Tirikatene Rino: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 10 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:11877. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Kia ora Mr Chairperson. Thank you for the opportunity to make a contribution at this Committee stage of this Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill. It is really unfortunate that we are wasting parliamentary time and resources on this really redundant piece of legislation because the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill is a totally ridiculous piece of legislation. It is unnecessary. These situations are already covered by existing laws. So it really is a waste of time. It is actually quite an embarrassment really that the Government has put this member’s bill up to occupy parliamentary time that we would much rather spend on more productive things for our country.I want to start off by saying that I do a lot of work. Obviously I have got a very big patch down there in the South Island. My good colleague there Mr Mitchell was referring to Marlborough the great region of Marlborough and Te Tau Ihu the top of the south which is not exactly known as the most racially harmonious region of New Zealand what with theMarlborough Express cartoons of recent times.I wanted to take this opportunity to display some people that I know. I know that it probably will not be able to be viewed by the people at large but here is aMāori man. He isMāori. He is wearing a motorcycle jacket. There are all sorts of insignias and other badges on this jacket. Oh! There is even a tino rangatiratanga badge on there. If you saw this gentleman in an emergency room of a public hospital or maybe in the grounds of courts or justice buildings potentially this gentleman here could trigger the provisions of the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill. He could activate the powers of the State to call in the police constable to come and assess whether this gentleman here is part of an organisation or a gang that is listed in the appropriate section with specified gangs that are all listed there in the relevant sections. This is an example I guess of what the Government would like to prevent.I will show another one. Let me pick this one here. I am very good friends with this gentleman here. Again he isMāori wearing a motorcycle jacket he is part of a chapter and he has even got an Arab-looking scarf wrapped around his neck. That could have very negative connotations.Mike Sabin: What’s his gang?RINO TIRIKATENE: Oh! It is very intimidatory—very intimidatory.The gang that this man belongs to Mr Sabin isRangitāne ki Wairau in the Marlborough Sounds. He is the chief. He is an iwi leader. He is an iwi leader ofRangitāne ki Wairau ki Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka—an upstanding citizen. The other gentleman whom I mentioned is a highly decorated—a highly decorated—soldier who has served our country—Mike Sabin: That’s fine. Is he wearing a gang patch or not?RINO TIRIKATENE: Absolutely on the face of it. What would a member of the public think? Perhaps—Mike Sabin: Not on the face of it. Is he wearing a gang patch? Has it got gang insignia on it?RINO TIRIKATENE: It fits the profile Mr Sabin. It fits the profile. It just makes a mockery of this ridiculous piece of legislation. I could display a lot of pictures. But the thing is these gentlemen are part of the chapter of the Patriots Defence Force Motorcycle Club.Mike Sabin: Are they listed in the bill?RINO TIRIKATENE: They fit the profile. They would activate the suspicion potentially of this ridiculous piece of legislation.Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: No they wouldn’t.RINO TIRIKATENE: Oh yes they would. The thing is that those gentlemen those upstanding citizens actually do a tremendous amount of work on their Harley-Davidsons on their revved-up scary-looking big burly bikes up and down the country every November for White Ribbon month spreading the message that violence against women is a terrible thing and that we have got to stamp it out—Mike Sabin: Are they listed in there?RINO TIRIKATENE: It does not matter that they are not listed in the bill Mr Sabin. Do you think that everything has to be prescribed—that you can cover every situation every gang situation because it is set out in the definition of “gang”? It is ludicrous. There is always the catch-all or other provisions to catch others. But I am saying that these people are upstanding citizens. They love to congregate and associate with others in their motorcycle club. They visit schools. They are welcomed into schools. In fact I welcomed a whole big group of the South Island tour going into a public hospital. Far from having people actually thinking that these people were intimidating—there were a lot ofMāoris with big leather jackets and big insignia on them—they were welcomed and they were treated as real heroes because they are doing good work.All I am saying is that that makes a mockery of this piece of legislation. The fact that a bigMāori man and he may even have atā moko—he may even have atā moko—is wearing a leather jacket with insignias and writing all over it saying “motorcycle club chapter” from wherever part or region he comes from means he automatically comes within the profile and the ambit of this legislation of this ridiculous bill.Richard Prosser: Not if they’re not on the list.RINO TIRIKATENE: They do. It does not matter that they are not on the list; they potentially fall within the ambit of a person a member of the public. And it would be a waste of time it would be an absolute waste of taxpayers’ money and time for the police to be called up to rush along to the hospital or school where this chapter of this motorcycle club is revving up its engines. Then they would have to say: “Well is this so-called group within the definition of ‘gang’ within this prohibition of gang insignia legislation? If so we will have to require those gentlemen or those thugs on those motorbikes to remove their jackets and any other memorabilia that they have.” It is absolutely ridiculous. It is an absolutely stupid piece of legislation because this is already covered by existing provisions elsewhere.The other thing—I just want to make my concluding remarks—is that this legislation is already dealt with—[Interruption ]The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! Order! I have people on my right and my left who are interjecting on each other. It is not permitted. If they want to take a call they are welcome to.RINO TIRIKATENE: I am just completing my speech. I am looking at the so-called list of prescribed gangs here and I do not see “Bloods” or “Crips” here. I meanthe Bloods and theCrips are the two most sort of—I was not a wayward person but the Bloods andCrips are not even mentioned—[Interruption ]The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson): Order! I have just cautioned the House.RINO TIRIKATENE: They are not even mentioned in this bill. So how comprehensive is it? You cannot prescribe all those situations but you can include a whole bunch of innocent upstanding absolutely heroic people who are doing a lot of good work and who like to associate and ride motorbikes wear their insignias and do good things in the community. Potentially they are impacted by this bill.Lastly I just want to make this point. If you go into a doctor’s surgery and you see a youngwhānau with a Mongrel Mob man—and how do you know that? He is wearing his red T-shirt and he has got his gang insignia stamped on his face. How can you tell that person to remove himself because his gang insignia is tattooed on to his face? That happens to a high proportion of gang members. What is the situation there? Do they have to remove themselves? Do they have to cover themselves while they are tending to their sick children waiting in the doctor’s surgery so they can actually get their child tended to? It is a ridiculous piece of legislation. I regret that it is having to waste parliamentary time and resources and I definitely oppose it.