Collins Judith: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — Second Reading 
Collins Judith: Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:640;Page:10267] 
JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) 
: 
 It is great to be able to follow that concession speech. It was a concession speech because this Labour Government did not want to support the Manukau City Council (Control of Graffiti) Bill even though it was being brought to the House by George Hawkins. 
Hon Mark Burton 
: The member always gets it wrong. 
JUDITH COLLINS 
: Unfortunately all we need for some proof about that Mr Burton is to look through the report from the Local Government and Environment Committee. The Minister of Justice has said that we do not need to have this bill that we cannot have this bill and that this bill is a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act—it is this this and this. But then at the end of the commentary we see what the real issue is. The real issue is that the National Party supported the bill New Zealand First supported the bill—and United Future I would say are supporting it—and suddenly the numbers were there. I would not be at all surprised if Taito Phillip Field is not supporting it too. The numbers are there and that is what this is all about—it is the numbers game. 
I noticed that Mr Hawkins said that it is a shame Manukau has had to put forward this bill and that the legislation will help only Manukau but that it has done a good job—well it has. But Manukau had to do this only because this Labour-led Government had not done it for the rest of the country. The Government had not put in legislation that councils could sign up to. It did not allow councils to make that decision. Mr Hawkins has said rightly that other parts of South Auckland and other parts of the country will not be covered but when this bill goes through—even though as he has just described it the legislation is flawed—other councils will say: “And what about us?”. We will have to have national legislation right the way through the country and that is what there should have been. 
Instead this Government has done what it has always done—pushed more cost on to local government. I think that is a real shame. Local council rates keep going up although I have to say that Manukau City Council has been pretty good in trying to keep its increases under some level of control. But the council has said that it is sick of having all the costs put on it without it having any of the power. That is one of the good things about this bill: it gives Manukau City Council a little bit of power to do something about the graffiti that destroys and ruins neighbourhoods. 
I would like to put a plug in here for the people who have to live with graffiti. These people are often poor or elderly and without a lot of extra money. They are people who do not have someone they can call up to come and remove graffiti. These people are the ones who suffer the most and it is their neighbourhoods that get attacked by graffiti more than any other neighbourhoods. I think it is incredibly important that this bill go through because graffiti people taggers—or whatever these people call themselves; and I agree with the previous speaker that they are definitely not artists—absolutely destroy people’s property and environment. Of course it is only a little step from there to destroying peoples’ houses and cars burgling their property and ruining their chances of actually getting something a little extra in their houses. These graffiti people need to be stopped and I congratulate Manukau City Council on putting this bill forward. 
The bill is also an example of MMP working because the Government did not want the bill. It fought against it. In the report of the Local Government and Environment Committee the Government is completely against it. Its Ministers’ reports on the bill are completely against it. We have this very very interesting situation because the last time the previous speaker Mr Hawkins spoke on the bill it was not going anywhere except to a select committee and nobody expected it to come out of the select committee to anywhere other than to be consigned to the dustbin. When Mr Hawkins last spoke on the bill it was not going anywhere; Labour was not going to support it further. Now suddenly it is a great bill. It may have flaws but it is a great bill and the Government loves it. That is what is called the numbers game. 
I know Mr Hawkins is pleased because he does not like his bills being put up then thrown out. He likes doing the right thing by the local council and he likes to be able to take some credit for it. But really if Mr Hawkins is going to be absolutely straight about it then it is always best for him to acknowledge that it is actually a numbers game. And we won on this one—we who think we should be standing up against these graffiti taggers these people who abuse property and the people who go with that. We are pleased we are able to work with other parties and to say we have helped to make this happen. And if Mr Hawkins wants to take a bit of credit for it then good on him because we think it is a good thing as long as Manukau City Council gets the rules it needs. 
We just hope that the bill will not be gutted in the Committee of the whole House. We just hope that the Government will not try to pull the wool over the eyes of New Zealand First and other parties in order to gut the bill of any of its strength—[ 
Interruption 
]—which is what happens all the time. I agree with Mrs Tolley; she is completely right. We want to make sure that the bill does what it states it will do because if it works—and we believe it will work—then we should be rolling out its provisions throughout the country.