other issues of social order and morality as and when they come before the House. We are encouraged by the knowledge that National does indeed possess the fortitude to be true to the same values of old which we ourselves continue to espouse. It is good to know that we are not alone as we may have been given cause to suspect. 
In the explanatory note of the bill the bill’s author states: “Gangs serve no legitimate purpose in New Zealand society and the public has a right to be protected from their intimidation and the significant harm that they do.” That is indeed so. I have no qualms whatsoever in saying that New Zealand First agrees with that sentiment unequivocally. 
There is a paradigm shift required in New Zealand society and in our thinking where gangs are concerned. For too long we have not simply tolerated gangs but through our inaction with regards to their various deviant and criminal activities allowed them to become glorified to a degree. Young people impressionable people the lost and the wayward are drawn to gangs because of the stability and the acceptance that they perversely offer to those whose lives lack any other kind of structure. They are drawn into the web of crime and deviancy that gangs epitomise and promote. They become trapped in the devolving lifestyle that such organisations inevitably gravitate towards and in so doing they become part of the problem. They become pawns in the perpetuation of the antisocial and criminal underclass and underworld that is gang culture and the people who live it and live by it. 
Well it is not good enough. I say to this House that it is not good enough in New Zealand. We have to stop this rot. It falls to us to the good people of New Zealand to put a stop to the evil that is the gangs and the gang culture. The buck has to stop with the members of this House whom the people send here to be their representatives. We have to set the standard. We have to set the message. We have to send the message that gangs are no longer acceptable that their time has passed that we will not and do not tolerate them any more. 
The so-called badge of pride that gang members wear needs to come to be seen as a badge of shame. The gangs and their various acolytes need to come to realise that we do not fear them. They need to come to realise that we have become angry that we will not put up with their intimidation any longer and that we will not tolerate them any further. This bill will remove the identity of the gangs from the public eye. It will remove the identifying marks of these packs of weak-minded ferals from public display and from display in Government departments and other places where they gather to prey as parasites on decent society from what they erroneously perceive to be some kind of position of respect. 
Respect—what is that? Do they seriously believe that we respect them? Do they seriously believe that we fear them—these weak sick fat unfit drug-addled retards? Do they seriously believe we cannot do anything about them—that we cannot remove them from society? Well we can. We are the Parliament and we are powerful. We represent the people and we create the law. We have the strength of numbers the resources of the nation and the capabilities of the police and the military if we so choose to call upon. We can pass this bill. We can pass this bill into law and it will become another stepping stone a flagstone in the path towards the complete elimination of gangs from our society and from our culture and I say we should. I say we should do that. New Zealand First says we should do that. We are proud to support this bill. We urge all parties and members of this House to do the same. Thank you.