Davis Kelvin: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Third Reading 
Davis Kelvin: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:2964] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
:  
Mr Deputy Speaker me timata penei ahau. I te tuatahi mihi kau atu ki te mema mo Whanganui nana nei i kokiritia i kawe mai tenei pire ki te Whare. I was saying I would like to acknowledge the member for Whanganui who has brought the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill to the House. 
I want to make it clear that I resent gangs. I resent the way gang members look talk and behave. I resent the lifestyles they lead which are based on crime drugs and intimidation. I resent their “I don’t give a damn about anyone or anything else.” attitude. There is little I can say that is positive about the gang lifestyle; in fact there is nothing I can say that is positive about the gang lifestyle. 
I guess that what I resent the most is that gangs predominantly rob Maori of their language and culture and substitute their own warped version of what Maori culture is. That version is usually based on a misguided notion of Maori being warriors and hard men. Maori men need to shed ourselves of that misguided ignorant image and show the world that we are intelligent sensible hard-working and caring members of our society. The  
Once Were Warriors 
 image of Maori men is unfortunately in many instances an accurate portrayal and for the sake of future generations of Maori men we need to break free of that delusion. 
Gang members have such low self-esteem and such a low opinion of themselves that the way they compensate for that is to try to make other people feel worse than them. They do that by resorting to violence and intimidation. As a former schoolteacher I saw that behaviour manifest itself in children at the school I was teaching at. 
When I was in form 2 I was going to school in Moerewa. In particular I remember a day in August 1979 when 40 or 50 members of the Storm Troopers gang rioted in that town. They destroyed a fire engine fought with police set a police van alight and attempted to throw an injured policeman into that burning vehicle. I remember the fear the uncertainty the loathing the accusations and the recriminations. The riot divided that town. It is one of the enduring images of my childhood not least because I had uncles in the police force and I had cousins in the gangs. I have seen how gangs have robbed members of my extended whanau of aspiration and I resent that. 
I was principal of a school that had a fledging gang problem with mini-gangsters setting themselves up under stupid names represented by three-letter acronyms such as WCB for the West Coast Boys or LRC for the Lake Road Crew. I watched the behaviour of those kids and as principal I banned it. Those kids were not allowed to wear their scarves or beanies or to do their little hand signs or to talk in three-letter acronyms or even to walk around in groups of more than three. But do you think the gang problem stopped? No it did not. It just became less overt in the presence of adults. The kids changed the signs the acronyms and the scarves. The kids found ways round the bans and if they can do that so can adult gang members in Whanganui. 
The symbolic act of banning gang insignia in Whanganui will not in my opinion make an iota of difference to the gang problem. It will not change the lifestyle of gang members their association with crime drugs and intimidation; nor will it change their “I don’t give a damn about anyone else.” attitude. If the Wanganui District Council and New Zealanders generally for that matter are serious about resolving the real issue—that is the existence of gangs full stop— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I am sorry to interrupt the honourable member but the time has come for me to leave the chair for the dinner break. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
KELVIN DAVIS 
: If the Wanganui District Council and New Zealanders in general for that matter are serious about resolving the real issue—the existence of gangs full stop—then we need to be a lot more focused on addressing the conditions that cause gangs to flourish. These include academic underachievement and disengagement from school which lead to disengagement from society as well as domestic violence unemployment poverty and the myriad other social issues that encourage people to form and join gangs. 
The Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill is a well-intentioned and well-meaning bill and I personally do not disagree with cracking down on gangs. But I believe that the bill is a classic example of bottom-of-the-cliff thinking and it will not address the root cause of the problem. In fact I doubt that it will address the issue that it is trying to address—that is the prohibition of gang regalia in certain parts of Whanganui. Just like students at the school where I last worked gang members will constantly work out ways to get round the ban or more than likely they will disregard it totally. They will continue to wear their regalia and will challenge the authorities to do something about it. I think the signs that will be erected in the protected parts of town to say that no gang regalia are allowed will not last terribly long. I can see the legislation coming back to the House for us to amend parts of it to close the loopholes that gang members will have no doubt found. 
If the ban on gang insignia actually does work and certain parts of Whanganui do become free of gang regalia the reality is that it will simply be a case of out of sight out of mind for the lucky people who live in those designated parts of town. Gangs and gang-related crime will still exist. This bill will not stop gang members from walking down the street decked out in some form of gang regalia insignia colours or apparel. If a gang member were to walk down the street in a suit and tie but with the words “Mongrel Mob” or “Black Power” tattooed across his forehead would that make him any less intimidating or his intentions any less noble? I doubt it. This bill may address the gang dress code but does it address gang violence gang drug activity or any other criminal activity? We will see gang members take off their patches if they have to and if they are asked to and then their gang T-shirts only to see that their patches are tattooed on their backs which we can already see happening around the country. What will happen then? What is the difference between an insignia tattooed on someone’s back and an insignia on his clothing? John Key made a hard-hitting statement in May 2008: “Today I’m sending a warning to every single P dealer every P manufacturer and every gang involved in the P trade: National will not put up with your criminal activity.” He said that National would crack down on gangs and would target and undermine criminal gangs. He did not say that this call to action was about making gang members undress themselves. 
I want the people of Whanganui to be safe from the influences of gangs. I want the people of Whanganui to be able to walk their streets without fear. I want the kids to be able to sleep at night and to be able to play in the parks and mingle around shops. I want the Whanganui Maori to continue to connect with their language and culture not the language and culture of gangs. I want them to continue to be proud upstanding successful wealthy healthy contributing members of the Whanganui community. I want Whanganui to continue to be a proud city a safe and peaceful city where all citizens Maori and Pakeha live harmoniously together. I just do not see that this bill will achieve any of those aims. It is a sticking-plaster approach to an issue that is a festering hakihaki. This bill does not address the issue; it just applies new plasters. 
The only way for Whanganui to truly be rid of gang activity and criminal activity and for residents to feel safe on the streets of their town is to address the underlying social problems. In fact that is the solution for all towns and cities the length and breadth of the country be they Kaitaia Whangarei Auckland or Timaru. When I was a school principal we found that when we addressed the underlying causes of poor academic achievement and disengagement from school we started to make a difference to the whole tone and well-being of the school. This flowed on in a number of ways into the whole community. Those underlying causes were not addressed by punitive measures and sticking-plaster solutions; rather the solutions were based on our understanding what the actual causes of the problem were and finding meaningful and durable remedies. That I believe is what the Wanganui District Council and this Parliament should be doing. That is why I do not believe that this bill will be successful and why I therefore cannot support it. Kia ora.