Fenton Darien: Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill — In Committee 
Fenton Darien: Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:658;Page:7244] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 I want to respond on behalf of the Labour Opposition to the Minister’s comments and to note that in her contribution the Minister failed to mention a couple of things. First of all she did not mention that under the provisions of the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill there is no mandatory crushing or confiscation of cars. She can talk tough all she likes and she can talk about loopholes—and Labour supports closing loopholes—but we need to be honest. 
This Parliament needs to put on the record that this bill does not provide for mandatory crushing. It is all just a bit of a media stunt. There is a whole lot of talking up an issue that is important to a whole lot of people. I was on the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and I heard about how this issue is hurting people and about the damage it is doing to them. That is why we have tried to be helpful to the Government by proposing an amendment. 
I acknowledge my colleague Clayton Cosgrove and the work he has done over the years on this issue. It is not a new issue for members on this side of the Chamber. We have been working on it for many many years. We hoped that we would get some cooperation from the Government in the interests of community safety because we want to see this bill work. We want to see it do what it was originally proposed to do and to see it close the loopholes that we freely admit were there. Another speaker said earlier tonight that we may have to be back in a year closing loopholes and addressing this bill again. Well what is wrong with that? That is the nature of making laws. We do not always get everything right the first time and I predict that we will not get this one right the first time either. 
I feel very very sorry for the people of Christchurch Hamilton and other cities who believe that this bill which the Minister has gone through the country talking up and talking tough about will not deliver. That is why as I said Labour members have offered a solution to the Government. We were looking forward to hearing from the Minister whether she would support it but I guess we have gathered that she is not going to support our Supplementary Order Paper. The thinking behind our Supplementary Order Paper is that it does not really make a lot of difference to offenders whether their cars are confiscated or crushed because either way they lose their cars for good. That is the point. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Just wind her up. 
DARIEN FENTON 
: What is the Hon Tau Henare trying to tell me over there? He is trying to remember his days in his V8 is he? He is trying to remember the good old days and to relive his glory days in the old V8 out in west Auckland—in the 1980s was it not? 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Seventies! 
DARIEN FENTON 
: Sorry was it the 1970s? OK. 
The only people who will suffer from the crushing of cars will be New Zealand taxpayers who will essentially foot the bill for unpaid fines that cannot be recovered. The Minister likes to talk tough but it turns out that the new confiscation and destruction order will be only a last resort. It is not mandatory. The court may order a vehicle to be destroyed and it can do so only if the offender has been convicted three times within 4 years. That is a higher threshold than the current law has for mandatory confiscation of a vehicle. 
We have as I said tried to offer a solution to what we see as an important issue. I think everybody on all sides of the Chamber is genuine in trying to find some solutions to this awful problem for communities. As I have said many times I fear that the public have been led to believe that this bill is a solution when it simply will not work.