Robertson H V Ross: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — Third Reading 
Robertson H V Ross: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:646;Page:15740] 
H V ROSS ROBERTSON (Labour—Manukau East) 
: 
 Kia ora tatou no reira te Whare and welcome. In addressing the issue of graffiti and the Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill I believe that it is important first of all to acknowledge the individuals who have been instrumental in bringing this legislation to the House. First I acknowledge the former Mayor of Manukau City Sir Barry Curtis whose fortitude tenacity and understanding of what people in the community want drove him to bring this bill forward and to hand it to my colleague the Hon George Hawkins member of Parliament for Manurewa. 
I also acknowledge Mayor Len Brown for continuing the work necessary to ensure this bill continued through the House. It is also important to acknowledge the Manukau City councillors who voted for this bill to continue. I also commend my Manukau colleagues who have worked tirelessly in bringing this bill before the House—before the people’s House of Parliament—including the honourable member Judith Collins; Pansy Wong; former Deputy Mayor of Manukau and now member of Parliament Su’a William Sio; Pita Paraone; and Phillip Field. I also welcome the contribution that the honourable member Mark Blumsky former Mayor of Wellington has made because in his capacity as a mayor he has understood the problems and the feelings of the people. I acknowledge those members and thank them for the work they have done. I also acknowledge the Minister of Police Annette King and the Hon Phil Goff for the work they have done in bringing in a Government bill that will fit in nicely with the one we will pass today. 
There are 300000-plus incidents of graffiti per annum in Manukau City. I remember well my meeting with the former mayor Sir Barry Curtis over how we should deal with the problem of graffiti. I remember having the first public meeting in Manukau City Council’s White House. The reformed tagger who was invited to participate and to address the meeting was remorseful and contrite and he realised the misery and distress he had brought to others. Some of those gathered wanted to make their views known and they did expressing their grief their heartache and the profound sense of loss that they experienced on coming home or waking up to find their fences bus shelters street signs phone boxes and statutory undertakers such as network rail and educational establishments tagged. It is unacceptable. It is a crime against the conscience of our nation socially and morally. 
I commend in particular George Hawkins who has brought to the House this bill born of his experience overseeing policing his service in local government as a former Mayor of Papakura City and his 18 years here in the House. Like other Manukau members of Parliament he is in touch with what the punters out there want. They want to clean up this eyesore and the best way to deal with graffiti or tagging is multi-pronged. We need to ensure that the offensive tag is removed within 24 hours to ensure that the fame and power that result from doing graffiti are quickly removed. We need to prosecute the crime vigorously and ensure that the perpetrators are publicly accountable and do community work. 
Graffiti is not an easy thing to deal with. In dealing with it let us accept that no one is to blame but that we are all responsible for this ugly odious expression of bravado at best and gangland marking and ill will at worst. Graffiti is like a rabbit warning others that this pile of poo is his own. Graffiti perpetrators are brazenly declaring their contempt for others. What is right and what is wrong comes down to what one can get away with. Having listened intently to the debate at the Committee stage of this bill and the contributions that many members made I want to put on the table for consideration a proposal that a dedicated antisocial behaviour hotline be established to facilitate education about and action on low-level crimes like graffiti. I imagine that the Perito principle applies—that is 20 percent of the perpetrators do 80 percent of the graffiti. 
The ideal of course is to be proactive and to continually foster social capital. Social capital was extolled by people like former Prime Ministers Mike Moore and Jim Bolger and is about the propensity to serve others. There are many people out there in the community who are happy to volunteer and work in these areas. Schools service clubs and volunteer organisations can be encouraged to adopt certain regions for maintenance and beautification. For as the tangata whenua say: “Tatou tatou.” It means: “Together together.” Together we serve and together we prosper as a community and as a nation. 
I have long believed that people have underestimated the effects of tagging on the well-being of our nation and our people. As a country we are known worldwide as being clean and green. Our homeland of the community of Manukau is where New Zealand touches the world. At the last census people from Manukau accounted for themselves into 184 different ethnic groups. When planes touch down in Manukau passengers see the face of the future. When visitors come to New Zealand they come first to Manukau and what greets them? Tagging and graffiti. “Clean up Manukau!” has become a war cry for those who work to rub out tagging. This legislation is a start on a long road of doing something to make Manukau and New Zealand beautiful. Sir Paul Reeves said that Manukau is a microcosm of New Zealand today and into the future. So let us make that a future we can be proud of. 
Manukau colleagues need to be commended for what they have done as do the Minister of Police Annette King and Phil Goff because they pushed the Government’s legislation through Cabinet. The legislation backed by the Stop Tagging Our Place strategy will see a new offence of tagging and graffiti vandalism added to the Summary Offences Act and will increase fines and/or effective community services. It will ban the sale of spray-cans of paint to those under the age of 18 and shopkeepers will be required to keep spray-cans secured so that people cannot access them without the help of shop staff. Shop staff who fail to keep spray-cans locked away will be subject to fines of up to $1500. Also $600 million over 3 years has been allowed for anti-tagging initiatives. 
Finally let me say this: let us make the 300000 incidences of graffiti per annum in Manukau a thing of the past. Let us move forward together in spirit strength and skill to defeat this ugly odious expression of gangland marking and in-your-face bravado. Tihei mauri ora!