Wagner Nicky: Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill — First Reading 
Wagner Nicky: Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:654;Page:4122] 
NICKY WAGNER (National) 
: 
 I rise to support the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill. It is part of a bill combination designed to deal with the issue of boy racers. Coupled with the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill it will make a difference—and it is about time. 
I have been campaigning for action on boy racers for the last 4 years. During that time the previous Labour Government did absolutely nothing to deal with the boy-racer problem—absolutely nothing. Boy-racer culture has grown and flourished right across the country. Back in the early 2000s boy-racer behaviour was mostly noise and nuisance; it should have been nipped in the bud then. Over the years the nature of the boy-racer community has changed dramatically. In 2009 there is a much bigger group and it is much more antisocial. Boy racers now move in packs and they generate a much larger number of offences. 
In my home town of Christchurch City the downtown area in the centre of the city has long been a target of boy-racer behaviour but now more and more boy-racer packs congregate outside the city in rural areas. The police play a game of cat and mouse as they try to contain noisy violent and destructive groups. The police are working hard to contain offences but they need more tools to curb the problem. The police are losing the race against boy racers. The public is absolutely tired of the noise and the destruction from these groups and they want to see something done about it. For far too long Christchurch City and its environs have been labelled noisy and violent and businesses and families have borne the brunt of that noise and destruction. 
As members have heard tonight the boy-racer problem reached its height in Christchurch earlier this year when a police officer was ambushed by a pack of boy racers who pelted his car with bottles and shot at him. It was an example of premeditated violence and the stimulus for this legislation. Since then we have seen an even worse situation when an innocent driver was attacked by a pack of boy racers. Last week a lone female aviation security officer was stopped by boy racers while she was driving behind the airport. Her car was attacked all the windows were smashed and she felt that her life was at risk. There is absolutely no justification or excuse for this type of behaviour so I am very pleased to support this bill at its first reading. 
The New Zealand public are delighted to see a bill that will allow the confiscation and crushing of cars. People whose lives have been disrupted regularly by boy racers are very keen to crush cars. Reports from other countries that tell of car crushing are eagerly discussed and calls for New Zealand to do the same have been constant. But Kiwis are also fair-minded. They want to curb boy-racer behaviour but they also understand that the cars may not belong to the drivers and equally they do not want to see wasteful car crushing if there is some other way to deal with the problem. This bill has solved the problem neatly by seeking a “three strikes and you’re out” regime. Upon the first offence a letter will be sent to all owners of the vehicle to tell them about the danger of confiscation and car crushing if there are three offences involving the vehicle within 4 years. The letter will be sent again after the second offence. If finance companies families and friends as owners of the vehicle continue to allow the offender to drive that vehicle and the offender continues to break the law then the owners are obviously prepared to take the risk of losing their property. There is no compulsion for the boy racer to continue to offend. I believe that the vast majority of car owners will act after the first letter and certainly after the second letter. It is hoped that the offenders will lose their cars not by car crushing but by repossession of the cars by their owners. For a small number of persistent unrepentant offenders who are unable to live within the law car crushing is a good solution for their offences. Crushed cars cannot do burnouts; crushed cars cannot race illegally; crushed cars cannot become part of a boy-racer pack. 
This is a tough new law that is useful and timely. Combined with the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill it will allow the police to deal with boy racers across the country. It is time that noisy violent and disruptive behaviour has some real consequences.