Jones Shane: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Third Reading 
Jones Shane: Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:2951] 
Hon SHANE JONES (Labour) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. During the course of this speech I will speak in both English and Maori. Firstly I acknowledge Chester Borrows. As I have said on earlier occasions he is bringing forward something that has attracted a considerable level of support from his own community. I am not entirely sure what percentage of the Maori community is behind this initiative. Despite obvious differences with Mayor Michael Laws Mr Borrows has been voted into that position in “Whanganui”—and Mr Laws may not like the “h” letter but he is entitled to appeal to his local member of Parliament to have the House consider dismiss or pass—even by the narrowest of margins—such an initiative. I acknowledge those two people. 
Engari me huri au ki te kaupapa ake o tenei pire mo to tatou iwi te iwi Maori. Aroha ki a tatou mokopuna me a tatou tamariki ka pehia ki raro na roto i tenei ture ta te mea ina whakawhiua te tangata ki tenei ture ko te matotoru o te hunga ka whakawhiua he mokopuna na te iwi Maori. 
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But let me turn to the real effect that this bill will have on our Maori people. I sympathise with our grandchildren and children who will suffer under this law because when a person is punished by it the vast number of those who will be affected will be grandchildren of the Maori people. 
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I am the first to agree that there is a disproportionate problem amongst many Maori families. Too many of their sons and unfortunately their daughters are now living in a gang culture. One has only to read about the efforts of the Housing New Zealand Corporation clumsy as they are in dealing with people in State houses. But that small episode shows us that by using this type of legislation and trying to effect a change in that social behaviour based on insignia or apparel we will create I dare say a set of unintended consequences. We will set up a situation in my view where there will be a new fresh range of penalties or reasons for further marginalisation and alienation of the women and the children who are affiliated with these men. 
I have no truck whatsoever I say to Mr Borrows with the men in these gangs and I rather suspect that the problems the member’s colleague has with the Ngawha prison are more than likely to be related to their ongoing conduct—criminal violent foul and menacing—even in jail. But the key point is whether the passage of this legislation will effect a change in lifestyle value systems and general approach to other people society property and those things we consider to be general rights. 
I know where the ACT Party has finally rested upon the matter. It parachuted in a notable member of the anti-crime constituency high on its list. He has come here and in a very short period of time has endeavoured to make a name not only for himself but also for the people who sent him. This is the people’s House at the end of the day and he is more than entitled to do that. 
Members on this side on the House are not keen to indulge or encourage gangs but we do not believe that passing this law and giving yesterday’s dog registration inspectors rabbit board inspectors and drainage inspectors a new range of powers to run around penalising and chasing gang members will change anything. The reality is that the burden will fall on local government officials to make sure that this legislation is meaningful. They will have to identify those areas where gang insignia is tolerated or not tolerated and I have felt for a while that this will feed a new raft of legal activism and that is not something I am keen to see. Taku e awangawanga nei ka whangaitia nga roia ki te hari i nga take penei ki te kooti mo te koretake noa iho nei. Me kaua tatou e hanga i nga ture ka mutu hoina no te hunga ka whiwhi ko nga roia. Engari me waihanga e tatou he ture e awhiatia ana e te whanau ia whaea ia matua e tautokotia ana e te marea whanui. 
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My concern is that lawyers will benefit by taking a matter like this—of no consequence at all—to court. We should not make laws where lawyers are the only ones in the end that make a gain. But we should be creating a law that is embraced by the family—each mother and each father—and is supported by the public at large. 
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As I have just said in Maori the legal fraternity will gear up to this measure. Undoubtedly it will have a divisive effect in my view in terms of societal relations in Wanganui. It will provide a slogan I guess for some of the people of Wanganui to hammer the gang members in their area. Let us be honest. The majority of those members are the tangata whenua there. Until the ongoing reasons that drive children and grandchildren to be compelled dedicated and coerced into this lifestyle are addressed I do not think that by policing fashion by policing apparel and by policing insignia we will see much change other than window dressing. Now it could be that those gang members will move into Simon Power’s area. I hope that not too many of them go to Marton because my kotiro goes to school there. 
Members on the other side of the House may find that it would have been a better approach to exploit the legislation that we brought to the House’s attention—in particular the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Bill. If we want to snuff out the life-force of gangs then we must address what is feeding them. It is not just bravado; it is wealth lucre from ill-gotten gains. It is the ability to celebrate and enjoy a culture of violence and mayhem fed by drugs alcohol and whatever stunt they can get away with in front of a District Court judge or it is the ability to avoid detection by the police. At the end of the day just as the Inland Revenue Department is constantly gouging and looking for rampant illegal behaviour in the commercial world—and I hope it is busy with the dregs of the finance lending companies as well—it is that level of attention that this problem deserves. 
We have heard from the member from the Hauraki-Coromandel area Sandra Goudie but if she believed half of what she was saying this bill would be a Government bill. It is not a Government bill so it is disingenuous of Sandra Goudie to stand up and endeavour to elevate this bill as if it is National policy. This bill is evidence that National members have been compelled as a consequence of that very unfortunate experiment with Rodney Hide which will cost those members dearly. But I will speak more about that on another day. 
The other matter we need to acknowledge is that Michael Laws has railed incessantly over this issue. He is in a privileged position. He enjoys access to the airwaves and is the civic leader of that area. But have his efforts changed the behaviour of the Maori pocket of that population who are wound up with gangs? No they have not. His position provides an opportunity for sloganeering and he has a mandate to do that. I always thought of Wanganui as quite a temperate kind of place occupied by people who had a judicious and sensible approach to life. Of course I have reviewed that situation and that view given that those people consistently vote for Mayor Michael Laws from that particular area—although Mr Laws was taught by his colleagues the members sitting opposite. 
So in peroration I say that this bill is not a bad attempt but it is not one that Labour members will back. If one wants to kill gang culture then one must cut off the life supply of ill-gotten gains from dope drugs and the other illegal activities that sustain gangs’ existence. In relation to whether changing and policing insignia will bring about that change I say that no it will not. 
Will we come up with an alternative? Well my colleague Clayton Cosgrove here is toiling away as we speak having regular communication with senior Australian political leaders. He is investigating how their model works. That model was generated after a very serious incident in the airport in Sydney. He is looking at that model’s portability and its applicability here. This bill though is starting with one little dot—admittedly it is a brown dot with a poorly conceived tattoo called largely the Maori gang members of Wanganui—and is trying to somehow cause that to be spread around the country as though it were some kind of creeping plant. 
I say to the Government that if it was serious about dealing with this problem it would bring in its own bill with the imprimatur of the Government. It would have it funded and budgeted for and it would also enjoin broad support for it from the tail of the fish to Te Wai Pounamu to Invercargill. And yes I know that there are Pakeha members in gangs and Asian people and Pacific Islanders but the last time I checked gangs were predominantly Maori and the bill will not work. Kia ora tatou.