Swain Paul: Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Swain Paul: Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:607;Page:4598] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Transport) 
: 
 I move  
That the Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. Sometimes Parliament comes together in a united way and does the right thing and it has done that today. Sometimes Parliament acts to address a public concern and does the right thing and it has done that today. Sometimes there is a practical solution to a social problem and today we have found that solution. I think it is good that the House has shown incredible common sense by enabling this legislation to move forward. 
The bill needed some leadership and it had that from Clayton Cosgrove the MP for Waimakariri. We do need somebody who is able to take up an issue bring it to the House and steer it through. He has done that and we should all be thankful. A bill like this needs community support and that has been demonstrated up and down New Zealand. Of course it also needs Parliament’s support and it got that by and large from most parties. The great exception during the evening was the grand coalition between the ACT party and the Green Party—the coalition made in hell. The “New Liberal Party” is what I think it could be called. There was probably too much psychedelic puha drifting across the cross benches and it has got in the way of some clear thought from the ACT party. As far as the Green Party is concerned I note that it parades itself around as having philosophy and principle—and the Greens do have those qualities. There is no question about it. But sometimes the Greens are going to have to work out that there are competing rights to consider when one comes to this House. It is not always about the rights of the criminal. The victims and the people who go about their normal daily business in New Zealand have rights too. Sooner or later the Greens will have to wake up and find out that sometimes we have to do the common-sense thing. Sometimes we have to support victims of crime as well. If not the Greens will continue to stay on the fringe and be recognised as a bit of a “loony tunes” around the edges and they will never get beyond the 5 or 6 percent polling that they currently have. 
I come now to the ACT party members. What an extraordinary performance from them! In May last year before the last election Ken Shirley supported the introduction of this bill. Not only did he support it but he fulsomely said that ACT supported the introduction of this bill. He said that ACT welcomes tougher measures to deal with illegal street drag racing and that indeed this bill is in keeping with ACT’s campaign—wait for it—for zero tolerance of crime. Now less than 12 months later Mr Franks and Ms Coddington have come to the House and said that they are opposed to the bill. Ken Shirley who I always thought was a more sensible common-sense down-to-earth kind of person has been rolled by a couple of liberal lawyer types who want to talk about legal niceties. They want to talk about outrage presumably because lawyers are not going to get such a good deal out of this bill and they want to go on about the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. It is all in the waffle in the ether and it is part and parcel of this new-look liberal ACT Party. What it shows is that the ACT party is in absolute meltdown. It cannot sort out how many people it is voting for and it cannot work out where its electorate offices should be based. ACT is a party in meltdown and its performance tonight will be shown. There is going to be some great interest when we start mailing out the speeches made by Mr Franks and Ms Coddington to ACT supporters. 
Stephen Franks 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I understand that this is the debate on the third reading of the “boy racer” bill. I have not heard any reference to it or about any provisions in it for some time. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Clem Simich) 
: I thank the member for raising that point. 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I was simply pointing out that ACT supported this bill when it was introduced to Parliament and talked about zero tolerance. Those members from the ACT party who spoke to oppose the bill walked away from it and from zero tolerance. There is no question about that. That is why they will not be around this place for much longer and I say “good riddance” to them. This bill is a very very good bill. I congratulate the House. I also want to congratulate the United Future party because it was the party that pushed for progress on the bill and I want to give it some credit for that. I particularly want to congratulate the MP for Waimakariri Clayton Cosgrove who went into an area where no one had ever been before did the hard yards did the work and came up with legislation that Parliament has supported. I urge its continued support through the House.